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The joy of historical fiction is that it conveys the impact of actual events on the people who lived through them. The best of such works give you a sense of being there and personally experiencing the events.
Elisabeth Gifford’s “The Good Doctor of Warsaw” (Pegasus Books, 352 pp., $25.95) is firmly rooted in “the best of such works” category. The author chronicles the true story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, who headed a Warsaw orphanage during the German invasion and occupation of Poland in World War II, and it does so not only through the persona of the dedicated, compassionate doctor, but via a romance between a young couple, Sophia and Misha, who worked at his orphanage.
The story is heart-wrenching, probing in palpable detail the Nazi occupation and gradual escalating restrictions imposed on Poland’s Jewish population. And yet, each incursion, change in procedure and reduction in the amount of food allowed into the ghetto is met with the confident expectation that the Germans will go no further.
Sophia and Misha leave Warsaw for Lvov so she can enroll at the university. But Lvov is now occupied by the Soviets – a war-spoil of a deal with Germany. When the Wehrmacht army invades to drive the Soviets out, they realize they cannot stay. Returning to Warsaw, they find it far worse than what they’d left. Sophia and Misha leave Warsaw for Lvov so she can enroll at the university. But Lvov is now occupied by the Soviets — a war-spoil of a deal with Germany. When the Wehrmacht army invades to drive the Soviets out, they realize they cannot stay. Returning to Warsaw, they find it far worse than what they’d left.
No credence is given to the darkest rumors. The only expectation that seems to warrant hope is the belief that Poland’s French and British allies will come to their aid. But when the French and British finally do declare war on Germany, neither nation sends troops to Poland to halt and drive back the Germans. Misha must risk his life each night to sneak out and procure food for the children.
Viewing the period through a rearview mirror, you may wonder at Korczak’s determined optimism. But he was dealing with children and was determined to shield them from the worst fears. Korczak’s mantra: “You do not leave a sick child alone to face the dark, and you do not leave a child at times like this.”
When the gates between the ghetto and city are sealed, Korczak reassures them. “Once the German people realize what the Nazis are doing here in their name, they’ll be horrified,” he said. “They’ll soon put a stop to all this madness.”
They didn’t, of course, and it’s no spoiler to say you know where the story is headed. Of the half a million inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto, fewer than 1% survived to tell their story. Misha and Sophia were among them.
Gifford’s riveting World War II chapter will stay with you long after you’ve finished her book.
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A historical novel of an entirely different sort can be found in Serena Burdick’s “Find Me in Havana” (Park Row Books, 336 pp., $17.99), about a Cuban singer/actress who achieved professional success but had a tumultuous personal life.
The story opens in 1939, when the Cuban revolution has robbed the Rodriguez family of its wealth, and their once-lush life has become a struggle. Estelita Rodriguez is only 9 years old when she performs in a Havana night club, her arresting voice perhaps the family’s ability to leave the troubled island.
It doesn’t work out that way. Estelita is offered a contract to sing at New York’s famed Copacabana. Accompanied by her mother, the engagement opens the door to more singing gigs and ultimately takes her to Hollywood, where she expands her recognition by appearing on the silver screen at a time when, “if Hollywood had its way, all its women would be white and blonde.”
Estelita loves the limelight above everything. John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Angie Dickinson and other well-known actors become close friends and come to Estilita’s rescue whenever she gets herself into difficult situations, which she is prone to do.
Estelita lives in the Hollywood Hills with her humorless mother and whichever husband she has at a given time. Her daughter, Nina, is enrolled at a convent school as a young girl and is frustrated at being kept away from home. It is through extensive interviews with Nina that Burdick captured the necessary information to write her novel.
The story rolls out in a series of letters between mother and daughter — not actual letters, but exchanges they might have had. It’s a conceit that might seem forced in other circumstances. But Estelita died at a young age, and a bereft Nina is trying to make sense of her mother’s life, so the device works well for the telling of this story.
When Nina is kidnapped by her father, Chu Chu, and abducted to Mexico, it is her mother who goes there to find her and bring her back. Chu Chu is powerful enough to have roads blocked, but Estelita manages to slip through, and her manager travels to the border to bribe agents to allow them leave the detention area.
They aren’t safe for long. Estelita, in one of her astonishing cases of misjudgment, falls for a “safe” visit to Cuba — something she can’t resist as it has been years since she’s seen her siblings, most notably a close sister whose singing voice wasn’t good enough to earn her a ticket out. Once there, mother and daughter are held captive in the family home. The experience is, at first, exhilarating for Nina but turns to peril when soldiers arrive and are attracted to Nina and her cousin.
This is another historical novel that feels true to actual events and will keep you turning pages until the last.
Fran Wood, retired Star-Ledger op-ed columnist and former books editor for the newspaper, blogs at jerseysbest.com.
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January 19, 2021 at 07:13PM
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What Fran's Reading: Two historical novels that will transport you into riveting real stories - Jersey's Best
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