MISHA: A MEMOIRE OF THE HOLOCAUST YEARS

Misha: A Mémoire Of The Holocaust Years by Misha Defonseca.

Published : Massachusetts: Mt. Ivy Press, 1997.

Fraudulently published as a memoir by author Misha Defonseca -- real name, Monique de Wael -- Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years tells the story of Misha, an 7 year-old Jewish girl from Brussels as she searches for her parents who have been taken by the Nazis. Walking thousands of miles to find them, she survives by stealing food, pilfering crops, hiding in the forest and eventually befriends a pack of wolves. Full of passion, terror and courage, the book has been compared to The diary of Anne Frank.

Sources

Cover image: Amazon

Citation: Amazon

Annotation: Goodreads, Amazon

THE HAND THAT SIGNED THE PAPER

The Hand That Signed The Paper by Helen Demidenko.

Published: St. Leonards, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin 1994.

Australian author, Helen Demidenko -- real name Helen Darville - won the prestigious Miles Franklin prize for this novel, which was later found to be hoax. The book is told from the point of view of Ukrainian peasant Kateryna.  She along with brothers Vitali and Evheny witness the destruction of the family’s village by Stalinist communists during World War II and side with the Nazis who they hail as liberators. Demidenko who had claimed to be of Ukrainian background later recanted this and the claim that she had based the book on her family's history.

Sources

Cover image: Goodreads

Citation: Novelist

Annotation: Goodreads, Literature resource centre, Fantastic Fiction and Amazon

THE PAINTED BIRD

The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. 

Published: New York: Grove Press, 1995.

Polish-American novelist, Jerzy Kosinski wrote The Painted Bird, about the brutal mistreatment of a six year-old boy -- a war refugee who is on the run from the Nazis -- at the hands of Eastern European villagers. Dark haired and olive skinned, the villagers mistake him for a Jew or a Gypsy and treat him cruelly. The writing style and imagery is simple which aptly conveys the horror of the Holocaust. There has been much speculation about the book’s authorship following its release and Kosinski himself has faced accusations of plagarism.

Sources

Cover image: Wikipidea

Citation: Novelist.

Annotation: Fantastic Fiction, MagillOnLiterature Plus and Novelist.