Nothing is Forgotten

by Peter Golden

 

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes

 Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Washington Square Press;

Reprint edition (March 19, 2019)

From the beloved author of Comeback Love and Wherever There Is Light, comes “a sweeping tale full of humor and heartbreak” (Karin Tanabe, author of The Diplomat’s Daughter) about the life-changing journey of a young man who travels from New Jersey to Khrushchev’s Russia and the beaches of Southern France to discover long-hidden secrets about his heritage.

In 1950s New Jersey, teacher Michael Daniels—or Misha Danielov to his doting Russian-Jewish grandmother—is at loose ends, until he becomes the host of a nightly underground radio show. Not only does the show become a local hit because of his running satires of USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev, but half a world away, it picks up listeners in a small Soviet city.

There, with rock and roll leaking in through bootlegged airwaves, Yulianna Kosoy—a war orphan in her mid-twenties—is sneaking American goods into the country with her boss, Der Schmuggler.

But just as Michael’s radio show is taking off, his grandmother is murdered. Why would anyone commit such an atrocity against such a warm, affable woman? She had always been secretive about her past and, as Michael discovers, guarded a shadowy ancestral history. In order to solve the mystery of who killed her, Michael sets out for Europe to learn where he—and his grandmother—really came from.

“Both heartbreaking and mesmerizing, Nothing Is Forgotten is the sort of book you won’t soon forget…Cold War Europe, lingering Nazi secrets, and the tragic history faced by millions of families not only bring this tale to life but will keep you turning the pages” (Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author) and will appeal to fans of novels by Anita Diamant and Kristin Hannah.

“Golden draws a vivid portrait of the Cold War era, but it is the complex and unexpected connection between Holocaust survivors and their descendants that turns this book into a page-turner.” (RT Book Reviews)

“Nothing Is Forgotten is a Russian nesting doll of plot twists across continents and decades. This cleverly constructed Cold War tale, based on gripping true events, keeps readers eagerly anticipating what lies at its heart.” (Sarah McCoy, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Mapmaker’s Children)

 

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

I shook my head, and he smiled a little sadly—the Russian smile, my grandmother called it, like a weak sun in a winter-gray sky.

 

Named for Mark Twain, whose loathing of Tsarist Russia endeared him to the party, the students spent half the day immersed in the government-blessed curriculum in Russian and the other half taking courses in English, all while a portrait of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, stood guard on a wall of every classroom, glaring at the students as if accusing them of harboring the forbidden desire to own private property.

 

“He is a real magician, my father.” “A magician? Like he pulls rabbits out of hats?” “Like he makes vodka disappear.”

 

I had a new reaction. I imagined smashing the wine bottle over Stenka’s head. Visiting Dachau, I concluded, could make a Jew touchy.

 

Of course, almost everyone loves dead Jews. Jesus was a Jew, no? It is the live Jews who seem to bother people.

 

I feel like I wandered into the middle of a freakish play, and I can’t get off the stage.

 

My Review:

 

Peter Golden has created exceptionally compelling arrangements of words within these 353 pages. His beguiling selections of nouns, verbs, and adjectives were densely packed across two timelines and were highly intriguing, thoughtfully written, mysteriously emotive, poignantly insightful, spiritually devastating, yet highly compelling. His well-crafted storylines were lushly detailed and often held a weighty aura of melancholy, which resulted in a bruised and heavy heart, yet, oddly, I didn’t seem to mind. To deploy his own words out of reference, Mr. Golden is truly a “connoisseur of irony.” He sagely tucked in clever turns of mocking wit and deftly tossed in twists of levity with razor-sharp sarcasm, quips, and sardonic banter. His cunning use of humor felt like delightful treats and often erupted in the most expected of places.

 

This was not an easy book to slice through given the disquieting subject matter, a large cast of unusual and disturbing characters, frequent use of foreign words and names, and unfamiliar cultural references; all of which left me ever so thankful for the translator and Wikipedia function on my tablet. However, I assure you, this masterfully penned tale was well worth the effort. I feel humbly and gratefully enlightened while having gleaned considerable and relevant knowledge in an entertaining manner. Peter Golden has mad skills and a new fan.