Heartbreaking and thought-provoking, Once We Were Home is the story of Jewish children during World War 2 who were taken from their homes for safekeeping. The complexities of their lives after the war was very interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

So well written and very heartbreaking story.
A true story of children.
What happened to the children during the war was awful and the parents, mainly mothers, left behind was horrible too.
There are several books about this very thing but this one was so realistic and so touching. I cried many tears reading it.
It's all about what happened to the children, young children, during the horrors of WW2. A truly heartbreaking story of how some people who took these children. The prejudices that occurred during this time.
This one is based on actual events and will make you weep.

Thank you #NetGalley, #JenniferRosner, #Flatironbooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five huge stars and a five box of tissue read.

This book was utterly brilliant, breathtaking, and heartbreaking. It was one of the best I have read all year. Jennifer Rosner is brilliant, and leaves no historical stone unturned. Her latest is another example for why her books are so unputdownable - fascinating characters, excellent writing, and a plot that keeps you turning the pages. She is at the top of her game with this newest book, and I loved every second of it. I will definitely be ordering a paper copy to have on hand. If you love fiction, especially WWII and what happened to those who survived - then you absolutely must read this one. Ten Stars!

What a unique look at what happened to many of the children who were hidden during WWII. Some children were hidden in convents, taught Catholicism, while some children were placed in non-Jewish homes, forming close ties to their “adopted” families. At the end of the war, an effort was undertaken to reunite children with their surviving members of their families, even though some had no memory of life before they were hidden. Ana and Oskar were placed with a Polish couple who loved them, while Roger was hidden in a convent. Renata is unaware of her background, thinking only that she was born in Germany. As the war ends, the attempts to rescue the children with assumed identities created other issues, even though the Jewish people felt a commitment to reclaim the children after the enormous losses in the Holocaust. I highly recommend this well written and absorbing work of historical fiction. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Requested this book for background reading ahead of editorial feature. Book reviewed very favorably by our members. Average 4.7. See link.

Title: Once We Were Home
Author: Jennifer Rosner
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

When your past is stolen, where do you belong?

Ana will never forget her mother’s face when she and her baby brother, Oskar, were sent out of their Polish ghetto and into the arms of a Christian friend. For Oskar, though, their new family is the only one he remembers. When a woman from a Jewish reclamation organization seizes them, believing she has their best interest at heart, Ana sees an opportunity to reconnect with her roots, while Oskar sees only the loss of the home he loves.

Roger grows up in a monastery in France, inventing stories and trading riddles with his best friend in a life of quiet concealment. When a relative seeks to retrieve him, the Church steals him across the Pyrenees before relinquishing him to family in Jerusalem.

Renata, a post-graduate student in archaeology, has spent her life unearthing secrets from the past--except for her own. After her mother’s death, Renata’s grief is entwined with all the questions her mother left unanswered, including why they fled Germany so quickly when Renata was a little girl.

Two decades later, they are each building lives for themselves, trying to move on from the trauma and loss that haunts them. But as their stories converge in Israel, in unexpected ways, they must each ask where and to whom they truly belong.

I do love World War II historical fiction, but this was an aspect of that period I’d never read about before. What a horrible thing for children to face! The heart wrenching things these children experienced were deftly and evocatively portrayed. I enjoyed the stories of the different children and how everything came together, but I felt like Renata’s story was left almost completely unresolved—and part of Roger’s as well.

Jennifer Rosner lives in Massachusetts. Once We Were Home is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review.)

"Once We Were Home," by Jennifer Rosner, is a well-researched novel about the placement of Jewish sons and daughters with Catholic couples or in convents during World War II. Roger is in a convent in France, where he constantly poses questions about material and spiritual matters. Although he is Jewish, Roger is baptized and taught Catholic rituals and prayers. In 1942, the mother of seven-year-old Mira and three-year-old Daniel Kowalski sends them to live with a Polish couple, Józef and Agata, who pretend that these new arrivals are their niece and nephew. Mira is renamed Anastazja and Daniel becomes Oskar. In addition, in 1968, twenty-eight-year-old Renata (whose childhood was cloaked in secrecy) is heartbroken when her mother dies after a long illness. Along with other Oxford postdoctoral students, she visits Israel to take part in an archaeological dig.

Each chapter focuses on Roger, Ana, Oskar, or Renata. Ana and Renata's hazy recollections of their mothers and fathers still haunt them. Are they meant to forget who they once were and embrace who they are now? What happens when a Jewish youngster pretends to be Catholic in order to survive the Holocaust? Memories may fade, but a person's origins are an integral part of his or her identity.

This is a poignant novel about children who, through no fault of their own, are deprived of a normal upbringing. "Once We Were Home" is disjointed at times, and the author's frequent shifts from one character to another are confusing and distracting. Nevertheless, Rosner does a good job exploring such thought-provoking themes as what constitutes a family; the importance of coming to terms with one's past; and how religious beliefs shape our lives.

The struggles of children growing up in WWII without identity of their parents and loved ones. This book was compelling but difficult to follow.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader's copy. #Netgalley

The more i think I know, the less I really know. In this wonderful WWII story, we learn about four Jewish children who spent the war years housed with people other than their birth families. The people who sheltered these children did so at great risk to themselves. Some of these youngsters were so young when they were sent away to live with others, these homes were all they ever knew, and it was like they were uprooted from all they knew. Ana and Oskar went to live with a childless Polish couple; Ana remembers before, Oskar does not. Roger is brought up in a convent, full of questions about everything and finding support only with a sister and a priest. Renata and her mother went to England and it is years after the war that Renata discovers her family was not all she had been brought up to believe.

There is a wonderful reference to Rosner's previous book, The Yellow Bird Sings.

This book will make you think about yourself and what you truly believe, and what is a home, and maybe make each of us more grateful for our upbringing and our backgrounds. These characters all struggled with family losses, relocation after relocation, giving up families and then, sometimes, finding them again, and creating new families along the way.

As we hear about increasing anti=Semitism and the separation of families along the borders, we realize things have not really changed all that much. Perhaps we can be the instruments of change.

This is story about the lengths families went through to protect their children during WWII. It was heartbreaking to see the separation but the bravery is remarkable. These children losing their identical and their religious roots. However, I found it difficult to follow with the back and forth.. #OnceWeWereHome #JenniferRosner #NetGalley

Rescued or stolen? When Jewish children were hidden in orphanages and with families during WWII in Europe, were they always returned to their families? What if the lives they led there felt like that’s where they belonged? What if some of the children were never given back? These are some of the questions that Jennifer Rosner explores in her novel Once We Were Home. Four main characters drive the plot. Ana and her baby brother Oskar are taken in by a Polish family. Roger grows up in a French monastery. Immediately after the war Renata moves with her mother away from Germany.

Knowing that the story is based on research and interviews make this book stay with you long after reading. This will make a great book club pick.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Once We Were Home
by Jennifer Rosner
Pub. Date: March 14, 2023
Flatiron
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
From Jennifer Rosner, National Jewish Book Award Finalist and author of The Yellow Bird Sings, comes a novel based on the true stories of children stolen in the wake of World War II.
This was a new author for me. The book is a beautifully written, heartbreaking read based on true events.
I was introduced to a little-known program organized after the war for displaced children. I will think about this book for a long time.
I would recommend this for historical fiction fans. It would be a great book club selection.

Once We Were Home is based on the true stories of hidden children, the youngest survivors of the Holocaust who eluded the Nazis by hiding in convents, orphanages, and other places. Jennifer Rosner places four hidden children into families who are living with prejudices true to the 1940’s. Her hidden children are Mira and her baby brother, Daniel, out of a Polish ghetto; Renata, moved to England without explanation by her mother to hide German bloodlines; and Roger, concealed in a Catholic monastery in France. The children must at times hide in plain sight, so Mira becomes Ana, and Daniel, Oskar. Rosner creates dialogue laced with candor and reality as Roger masks his confusion with endless questions, riddles, and jokes. She continues themes from her previous novel, The Yellow Bird Sings, by exploring themes of longing for connection and finding one’s roots.
By 1968, the paths of the young adults intersect in Israel. Rosner sinks readers into each of their adult worlds as they navigate the past; filled with distress and torment, overcoming tribulations and sorrow. Like Renata’s matryoshka dolls, nesting one inside the other, Rosner slowly unveils the familial connections and roots of the four hidden children. She also treats readers to the return of a beloved character from The Yellow Bird Sings.
Rosner’s novel reflects personal interviews and in-depth research of those involved in the redemption of Jewish children. She illuminates the complex and opposing political and religious viewpoints of the adults and organizations involved in the kidnapping, or considered by some to be reclaiming, ransoming, or redeeming of the children. Representing thousands of Jewish children saved, Rosner’s heart wrenching revelations of hidden children in Once We Were Home will persist in readers’ minds for seasons to come.

"Once We Were Home" by Jennifer Rosner
Flatiron Books
March 14, 2023
10-1250855541

“Based on actual occurrences during World War II, this is sure to open the eyes of those skeptics who had questions about the pain and tragedy so many suffered, all to protect their progeny, . . .”

This intensely moving tome commences in 1949 when we meet seven-year-old Roger, who lives in the Convent of Sainte Marie de Scion near Marseille. Currently preparing to be baptized as a Christian, he's been told he "was born to parents whose religion killed Jesus." He is mainly afraid of Sister Chantal, for she supervises his every move and is ready to punish him for any little misdeed. But he likes Sister Brigitte, with whom he can ask questions and not worry about getting his ears boxed.

Roger lives happily in relative confinement with his best friend, Henri. He spends his spare time writing stories and is happy when Sister Brigitte praises him for his imagination. Yet Roger has a nemesis named Albert, a boy the adults think is angelic; however, he is forever mocking and teasing Roger, always making him nervous.

As other boys are being picked up by family members, Sister Brigitte tells him he has no one. His parents placed him at the Saint Vincent nursery when he was three for safekeeping, and it appears they have been lost in the war.

Madame Mercier, the nursery's biggest benefactor, takes charge of Roger, squiring him to church to receive his baptism and then to a monastery, where he is raised by monks in the Catholic faith. When a relative tries to liberate him, the church secrets him so he won’t be found.

Soon he is rescued by his aunt Sarah and whisked off to live with her, his uncle, and two male cousins, where they find the language barrier between French and Spanish somewhat tricky. Though trained as a Catholic, Roger reverts to Judaism and is called Rami, his Hebrew moniker.

In 1942, seven-year-old Mira Kowalski and her brother Daniel, age three, are bathed by their mama, bundled up, and hustled into a car where they're told to crouch onto the floor. Their mama states she is sending them away to keep them safe, saying they'll only be away for a short time. She professes her love for her youngsters while begging Mira to take care of Daniel. Mira is consumed with fear, and she and Daniel are hidden under a blanket as they escape the Polish ghetto to head to the home of a Christian friend of their mother's. With the war blazing, and many of the Jewish faith being transported to camps where they are used for hard, manual labor or executed, Mama realizes this is the only way to save her precious children.

Upon their arrival, their new caregiver states:

"'It's best if you call me ciocia.'
"'But you're not my aunt.' [Said by Mira]
"The woman's cheeks go pink. ‘You will call me Ciocia Agata. And I will call you Anastazja. This will be your name from now on, and your brother will be Oskar. These are the names of my sister's children, my niece, and my nephew. We'll say you're here because my sister, Jadzia, is ill. You mustn't, under any circumstances, use your other names. You're here to be kept safe. Do you understand?'"

As time passes, Mira aka Ana never forgets her mother, though Oskar is too young to share her angst in wanting to find their parents. Not knowing any different, he is content with his new family and being raised as a Christan. He lives a very comfortable existence with his aunt and uncle, who shower both children with love.

More than 20 years pass, and Ana, Oskar, and now Roger now live their lives as adults. Trying to forget their traumatic past and their blood family, Ana cannot stop searching for her beloved mama and re-embracing her Jewish roots. At the same time, Oskar finds it a challenge to embrace his heritage and wants to cling to Christianity.

Ana marries, and before long, Oskar also does, with the siblings living nearby. Though they were raised differently from their birthright, they are siblings, and they share the burdens and trauma they suffered as children while together they put the pieces of their past behind them.

Meanwhile, Roger meets an archeologist named Renata in Israel, whose passion is unearthing relics from long ago. She and Roger are at one with each other, seemingly soul mates, but worries hamper on his part inhibiting further closeness. Renata is working on a dig and misses her recently deceased mother. As she looks to unearth ruins, she ruminates about her childhood and why her mother spirited them both from Germany long ago.

This powerful tale is complicated in many parts. The reader must discern the relationships between the characters, especially with their names being changed; the time difference is inconsistent; and Mira/Ana and Daniel/Oskar’s relationship with Roger and Renate is confusing. In retrospect, the way these loving parents worked diligently to keep their children free from the atrocities of war proves to come full circle after decades. Based on actual occurrences during World War II, this is sure to open the eyes of those skeptics who had questions about the pain and tragedy so many suffered, all to protect their progeny, and how those who endured this horror were able to survive and return to their authentic roots.