It seems the world will never tire of stories arising from WWII and the Jewish Holocaust.
And for good reason. Humanity has a habit of failing to learn from history. Therefore, constant reminders of the cruelty and atrocities perpetrated against the Jews by the Nazi regime under Hitler are essential, lest we forget.
The Holocaust was not the first genocide of a race accused of being “other” by a racist regime. And, sadly, it probably won’t be the last – we humans seems to specialise in alienating and ostracising others for not being what we deem as “superior” or “correct”.
However, the Jewish Holocaust was an appalling event that still lives fresh in the minds of many. And it is still fertile ground for exploring human behaviour, the miracle of survival under extreme adversity, and the long term impacts of trauma on individuals and families.
It is this reverberating Holocaust truth and its far-reaching fallout that Suzanne Leal brings to life so effectively in her new novel, The Deceptions.
Although the work is fictional, Leal draws on the stories of real people, as told to her by Jewish Holocaust survivors. The tales of human suffering she explores are not new, but it is the way Leal weaves this knowledge into her character narratives that makes this novel so special.
This is a stunning and unexpected story intertwining the past and present. It’s a tale conveyed in several voices. A Jewish woman. A Czech gendarme. The gendarme’s grand-daughter. And a church minister.
Read the article by Suzanne Leal in the Illawarra Mercury.