From privileged young German-Jewish woman to concentration camp refugee, German Jew Kläre Kohler navigates the horrors of war and-through unlikely sources--somehow findsing the strength, and hope, and love she needs to survive.
IPPY (Independent Publishers Book Awards): Gold Medal for European Fiction
International Book Awards: Historical Fiction Finalist
Winner of the Sarton Women's Literary Award for Historical Fiction
2017 Reader's Favorite Gold Book Award in Literary Fiction
Book Riot's 2016 100 Must-Reads in Jewish Fiction
Shelf Unbound's Top 100 Notable Indies
Foreword Reviews' INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award finalist in Historical Fiction and Literary Fiction
"Barbara Stark-Nemon's writing is so compelling that she makes decades of the mid-20th century feel like today. I can hardly wait to share this exciting novel with my bookstore customers."
-Pamela Grath, owner of Dog Ear Books, Northport, MI
"You will be enriched and inspired by Barbara Stark-Nemon's Even in Darkness, a beautifully crafted, compelling novel based on events in the life of the author's own family, in which love triumphs over unspeakable horror. The author paints a vivid picture of her upper-middle-class German-Jewish characters and weaves their inner thoughts and feelings into the shocking reality of the historical events of the day. I recommend this book to readers of history and to all those moved by the strength and courage of the human spirit."
-Margaret Fuchs Singer, author of Legacy of a False Promise: A Daughter's Reckoning
"Even in darkness there can be renewal, trust, love. This is the message of Barbara Stark-Nemon's unforgettable book, Even in Darkness. She brings the past century alive through recreating the story of her German-Jewish family, with all of its hopes and fears, losses and survivals-and, above all, the continuity of connections and of values, transcending religion, language, and country. The story is a remarkable and honest portrayal of unexpected paths, told with moving depth and literary skill."
-Dan Isaac Slobin, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
"Barbara Stark-Nemon's Even In Darkness makes personal the German Jewish experience of the twentieth century. Stark-Nemon offers an important corrective to more standard Jewish narratives, painting a picture of complex German Jews who navigated their way through prejudice and privilege and struggled to find a place for themselves in the various Germanys of the last century. Crossing religious and geographic boundaries, this is a story about family, commitment, loss and love, sacrifice and survival. Ultimately, we learn how humanity triumphs even in darkness."
-David J Fine, PhD, author of Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War
"This is a Holocaust story certain to move readers not only because of the quiet heroism of its characters, but because it rings with truth. Even in Darkness is a stunning historical endeavor."
-Michelle Anne Schingler, Foreword Reviews
"This beautifully written story gives the reader insight into a woman who followed an unusual path, and a different angle on post-World War II life."
-Miriam Bradman Abrahams, Jewish Book Council
". . . smoothly professional and very involving reading. Strongly recommended."
-Historical Novel Society
"Throughout the book [Stark-Nemon] demonstrates the beauty and the treasure inherent in good storytelling, both by the stories told by characters in the book and by her own skill at weaving events into a coherent storyline that honors love in all its forms . . . and respects courage in the many manifestations called forth by the Holocaust."
-Barbara Payne, Chicago Examiner