And After the Fire And After the Fire

And After the Fire

A Novel

    • 4.2 • 118 Ratings
    • $14.99
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

National Jewish Book Award Winner

The New York Times bestselling author of A Fierce Radiance and City of Light returns with a powerful and passionate novel—inspired by historical events—about two women, one European and one American, and the mysterious choral masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach that changes both their lives.

In the ruins of Germany in 1945, at the end of World War II, American soldier Henry Sachs takes a souvenir, an old music manuscript, from a seemingly deserted mansion and mistakenly kills the girl who tries to stop him.

In America in 2010, Henry’s niece, Susanna Kessler, struggles to rebuild her life after she experiences a devastating act of violence on the streets of New York City. When Henry dies soon after, she uncovers the long-hidden music manuscript. She becomes determined to discover what it is and to return it to its rightful owner, a journey that will challenge her preconceptions about herself and her family’s history—and also offer her an opportunity to finally make peace with the past.

In Berlin, Germany, in 1783, amid the city’s glittering salons where aristocrats and commoners, Christians and Jews, mingle freely despite simmering anti-Semitism, Sara Itzig Levy, a renowned musician, conceals the manuscript of an anti-Jewish cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, an unsettling gift to her from Bach’s son, her teacher. This work and its disturbing message will haunt Sara and her family for generations to come.

Interweaving the stories of Susanna and Sara, and their families, And After the Fire traverses over two hundred years of history, from the eighteenth century through the Holocaust and into today, seamlessly melding past and present, real and imagined. Lauren Belfer’s deeply researched, evocative, and compelling narrative resonates with emotion and immediacy.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2016
May 3
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
496
Pages
PUBLISHER
Harper
SELLER
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS
SIZE
1.5
MB

Customer Reviews

SPBerko ,

And After the Fire

Wonderful, historical novel!

dontwantanickname ,

Published Author

Poor grammar throughout. Characters are flat, with almost all of them being used to express Belfer’s own religious & social views. Storyline just keeps missing the mark. Enjoyed the J.S. Bach history...which was probably too in-depth for most readers to enjoy. Spend your book dollars on something else. Eh.

Word Lover 70 ,

Superb!

This book is breathtaking in its wealth of well researched information and knowledge. Weaving the historical background with the fictional lives of the main characters is superb and makes the novel one to remember.

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A Fierce Radiance A Fierce Radiance
2010
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1999
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2022
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2019

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