A very unique perspective on a topic that has been written about so many times. What more can be said about the Holocaust that hasn’t been said already? Quite a lot apparently!
I really liked this one. Filled with heartbreaking moments that take your breath away. There is also a very magical element to it as well and leaves the reader feeling gutted and hopeful.

In her short novel, The Most Precious of Cargoes, Jean-Claude Grumberg tells the story of a poor woodcutter’s wife who desperately desires a child of her own. Every week she waves to a train that passes by the forest where she lives, and although she does not know its purpose or destination, she longs to be one of its passengers. However, little does she know that those who board this train are headed to a place of unspeakable horrors. When a young father makes the gut wrenching decision to toss one of his most precious gifts out of the train car’s window, both lives are irrevocably changed.

Grumberg’s lyrical, and oftentimes poetic, writing exquisitely describes the horrors of the Holocaust during the second World War. Although it is less than 100 pages, the novel is a powerful depiction of family, redemption, and the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love. I highly recommend this devastating, yet beautiful, story.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperVia, and Jean-Claude Grumberg for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a short story/fairytale about a woman who lives in a forest and adopts and rescues a Jewish child bound for a death camp in World War 2. This was an interesting and different story set amongst the historical horrors of the Holocaust. I enjoyed the originality and the writing style of this book. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this Arc.

The Most Precious of Cargoes is a lovely novella about characters adjacent to the Holocaust. It is structured as a fairy tale and very well-done in keeping with the traditions of the genre. At the end, I both wanted it to be longer and recognized that the ending was just as it should be. Recommended!

What an unsuspecting gem of a book. This will be a very short review as it is a very tiny book at under 100 pages, and I also think this is best to experience this with fresh eyes.

Written as a fairy-tale, this takes place during World War II. A Jewish family has to make a tough choice, with their twins. If they keep them both, they will both die, if they leave one behind, they have a fighting chance to save at least one. The twin girl is found by the wood-cutter’s wife and she feels she has been given a gift from god. That is where I will leave you to finish this tale.

This is a gorgeous story, that left me in the end with my jaw dropped. What the author packs into this little book is so powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful. This won’t take more than hour of your time, but we will be all the better for reading this.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperVia for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the sort of book which I will still think about years from now. The story of a father who makes a split second decision to attempt to save his child. The story of a woman who wants a child so desperately and who's prayers are answered. The story has a fairy tale quality and is a work of fiction, but is all too true and has been reenacted over and over throughout history.
A small but very powerful book.

This Holocaust story, told in fairy tale style, brings readers in to the horrors of WWII. Both fanciful and stark, the story showcases life in a time that many have chosen to forget. This story is powerful in it's bold telling, and yet it creates a sort of hazed reality around the central plot that invites the reader to keep reading, even at the hardest points.

The author creates a very clever twist by combining the fairy tale appeal with actual historic events.
The woodcutters wife wanting a child, has been seen before in literature, but the story line is written as a fairy tale, while allowing the reader to recognize actual events from the past (WW 2). The innocence and simple mindedness of the poor woodcutter’s wife during those times seems realistic , and as the events unfold the story becomes a heartbreaking tale of sense of family and loyalty during hardships, and the question of what family really means.
Hard to put down , highly recommended

THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES
BY JEAN-CLAUDE GRUMBERG

This fable that was really about the Holocaust needed to be written and deserves a wide audience of reader's everywhere is a story that I will try my hardest to do justice. It had the same vibe that resonated with me as Eowen Ivey's "The Snow Child," except this dream-like magical realism is written with the real history of horror.

A young father, married with two twin babies--both a girl and a boy has to make the unimaginable choice of throwing one of his twin babies out of a train window in between the bars. He does this out of anguish and at the same time he harbors some kind of hope that this unfathomable action that he is saving both beloved babies. His wife's milk has dried up and just maybe by some miracle the baby that he throws out the window will be found by someone with the means to feed it hence keeping both babies alive. But what a haunting and harrowing ordeal this is for him because he cannot choose...but is forced to just pick up one of the twin's so quickly that choice never enters his mind. Ever.

He faces the admonishment of his disbelieving wife who can never understand must agree with his action. He doesn't even agree with his action. Some self survival mode kicks in from his reptilian brain--his most primitive part of his brain for a hope of survival for all four of them. He prays that he is doing what is best for his wife and both twin's. Perhaps the both twin's will survive...

Watching this train pass by this most dense forest is the waiting, loving arms of a woodcutter's wife. She cannot believe her good fortune. Her greatest wish has just been answered by God. She has just received the greatest gift that she has spent her adult year's wishing for. A baby to love fiercely and cherish. How will she feed it? At first her husband the woodcutter is angry. Why has his wife burdened him with the worry of another mouth to feed? Once he hears this female baby's heartbeat--with the same synchronicity of his own it is love at first sight for him all of a sudden.

The woodcutter's wife strikes up a bargain with a man in this densely treed forest for an armload of wood in exchange for a cup of milk from his goat. This is a labor of love. Then one night the heartless and soulless come for the baby. They mean to do it harm. "Run!!!" The woodcutter gives his own life for this toddler by distracting those who plan to do it harm by giving up his own life in order to save his wife and his adopted daughter.

After the war the biological father happens to recognize his daughter with a woman selling goat cheese at a market. His heart overflows with love when he sees that not only has his daughter survived but has thrived. At the same time his grateful heart is filled with the sorrow of the loss of his only daughter, he knows he must love her from afar and leave her with her adopted mother because they both look so happy. He can see the love between them and it is deep. He moves on.

Sometimes the greatest losses we face we are able to bear them knowing that our loved ones are happy and leave them where they are. It is with both a light and heavy heart that this father is able to walk away and let his daughter believe that she is right where she needs to be.

Publication Date: September 29, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Jean-Claude Grumberg and HarperCollins Publishing for gifting me this ARC of this gem of a story that is both heartbreaking and beautiful in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #TheMostPreciousofCargoes #HarperCollinsPublishing #JeanClaudeGrumberg

A dismal feeling story about WWII with a fairy-tale flavor. A sad and engaging story, but just one that I don’t feel we need. We are never in need of more WWII stories in our collection, as it feels we get more each year.

A once upon a time fairy tale about a childless woman and her gift of a precious child tossed to her from a moving train. The time frame is during WWIi and the train is carrying Jewish families to concentration camps. This is a short story but it is packed with emotion, grief and pure maternal love. I very much enjoyed this book told in a fairy tale fashion.

I am not sure what age this book would be suited for. I enjoyed the book and the story drew me in and I completed it in one day. It is a quick read. I felt for the woodcutter husband and wife and I love the way the child came to them. There was violence in this book but it was the holocaust. I think this book might be great for middle schools required reading. It tells the true story of the war in a way of a novel that is quick to draw you in. It is also a story of "changed" hearts and deep love in the midst of terrible times.

The Most Precious of Cargoes reads as if you are hearing someone read a you a grim fairy tale. It is short, simple, and powerful. It is a story of despair and hope during WWII. The Most Precious of Cargoes will stay with me forever. I definitely recommend.