Florian's Gate

When I first began to read this novel by T. Davis Bunn, I wondered if it was just going to be a rather slow moving book about old people and antiques. As I read further, I realized that the book was going to go much deeper than the surface story of 28 year old Jeffrey Sinclair who decides to move to London and work for his great uncle’s antique business.
The story takes you into Poland shortly after the fall of Communism and during the transition to democracy. The people are in poverty, but some have horded priceless treasures which they must sell for various reasons. So this takes young Jeffrey and his friend Katya Nichols from shacks and museums to hidden vaults in a salt mine and even to Auschwitz museum where Jeffrey emerges never show more to be quite the same again.
I did not realize until I got to the back of the book in acknowledgements that these characters and stories were based on real life stories. Some were stories from Bunn’s in-laws who experienced the horrors described by characters in Florian’s Gate. The main characters in the book are in fact, based on real people and some of their accounts from the Nazi death camps are almost word for word as they were related to the author.
The book does move slowly, in a philosophical discussion format that reminds me of one of my other favorite authors Michael Phillips. It deals with deep spiritual issues, particularly in regard to human suffering and the very real scars that people today are carrying from their past experiences. It is the story of hope found in Christ for moving beyond the painful memories. This is not a story with fast paced action and heroes, but it is the true story in the form of a novel, of the endurance of a nation that suffered under both Nazism and Communism. show less

I tried, I really did. There was way to much detail about antiques and the set up went on and on. I have no idea what the plot was. Was there a plot? I didn't ever get to it.

Great book about adults, antiques, and Poland Holocaust. Set in modern times some of the older adults remember Holocaust.
Also have it on Kindle.

An antique dealer's secrets are revealed when a trip to Poland reveals both the past and the present. Love and religion are both found.

Review is included with the paperback version which I also have.