A Frost in the Night

Edith Baer was born in Germany and escaped to the US in 1940 in her mid-teens. The rest of her family was murdered in the Holocaust. This novel is heavily reminiscent of her own experience growing up in 1930's Germany, watching the rise to power of the Nazis.

Eva is a young girl on the cusp of adolescence basking in the love and security of her middle class family. Located in a small city, Eva lives in her grandfather's house with her extended family. At first, Eva's world consists of games with her cousins upstairs, school, and helping her father in the family bookstore. In the summer she visits her maternal grandparents in a rural enclave where her family has lived for generations. Many in her family believe that their long roots and show more high standing in the community will prevent any of the Nazi rabble-rousers from influencing their way of life.

As the events of 1932-33 unfold, Eva becomes increasingly aware of "the troubles" that the adults talk about only when the children are out of hearing. Schoolmates begin teasing and turning away, her American cousin begs them to move to America, and brownshirts become more vociferous in the streets. Hitler is no longer silly, but threatening somehow. Finally, Eva is the subject of a diatribe that makes her understand the personal nature of the persecution of the Jews.

The power of this short novel is in the innocent description of Eva's childhood as it gives way to understanding of the growing ugliness in the adult world. A palpable tension grows in the book, and I found myself wanting to shout for them to flee will they still can. I sorrowed for the inevitable loss of life to come and by the end of the book was worrying about which characters would die: baby Eli? staunchly confident Grandfather? beautiful Sabine, longing to embrace life? Perhaps most poignantly, I mourned the loss of innocence that would befall them all. show less

Read during Summer 2002

Edith Baer was born in pre-WWII Germany and was the only member of her immediate family to escape the Holocaust. This is a story of a Jewish family in a fictional German city before the war begins, during the rise of Hilter, based on her own childhood. Incredibly well-wrtten and haunting to know what will happen in the years that follow this book.