I Liked the idea Of this book but in reading it it just fell short for me. I would have liked to see more from Clare’s point of view. The story of Annelise was good however. I doubt we will purchase this for our library due to so many other World War II books
Out right now.

I enjoyed this book so much I bought my own paper copy to have on my bookshelf. Ms. Fox weaves quite a story, and I couldn't put it down. I really loved that it is based on her own ancestors' letters, especially knowing the bits from the letters were word-for-word.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to read another Holocaust story but I enjoyed this one. Told from a different angle about people who were able to get out and hoped to bring family to join them later. Also a good story about the dynamics of the mother daughter bond.

Send for Me, I read this book because I really was so captivated by the Blurb and the reviews I was reading all around. as a fan of WW2 books, I was ready to immerse myself in the world of Send for me.

This is the story of Annelise, her granddaughter Clare found some letters about her grandmother's past, something that will change her life forever. Immerse in Annelise story we get to find out what happened during those days, Annelise was working with her family in a bakery trying to survive like any other family but when the war started everything, every dream, every hope started to fail, her life was in danger as well as the life of many Jews in Germany but life gave her the opportunity to go to America with her husband and daughter to try to start a new life out of the evilness of the Nazis.

Even in America, things were never the same, she still had to work hard to have a roof and food to eat but what really broke me of this book was the letters of Annelise's mother, I always felt like Annelise was not really making any effort to save her family in Germany, the sadness and desperation of her mother in each letter really broke me, I really don't know if the writer did this intentionally or it was a product of my imagination but I felt like Annelise never did something strong enough to help them, she was more immersed in her new life and somehow it felt like she distanced herself emotionally from what was happening.

at one point the author hints like Annelise is having doubts about her feelings towards her husband and that also kind of made me feel out of sorts.

Send for Me it's a good book but something really was missing and I found myself at all times very depress and sad with the story, the feeling was always like that, not even at the last minutes of the book I felt any happiness in the characters, it was like the book was eternal sadness.

The characters never smile or at least I don't recall any happiness or any moment of joy.. as a reader there was not a part in the story that I felt enjoyable.. at one point the book ended so abruptly that I didn't get the feeling of closure for many of the characters. At some point, we were talking about the destiny of Annelise, and in the next chapter, we were at the end of the book talking about Claire so at that moment I really felt like the stories of many characters were never concluded.

I have mixed feelings about the story but I'm determined to give this book a second chance and see if I missed something or definitely is a very sad book.

Overall I suggest you give it a chance and make your own conclusions.

This is a beautiful story that brings together multiple generations. This story shows a current generation realizing the struggles and sacrifices made by the generations before them. Fleeing Germany as the Nazi party continues to rise, Annelise leaves her mother behind, taking her husband and young daughter to America to start a new life. After her death, Annelise's granddaughter discovers letters Annelise wrote home and sees a whole new side to her grandmother. This story is a quick read that grabbed me quickly and held me through the end. It is a great read and highly recommended.

Send for me is a beautiful and deeply personally take on the historical novel. I really loved reading it, and appreciated some of the very unique elements of the novel.

See my full video review, which goes live 2/9/2021 at 12pm: https://youtu.be/4dFIygvUTpc

I don't love historical fiction, and I tend to stray away from any World War II books (you know, the ones with the woman walking away from the reader and a plane in the sky?) but against all odds, I decided to read this one. I am so glad I did. The story flip flops between the early stages of the war in Germany and modern-day Wisconsin and spans generations of women. It's poetic (but not overly so) and it is very easy to fall in love with Annalise and Clare. My only complaints are I didn't really connect with Klara (she felt clingy and a little annoying though perhaps I just missed a deeper connection to her desperation and love) and I wish it was longer! The book almost felt a little unresolved, keeping it from that perfect 5 stars for me. If you're looking for a deeply satisfying conclusion you'll most likely be a little disappointed. However, I couldn't put it down (read in two sittings) so it is 100% worth it to me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advanced read in exchange for an honest review!

Just finished #SendForMe by Lauren Fox. It’s a quiet, beautifully moving book that switches between multiple generations of a Jewish family in Germany and Wisconsin. Really poignant and timely given the separation of families happening now. Loved & read it in a day. 💕 Thank you to @netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for my ARC. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

What begins as a story about a Jewish family enduring the increasingly dangerous life in their beloved German town, becomes a story about the generational impact of the treatment of Jews during the Nazi regime. Annelise is a lovable girl who works at her family bakery and grows up as conditions deteriorate for the Jewish members of the community. Arriving in the USA as refugees, Annelise and her husband attempt to adapt to Midwest life. Each day finds them living in two worlds, their new community and that of their family and life left behind in Germany. This novel, based on letters in possession of the author’s family, portrays how the struggles and trauma can continue to impact the lives of surviving family members. This is what I look for in a novel: characters I care about and writing that creates a vision of their world.

This is the tale of one family and their lives as the Nazis constrict life as they have known it; but it’s also a romance, a story about parents and children, the temptation of forbidden love, birth, and death. Many themes—and only so many pages.

The narrative floats by a bit breezily, considering the subject matter, and employs fragments of letters whose meaning isn’t clarified until partway through. This feels like a well-intentioned book but, although it has place and time to provide context and to spur action/drama, the place and time could be nearly any decade; it comes across as a convenient dramatic choice instead of a story that could only exist around WWII. The lack of specificity may be part of why the story appears to want to be many stories at once without really providing meat to sink a reader’s teeth into.

Overall, a quick read that attempts so much it cuts itself short on the depth needed to make it move from being an okay book to a good one.

Thank you to NetGalley & Lauren Fox for access to this story.

This story follows Anneliese from the early days of WWII in Germany to her emigration to the States just before things got really bad and her desperation to get her parents out too. It also follows Clare, Anneliese’s granddaughter as she tries to find her way in the world. This story is not only a story of wartime but it’s about the relationships between mothers and daughters.

I gave it a 4 star because and this is probably because this was an unedited version and the chapters weren’t defined as you would expect. I also felt it ended rather abruptly and I thought to myself, am I missing something and turned back a few pages to reread and make sure I didn’t. This is a lighter WWII story though you can feel the emotional roller coaster the characters are on. It makes for a decent weekend read

Send For Me is a departure from her normal writing. In this book, Fox writes about family history. When Annelise and her husband are finally forced to leave German before World War II, she is forced to leave her parents behind. They find a new life in Midwest America. After Annalise’s death, her daughter, Ruth, and granddaughter, Clare, find letters written to Annalise from her mother. This story of love comes full circle as Ruth and Clare realize what the cost of freedom was to Annalise. It is the story of being a mother and child facing dark times.

Send for Me by Lauren Fox is a World War Two historical fiction novel perfect for fans of We Were the Lucky Ones. The work is based on the real life of Fox’s grandparents who are fictionalized in the book as the couple Anneliese and Walter, both Jews fleeing from the Nazis. This book follows Lise and Walter from their time in Germany to the new home within the United States and is highlighted with beauty, tragedy, and above all else, family. I greatly enjoyed this book!

Beautifully written yet heartrending, Send for Me tells the story of several generations of a German family who flee the clutches of Nazism and then desperately try (and fail) to bring the rest of the family to safety in America. Based on letters the author found among her family's possessions, this story captures the deep emotions of fear and failure entangled with loyalty and loss. We first meet Annelise as a reluctant participant in her family's bakery business, something she continues to do even after she marries Walter and starts a family. There is a crescendo of losses and ill-feeling towards her nominally Jewish family, though she feels that each individual change is minor and bearable at the time. Suddenly everything must change when Walter's childhood friend, now in the SS, warns him that his "name has come up," and it's time to leave. Now.
While Annelise knows that escaping to Milwaukee is the best option for her family, she aches for all that she left behind at home. Her things. Her nice apartment. Her parents, doting grandparents to her daughter, Ruth. Despite promises to find sponsors and help with visa applications, Annelise becomes increasingly aware that getting her parents out may not happen.
Meanwhile, Annelise's granddaughter, Clare, struggling to find love herself, finds her grandmother's letters from Germany and hopes to learn more about her family. Is she ready to leave all that she knows for a chance at happiness in a new place?
First time reading this author for me, and I enjoyed her writing.
Recommended
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

I love WWII novels and though this was took place before the war happened, the circumstance for what was to come was certainly clear in this story. Overall, I really liked the story and how it wove through 3 generations of women within the same family. It was extra special since the author included excerpts of actual letters between the women in her family from that time. I had a slight issue with the formatting, but this was a quick read and a very powerful one. Thank you to Netgalley and Netgalley and Doubleday for the ARC.

Send for Me by Lauren Fox was another emotional historical fiction detailing the loss and heartbreak of the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on the concentration camps, as a lot of World War II books do, this focused on emigrating to the US, and having to leave all their friends and family behind in a war torn country.

I enjoyed this book. I loved to read the little snippets of the letters from her Mother, which were all real letters she had sent in the 30s and 40s. I wish the narration would have been more of a 1st person, or like we were living in her world. I felt like the writing was telling a story from long ago, and we were never in Annaliese's shoes. The ending was also so abrupt. I couldn't believe I had reached the end when I saw the acknowledgments. I'm not sure what I expected as an ending, but it wasn't that. I didn't feel like I had enough of Clara's story either.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read Historical fiction/Holocaust survival stories, or just looking for an emotional read.

What a lovely, lovely book! An intense and complicated story of family, loss, and mothers and daughters over five generations, this story is powerful.
We start with Klara and Julius in Germany, on to their daughter Annelise, granddaughter Ruthie, and ultimately Clare, the great granddaughter who finds heartbreaking letters; that impact her greatly.
Reading any historical fiction set during WWII we know that Holocaust survivors and their children experienced an excoriating life, of pain, and lost chances.
It took a little bit for me to get into this book reading into the book, but Lauren Fox has done a tremendous job of weaving these generations of women.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC.

An intense and complicated story of family, loss and mothers and daughters over five generations, the story is powerful. Starting with Klara and Julius in Germany, to their daughter Annelise, granddaughter Ruthie, and ultimately Clare, the great granddaughter who finds letters that impact her greatly. Owning a bakery, Klara trains her daughter to work there until the laws change and not only is their business closed down, but their friends begin to reject them based on their “blood”. We know early on that Annelise and Walter end up in Milwaukee, receiving heartbreaking letters from Germany as visas and approvals fail to come through. The letters are heartbreaking, and impact Clare’s ability to be happy. Holocaust survivors and their children experience life in such a different light, of pain, of evil and lost chances. Although it took me reading into the book a bit before getting the tone and rhythm of the writing, the author has done a wonderful job of weaving these generations of women. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Fox’s writing style is spare and yet still presents a clear full narrative with well written character development. Spanning four generations of women from pre-Nazi Germany through the great granddaughter, this is a story of leaving and also staying and what that means. Each woman haunted by the souls of the others.

This is a poignant story about a daughter who escapes and parents who didn't. It's told through letters Annelise writes to her daughter Ruth. Clare the granddaughter finds these letters and is stunned by their significance. Beautifully written and good character development.