Klara (Clara) Philipsborn is a German of Jewish decent. It is 1925 and she travels to Seville, Spain with her two sisters and mother. They are going to stay with her Onkel (Uncle) Julius and her mother informs her and her sister that his family does not know that he or his family are Jewish. It’s a bit strange, hiding her faith but she loves living in Spain and all of it’s history and culture. So much so that sometime after returning to Germany, she decides to go back.

She lands a job in a medical school in Madrid. As much as she loves Spain, she has become well aware of the severe injustices in the country, not so different from the ones she has witnessed in Germany. Once civil war breaks out, she provides medical aide to the injured. She shares all in her diary.

The book is written in the form of Clara’s diary. It is fiction but based on a forgotten relative of Berlowitz that she discovered in some documents. She writes a compelling narrative that whisks the reader away to 1920’s-30’s Germany and Spain. I felt like I was there with Clara. It is very clear to this history lover that Berlowitz did a very through job in her research for the book. Spain, Germany, and the well-crafted characters come to life, thanks to a very creative author! ‘Home So Far Away’ is historical fiction at it’s finest!

This novel is written in diary format, The writer relates her personal experiences clearly and captures the atmosphere in Spain and Germany during the time period she lives in both during the 1930's.. The reader also sees the main character become increasingly involved in the Spanish political scene. It is an interesting and well written book, written in a format different from many others. I struggled with the diary format. I realize it was based on an actual diary the author discovered and based the book on, but I wish she had written this purely as a novel.