My Review

Cyril Avery was born to an unwed mother in Ireland in the 1940s--an unthinkable and shameful thing, at that time. Cyril is adopted by Charles and Maude Avery, who are indifferent and self-centered, but not neglectful.

From an early age, Cyril knows he's different: not a "real Avery," as Charles is quick to remind him, and realizing that he is not attracted to girls like his friends are--something that's even more shameful at that time in Ireland. In fact, Cyril harbors a deep love for his womanizing friend and eventual school roommate, Julian Woodbead.

The book follows Cyril through his life, from his youth and twenties spent in hiding and public denial in a repressive Dublin to a more open life in middle age in Amsterdam and New York. Cyril's search for identity, belonging, acceptance, and family is by turns funny, frustrating, and sad.

Some of the characters feel a bit like caricatures, but they serve to highlight some of the extreme attitudes Cyril, his mother, and so many others faced in those decades in Ireland. I loved this book, and though Cyril could be frustrating, I wanted to see him find happiness and contentment with himself.

Rosie and Penn are raising a loud, unique family of five boys. From science to stories to knitting to costumes, the family is full of quirks that are embraced and nurtured.

So when 5-year-old Claude declares that he wants to be a girl, his parents support him. Soon Claude has become Poppy, a girl to all outside the family and accepted as one within his family. But secrets weigh heavy, time can't be slowed, and the safety of childhood and family can't shield Poppy from difficult future decisions and the outside world forever.

I loved this story of imperfect parents whose hardest lesson isn't accepting a child who is different, but accepting that facing the difficulties and fears is sometimes the best way to be supportive.

We Were the Lucky Ones is the incredible story of the members of one Jewish family in Poland during World War II--parents, five grown children and their spouses, and their young children--each struggling for survival as the world crumbles around them, sometimes ripping them from their family at a moment's notice.

The story is fictionalized but based on the real experiences of the author's own family, and this is how you do "based on a true story" fiction. While I had to pause for a moment at the start of each chapter and orient myself (because each chapter moves to a different family member), the experiences and emotions kept me rooted in the story with no confusion--a feat, considering the number of characters.

This was not only edge-of-my-seat reading (all the more so knowing that many of the events actually happened), but it was one of the most informative World War II books I've read about the Jewish experience in Poland during the war. One of my best reads of 2018.