From: Rita Auerbach <rauerbach>
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 02:20:57 -0500

Before the discussion of historical fiction is too far behind us, I wanted to mention one of the finest books I know about World War II--On the Other Side of the Gate by Yuri Suhl. As the Jewish population of a Polish town is herded into a ghetto, an edict is issued that
"henceforth pregnancies will be forbidden in the ghetto." What does this mean for women who are already pregnant? Obviously, this is a question that cannot be asked, so Lena Bregman must have her child in secret. As a nurse in a makeshift hospital, she can deliver her child, but she will not be able to hide his existance afterwards. In this extraordinarily moving novel, Suhl describes the Bregmans' successful plan for smuggling their newborn son out of the ghetto. The cost of their success is the knowldge that they will never see their child again.

As far as I can tell, this book was in print for about 15 minutes, and not too many people seem to know it. I've made several futile attempts to find someone to reprint it. It's worth looking for.

Rita Auerbach Librarian, Manorhaven School, Port Washington, N.Y.
Received on Wed 05 Nov 1997 01:20:57 AM CST