In Shadows We Carry, Meryl Ain continues the life stories of Second-Generation Holocaust Survivors introduced in The Takeaway Men. “Second generation” refers to the children of Holocaust survivors who were born after the great cataclysm and grew up in its shadow.” Meryl Ain’s sequel is set in the U. S. during the turbulent ‘60’s and ‘70’s as the fraternal Lubinski twins, Bronka and JoJo, navigate marriage, family expectations and face quotas for women in professional careers. Readers are enveloped in the social and political unrest after the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the implications of the Viet Nam war. These events have a great emotional impact on Bronka, JoJo, their work cohorts, friends, and neighbors. The theme of gender identity is also dealt with through Bronka’s longtime boyfriend Ned as he searches for answers and portrays only the socially acceptable side of being gay in the 1970’s.
Meryl Ain weaves the heavy inherited guilt of these young men and women with the emotional trauma their parents and neighbors have survived. How do the daughters deal with the family responsibilities, the guilt, and the truth of their lineage? Through layers of emotionally charged dialogue between parents, father-daughter, and budding relationships, the prejudices of the times come to the surface. Catholic and Jewish concepts are treated with an empathetic, omniscient view, as Father Stan, a Catholic priest explores his Jewish heritage. The common themes of captivity, freedom, and covenants in the Christian and Jewish religions are highlighted.
Meryl Ain deftly weaves the rich tradition, culture, and beliefs of a Jewish family throughout the narrative but especially poignant are the Seder meal and Passover celebrations. A glossary of Jewish terms along with a cast of characters and background from the first novel is included.
Meryl Ain’s novel finally transports Bronka and JoJo, as second-generation survivors, to the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in 1983 for a Lubinski reunion. As Aron Lubinski reminds his family, “Each generation must learn to live with the Shadows We Carry.”

After having enjoyed The Takeaway Men, I found myself a little disappointed in this second novel. The characters met in the first book seem one-dimensional and underdeveloped and the plots banal and bland. Only my opinion.

i really enjoyed this story, i loved the pov's of each character and even though i didnt read the takeaway. i didnt think i needed too. definitely recommend.

thanks netgalley and publisher.

all thoughts and opinions are my own and arent influenced by anyone else

Can you ever escape your family history?

In this story, we follow twin sisters JoJo and Bronka, as they explore their identites as first generation immigrants in American after their family's survival of the Holocaust. These two women attempt navigate their lives in relation to their difficult familial history and the influence of their religion and faith, in addition to societal norms/expectations of women at the time, and the ever changing political climate. While both sisters are introduced, the novel mainly follows Bronka's perspective. This is a sequel to author's novel The Takeaway Men. I have not read the prequel, but I didn't feel that it hindered me in reading Shadows We Carry once I established the characters and their relations to one another. The author does a fine job at giving enough pretext that this novel can read as a standalone.

This story briefly mentioned a lot of history during the 1960/70s, a tumultuous time in American history. The story touched upon themes such as emerging feminism, the civil rights movement, the protests in opposition of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, the Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy assassinations, amongst others. I do think that if the author took the time to mention these events that the story could have been a little more immersed in the history of this period. The characters briefly flirted with some of these major historical events, but it ultimately ended up feeling like a passing thought. I did particularly enjoy Bronka's occasional emerging realizations of inequality between women and men during this time, and establishing her place in a male dominated field of work, as it still feels very relevant to present day.

I think the biggest theme overall was uncovering our family's history, and how closely the secrets and events of that past are tied to how we shape our future. How can we separate ourselves from the past and forge our own way forward?

I struggled a little in reading this novel with how the writing transitioned between the point of views of other characters in the book which occurred infrequently, and randomly mid-chapter. These shifts in POV threw me off a little bit. I understand that it was important for us to learn the thoughts and minds of these characters to build the story, however, since the story was predominately told by Bronka, the sudden shift to a different perspective mid-chapter and then back again felt a little inorganic. There were also a few sub-stories occurring simultaneously to Bronka's story that were introduced and then not addressed again until a few sentences appeared near the end of the novel. For example, we were introduced to Mindy's big revelation of who her father was, and then we didn't see Mindy again until the end where the author wrote a few brief lines letting us know what had happened to her. Minor secondary storylines like this probably could have been left out without taking away from the main themes of the story.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I was invested in learning how the story would unfold and ultimately conclude.

Pub date: 25 April 2023

Thank you to SparkPress and NetGalley for this ARC. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

A heart-warming, uplifting historical fiction that can make you life, cry and smile. I didn't read the book before this, The Takeaway Men, however you don't need to as there's a list of the characters and the relationships between them at the very beginning. This really hit hard showing the impacts of multiple generations after WWII and how they can overcome trauma and how prejudice is still prevalent and lingering deep in people, although some may want to overcome this and learn from their ancestors. Overall, this has an amazingly deep message, was written beautiful with interesting dynamic characters you can root for.

Thank you to NetGalley and SparkPress for ARC of The Shadows we carry for my honest review.

I enjoyed this moving and uplifting historical fiction novel. I did not read The Takeaway Men, which this is a sequel of, but it was not necessary. I enjoyed Bronka and JoJo’s story and was engaged throughout the novel, and almost read it in one sitting. It is poignant and displays that how people are impacted by decisions of previous generations. This took place in the 1960s and 1970s and discussed many major movements of this period. 4 stars and would recommend!