Title: The Orphan’s Tale
Author: Pam Jenoff
Published: February 20th 2017
Publisher: Harlequin Books Australia
Pages: 336
Genres: Fiction, Historical
RRP: $29.99
Rating: 5 stars
My review:A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan’s Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival.
Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep. When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.
Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another – or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.
In 2009 I was first introduced to the work of talented historical fiction novelist Pam Jenoff, who specialises in bringing readers compelling stories from the war years. I was so moved by Jenoff’s World War II based novel The Kommandant’s Girl that ever since her books have been on the auto buy list. This was also the case with Jenoff’s latest novel, another World War II set novel. I think The Orphan’s Tale is Jenoff’s most powerful work to date.
The Orphan’s Tale begins with Noa, the sad story of a young seventeen year old girl who has been cast out of her home for getting herself pregnant to a Nazi soldier. Noa has moved to a German based rail station since the birth her of child, which was taken away from her to be adopted. She now passes her time to make ends meet by cleaning a rail station. One cold day, Noa spies a boxcar at her place of employment and she makes the startling discovery that this boxcar contains precious cargo, infants taken away from their Jewish parents, bound for death at a concentration camp. With the loss of her own baby still fresh in her mind, Noa is compelled to take a huge risk and rescue one of the infants from this cart of death. She flees the scene, trying to avoid detection and is rescued by a travelling circus. In order to create the perfect ruse, Noa becomes a performer in the circus. She is taught the art of the trapeze by the enigmatic Astrid, who is also trying to avoid the glare of the Third Reich. As time goes on, the two women begin to form an unlikely bond but the pressures of their secrets and past lives puts their own mortality, as well as those around them to the ultimate test of survival.
The Orphan’s Tale has been compared to two historical fiction novels I love, Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The comparisons are justified completely but what I will stress is that The Orphan’s Tale is book that stands on its own two feet. As a long time fan of Jenoff’s writing, I can attest to The Orphan’s Tale being her most poignant work yet.
My interested in this novel peaked when I discovered that The Orphan’s Tale is a historical fiction novel, inspired by real life events. True to her word, Jenoff acknowledges in her epilogue that the premise of this book is based on real life subjects and events of this perilous era. Unfortunately, there was an unknown boxcar of ill-fated infants headed for the death camps. In addition, there were Jewish people who were given sanctuary and a place to hide by the travelling circus acts during the war years. It definitely gives more weight to this emotionally moving tale.
Further appeal to The Orphan’s Tale comes out of the friendship that forms and is strengthened as the book progresses between Noa and Astrid. This once pair of strangers, sceptical of one another and guarded in their relationship, eventually become as close as siblings. Their dual narratives allow the secrets that they both hold to slowly unravel, but Jenoff is careful to withhold this until the final moments of the novel. Following the relationship between Noa and Astrid was tumultuous. At first, the two main narrators of this novel seem unlikely to form a bond, Astrid in particular seemed stand-offish but eventually the two come together. The trust, the deep held secrets that are aired, their complicated love lives and their past histories are what make this book a winner in my eyes.
The placement of a circus at the helm of this novel backdrop wise, gives The Orphan’s Tale a unique and original spin, so that it becomes much more than another tale to come out of the war. The scenes involving Astrid, Noa and the rest of the circus performers were very interesting to read and gave me a firm insight into the operations of a circus and how they had to adapt during the war years. It made for some enlightening reading. I often felt very entertained during the circus scenes, as I visualised the circus performances taking place in my own mind.
There are a number of key themes that run through the veins of this novel, survival and courage first come to my mind when I think of this book. Family and the bonds of friendship that are born through the kind acts of strangers, as well as the self-sacrifice many went through during World War II is important to this book. Jenoff is skilled in her ability to covey the sense of terror, suspense, horror and utter heartbreak that followed this period in history. It is a beautifully rendered tale, in the shadow of such brutal events of a shameful regime.
There is no doubt that the period of World War II has attracted a great deal of material over the decades since its end. Pam Jenoff goes that one step further with her offering, The Orphan’s Tale and presents her audience with a valuable historical fiction novel. This book is very much grounded in a detailed level of research, bringing to light real life events in the format of a compelling fiction novel.
The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff was published on 20th February 2017 by Harlequin Books Australia. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.
To learn more about the author of The Orphan’s Tale, Pam Jenoff, visit here.
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