I seem to be in the vast minority here, but I didn’t love this book. Alice Hoffman, author of magical realism gems like Practical Magic and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, excels at weaving fantastical, enchanting tales. While The World That We Knew retains the elements Hoffman is known for, it fell flat for me and I found the narrative tedious in many respects.

At the outbreak of WWII, Jewish mother Hanni Kohn knows that she must get her daughter, Lea, out of Berlin if she’s to have any chance of survival. With an ailing mother who cannot walk, Hanni cannot accompany her daughter across the border, so she contacts a rabbi who she hopes will make her a golem, a mystical creature of Jewish lore who is sworn to protect whomever it is made for. When the rabbi refuses, his daughter Ettie does the dangerous job in his place.

The golem, named Ava, looks and acts like a human woman, but is stronger and has no feelings. She swears to Hanni to protect Lea, and soon Lea, Ava, Ettie, and Ettie’s sister, Marta, board a train to Paris where they plan to begin their lives anew under false French names.

After arriving in Paris, I had a hard time staying invested in any of the branching narratives, following Ettie on a mission for revenge or Lea and Ava as they grow closer to the French family that harbors them. The women move around France and meet new people so often that I had often forgotten characters’ names when they were mentioned again later in the book. Tragic tales of sickness and loss were sprinkled throughout the text, but often in relation to characters (the doctor, for example) to whom the reader had barely been introduced.

While I wanted The World That We Knew to combine to winning elements of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale with Hoffman’s The Foretelling, I unfortunately found myself fighting to stay interested in this story. I’d recommend other WWII stories, such as All the Light We Cannot See and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society before this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Its 1941 and the Nazi's are invading Berlin. Hanni Kohn sends her daughter away to save her from the Nazi Regime. Ettie a rabbi's daughter runsaway from home to save herself from the Nazi Regime and Ava who is a Jewish Mystical creature created to keep Lea safe.

I loved this book. I usually do not pick up a book with magical realism because it's not for me but this only had a tad bit in it. The flow of the story worked so well for me that I finished it quickly. This story broke my heart over and over again into tiny little pieces. Some of the characters we meet and their back story oh my heart couldn't handle it. This story is written beautifully and wondered how the author was going to end it. Great job!

THANK YOU Netgalley and Simon & Shuster for providing and ARC of The World That We Knew By Alice Hoffman

This book was beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time!! I absolutely loved it!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I thought this was a pretty amazing book! I am not into reading about magic or mythical creatures but for this story it truly went hand in hand. Horrible time period to read about and at times was heart wrenching as in all WW2 books I read are. Wonderful characters that you root for and very well written book. If you are looking for something different with a good versus evil tale, this is one to get into. I would definitely recommend. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

Hoffman has outdone herself in her new historical novel set in France during World War II. It is the story of five young people--4 Jews and one French Protestant--whose lives intersect under desperate conditions. Of course magic infuses the whole narrative and in this emotionally heightened setting magic seems completely normal.

Five stars for sure. This was a beautiful book. Even throughout reading about the brutality of the era, unconditional love, loyalty, and bonds between those in need were evident. World War II was a horrific time. Horrible things happened. This book will be hard to read for some.

The magical realism is well represented and a genre that I have never explored. I had to stop and research a lot of the book, but I learned a great deal in doing so.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone, although it will no be for everyone.

Funny, I stopped reading a WWII book to read THIS WWII book. This is a story from a few different perspectives, so there is that jumping around. But it's easy to follow and really great story that pulls you in.

And as always, just enough magic to make it fun. One of the characters is a golem and it comes from her point of view as well.

Oooo, really it was so good!

Again Hiffman is able to weave reality and wishful fantasy into a wonderful tale of of good versus evil, hope versus despair, and the power of love in all it’s possible incarnations. These include but are not limited to parental/familial love, romantic love, love of friends, love of country, love of ideals, innocent love and tragic love. Though there are a flood of World War II novels, Hoffman creates a whole new experience for the reader when we look through her lens. She sings us a song of bravery, hope, pain, joy, fear, anger, courage, loyalty, selflessness and both the power and the frailty of the human condition. There is no unnecessary characters, no extraneous digressions. You will be moved by your memorable journey through this world.

Stop the presses! Hands down the best book of the year! Someone needs to call Gwendoline Christie and get this made into a movie straightaway!,

To sum this book up in one word: magic.

Hoffman's novel is set in France during the Nazi occupation. Its main characters are a young group of refugee German Jews and Parisian Jews, along with a few French citizens, most of whom become involved in the resistance. This could make The World that We Knew interesting enough, but added to the mix is a rich layer of magical realism. A young girl, Lea, one of the German refugees has had to flee home at her mother's orders, leaving both her mother and grandmother behind.

In order to protect Lea, her mother convinces a rabbi's rebellious daughter to make a golem, a creature of clay brought to life by Judaic magic. The golem, alive but not human, is charged with protecting Lea. So the story Hoffman takes us into in not just a story of loss and resistance, but one about the nature of human identity itself. Ava, the golem, becomes an increasingly complex, and increasingly human, as the story progresses.

The novel's end is perfect—happy and tragic and inevitable and redemptive all at once. Hoffman's weaving together of these these different stories is deft and engrossing. As I said at the beginning: magical.

Alice Hoffman is the queen of magical realism and with good reason. I was drawn into the world that Hoffman created through her vivid descriptions and poignantly drawn characters. The best World War II book I've read yet, aside from All The Light We Cannot See.

Another magical read by Alice Hoffman. I would have finished this book in one sitting if life would have allowed. A perfect blend of history, folklore, mysticism and love kept me glued to the story. I see this becoming a movie. And as I read the book I saw each character so clearly.

This is a FANTASTIC historical fiction book
It takes place in Paris between 1941-1945, during the war and holocaust.
Its not real graphic but does explain what was done to so many people at that time and how the world was.
The story explains about what happens to a hand full of different families and how their lives were intertwined.
The author explains that she wrote this book because of an encounter she had with a survivor of that time period.
The women asked her to write about the holocaust" so people would not forget"
This is a fiction story with real life written in and it made the story so much more brilliant.
The author is so amazing at explaining everything from what the characters look like to what the streets of Paris look like, It made me see it all in my mind.

I was not interested in history or anything to do with any of the wars that happened in the past, I'm so glad I looked past that and read this story. It was so much more than just that. This is about human tragedy, about mothers and sisters and brothers love for one another and how love will give you a will to live.

I believe anyone with an interest in wanting to know what the past was like to pick up this book.
It was a truly fantastic read!

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, Simon and Schuster and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The name Alice Hoffman is synonymous with the phrase 'excellent writing'. This book lives up to, and in this reviewers opinion, surpasses that comparison. The story's basis being the Holocaust and survival, she has still been able to touch on the magic of everyday things without becoming fantastical and detracting from the very serious subject matter. Ms. Hoffman continues to enchant with that most magical of all things, a story about love overcoming all.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley. Hoffman is a gifted writer and this book does not disappoint. Set in 1941, this tale of WWII era with 3 unforgettable women grasped my attention. There's love and sacrifice together in this powerful novel. Thank you!

Alice Hoffman's WWII magical realism novel captures your interest with a cast of intriguing characters including a mystical Golem, Ava, created to protect a young girl, Lea, from the Nazis. They travel to France to escape Berlin and arrive shortly before the French government is taken over by the Nazis. They and the people they meet along the way go into hiding and join the resistance.

Love and sacrifice as well as the uncertainty of life and death figure of prominently in the story. What makes us human is another theme explored in this well written book.

I have enjoyed many books by this author and this one did not disappoint.

What a wonderful book. I'm still thinking about it hours later. A story of such tragic loss with hope, love and mystical fantasy intertwined. I generally steer away from fantasy but I love this author's work so dug right in and was not disappointed. I highly recommend this book

I like Alice Hoffman though my love for her books is uneven. [she is quite prolific; one can't be expected to like/love them all equally]. This one--not such much. 3.5 but cannot round up--I am [again] in the minority. Perhaps I needed to take more of a break from WWII/Holocaust novels though this is not a bash over the head/concentration camp tome. Rather, it is deals more with other issues such as the resistance/Vichy France, and the plight of Jewish orphans. And, it is one of Hoffman's magic realism/mystical reads--though in spurts [and more towarrds the end].

Good vs evil, love and loss, what is real? [lots of magical realism/folk tales].

Ettie, daughter of a rabbi, creates a golem--named Ava--at the behest of Hanni Kohn. Ava's charge is to protect Lea, Hanni's daughter---and to leave Berlin with her. It is primarily a story of these women [and more--e.g., Madeleine/Marie, (mother superior) , Marianne--a farmer's daughter, and Bobeshi, Lea's grandmother [the source of many folk tales of wolves, etc]. Men also have a role--in particular Victor and Julien Levi, Dr. Girard, a heron, and Azriel, the Angel of Death.

Certainly well-written. I think my favorite phrase was "...the air was eggshell thin." I liked Ava the most--she was a fully developed character though I don't believe that was her creator's intention.

One detraction for me was that I predicted nearly every story arc. And no spoiler from me--the ending.

I have become a huge fan of Alice Hoffman based on this book. This was a fascinating mix of both fantasy and historical fiction - two genres I would not have expected to be paired together, or paired as well as she's managed to do. There is no shortage of books based on Nazi Germany and the holocaust; there are a lot of them, frankly. Some good, some not so good, and that's not necessarily a complaint. What Hoffman managed to do is tell a story that's been told over and over again, in a way that (for me, at least) brings a fresh new perspective and made me feel like it was the first time I'd read about it. Hoffman focused not on the concentration camps, but on the Jews who chose to stand up and fight for their right to simply live their lives. The addition of mythical creatures and the Angel of Death added an interesting and unexpected twist that kept the book moving for me. The characters were so alive and real for me, and Hoffman has an amazing way with words that transports you into the story before you even realize it.

Solid 4.5 stars, and highly recommend!

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman is a breathtaking novel set mainly in occupied France 1940s during WWII. It also incorporates Berlin as well.
The novel interweaves several characters (Lea/Hanni/Ava, Marriane/Victor/Julien/Ettie/Henri, amongst many other fascinating souls).
The author is brilliant at creating a masterpiece that builds slowly, but surely, with a complexity that is truly divine. The ending so true, satisfying, yet leaves your heart aching, is a lasting tribute to the souls that were lost during this unspeakable time.
The religious aspects that are added throughout (Protestant, Catholicism, and Judaism) gives the book meaning and purpose that takes your breath away.
I usually do not read books that have a mystical/third-world component, and this is the first book that I have read by Ms. Hoffman, but I have to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and also felt that it fit perfectly with the story, as if it belonged there amongst the living.
The imagery was beautifully done, and the descriptions of how the characters felt, what emotions they wrestled through, the sacrifices they made, were just amazing.
The heron was truly my favorite aspect of the story.
Even if you normally do not read fiction that has a mystic component, you need to break that pattern and read this.
I truly have to say this is a top book for me this year, it was just that great.

5/5 stars enthusiastically

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.