Happy Release Day!
Congrats Susan
on the release today of
Klara's Truth!
Klara's Truth by Susan Weissbach Friedman
Historical Fiction, 280 pages
Published June 11, 2024 by She Writes Press
It is May 2014, and Dr. Klara Lieberman—forty-nine, single, professor of archaeology at a small liberal arts college in Maine, a contained person living a contained life—has just received a letter from her estranged mother, Bessie, that will dramatically change her life. Her father, she learns—the man who has been absent from her life for the last forty-three years, and about whom she has long been desperate for information—is dead. Has been for many years, in fact, which Bessie clearly knew. But now the Polish government is giving financial reparations for land it stole from its Jewish citizens during WWII, and Bessie wants the money. Klara has little interest in the money—but she does want answers about her father. She flies to Warsaw, determined to learn more.
In Poland, Klara begins to piece together her father’s, and her own, story. She also connects with extended family, begins a romantic relationship, and discovers her repairing the hundreds of forgotten, and mostly destroyed, pre-War Jewish cemeteries in Poland. Along the way, she becomes a more integrated, embodied, and interpersonally connected individual—one with the tools to make peace with her past and, for the first time in her life, build purposefully toward a bigger future.
My thoughts about Klara's Truth ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"It was the first spring-like day Klara could remember in what felt like forever, a whopping sixty-two degrees."
Historical fiction has become one of my favorite genres to read, especially stories of WWII. Klara's Truth gives us a look at a different spin on the war story. When Klara finds out about her past, a past her mother selfishly kept from her, she immediately travels to Poland to try to reclaim her heritage and the family that was taken from her.
Right away, I felt comfortable with the characters and enjoyed the storyline. Klara's journey of discovery was pretty rocky as well as being interesting. As she figures out her past and rediscovers what it means to have family, she also learn a lot about herself and why she feels unlovable. Can she heal from her past?
I thoroughly enjoyed Klara's Truth and recommend it to historical fiction lovers. It was a refreshing, eye-opening look at the aftermath of the war as well as giving hope to those left behind. Check it out!
I received a copy of Klara's Truth from the publisher and this is my honest opinion.
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About the author
Susan Weissbach (Friedman) is a psychotherapist with a specialty in women’s issues, family therapy, and trauma-focused therapy. A graduate of Hamilton College, Boston University’s MSW/MPH program, and the Ackerman Institute for Couples and Families, she is also EMDRIA certified and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and has been a practicing clinician for more than twenty-five years (she is not accepting new clients).
Originally from Long Island, she now lives in Westchester County, New York, where she enjoys practicing yoga and mindfulness, going for walks in nature, listening to music, and spending time near the ocean. Susan has been married to her husband for thirty years and has two daughters in their twenties. Klara’s Truth is her first novel.
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