Penned by Kenan Hamilton
I personally have never read any historical fiction novels until The Forest of the Vanishing Stars. I will say once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down.
The main character of this novel is Yona, who is stolen from her Berlin home at the age of years old by an old woman (Jerusza). She takes her into the woods to live with her and teach her, her way of life. Jerusza sees things and feels that she has saved Yona from a terrible future. Yona is taught everything about survive in the woods and chooses to remain there even after Jerusza’s death.
In 1942, Yona encounters Jews are attempting to evade the Nazi’s by escaping into the forest. Throughout this story, Yona teaches the people she encounters her way of survival in the forest and how to use it to their advantage.
Although before Jerusza’s death, Yona has never had any human contact outside of a young boy she met as a teen for mere moments on two separate occasions. We read as Yona learns about developing relationship, love and loss. It is definitely a journey of highs and lows.
For me this was a unique book and one that I would recommend to others and may even reread myself one day. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
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