Those Who Save Us

Written by Jenna Blum

Narrated by Suzanne Toren

For fifty years Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier and went to live with him in Minnesota. Trudy's sole evidence of the past is an old photograph: a family portrait showing Anna, Trudy, and a Nazi officer, the Obersturnfuhrer of Buchenwald.Driven by the guilt of her heritage, Trudy, now a professor of German history, begins investigating the past and finally unearths the dramatic and heartbreaking truth of her mothers life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd Audio
• Release date: Jul 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9781846320033

Jenna Blum

Jenna Blum is the New York Times and # 1 internationally bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us, The Stormchasers, and The Lost Family. She was voted one of Oprah readers’ Top 30 Women Writers on Oprah.com and is the co-founder/ CEO of literary social media marketing company A Mighty Blaze. Jenna earned her MA at Boston University in Creative Writing and has taught writing workshops at Grub Street Writers for over 20 years. She interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and is a professional public speaker, traveling nationally and internationally to speak about her work. Jenna is based in downtown Boston, where she lives across from Woodrow’s bench and is currently a dog mom to her black Lab puppy Henry Higgins. For more about Jenna, please visit www.jennablum.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  

Reviews for Those Who Save Us

[debherter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite Stephen King books

[spiceca_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I Initially found this book very difficult to get into. I felt almost like I was dragging myself through the first couple of chapters. However, after the slow start - I found that I couldn't put the book down. The imagery was intensive and the basic story premise was quite sweet (A word I rarely use in describing a King novel. All in all I found it was very captivating and recommend it to those who don't mind investing a little bit of time for a quest through time and other worlds.

[karieh_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ahhh - Traveling Jack and the Territories...now THERE is some good reading. 5 times? 6? I've lost count.

[andyray_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

the new york times called this an "epic" when it came out and it fulfills all the criteria for that nomenclature. the journey is across the united states and back, in two different worlds. centered on tom sawyer and huck flynn's adventures, 12-year-old jack sawyer is the hero who seeks and finds and uses the talisman to cure his mother of cancer, his friend, richard, from disease, and the end of all things. before this story, this reader thought that the biggest thing in the universe was, well, the universe. but the talisman has much more than that inside of it. the only reason the rating is 4 and 1/2 stars is because of the draaag of the storyline in the first half. we didn't need oatley or the bar at all, and the authors hammer too many nails to get their points across. the only reason i can think of that a movie hasn't been made of this is the technology needed to illustrate some of this story would just be too costly in money, time, and imagination.

[jbrundin_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome collaboration, the very best of two great authors.

[garethmottram-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For me, the best bits about this book were the excellent locations - a creepy, out of season hotel and its fantastical, horrific 'opposite', a deserted theme park (always a winner!) and a slow, open train ride across a dangerous wasteland. There were also some original and very memorable supporting characters and the flipping between parallel worlds was consistently well realised.

It misses out on the final star only because, for me, it was a little too long and I didn't really warm to the main protagonist as much as I would have liked.

[joe73-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this book when I was eleven years old, which is also the year it came out. I was enthralled with it. I loved it then, the layers, the depth. It was a stretch for King. I think he was pulling on some personal demons while writing this. Now as an adult I am reading it again. It has not lost its sense of wonder. Of course it is easer to understand. There are a few chapters where you really feel for Jack. His first night alone in the territories is frightening. Kings makes it clear what it would be like for ourselves as a child to experience this lonlieness. I admit, I am not that familiar with Straub, but I will soon be putting a remedy to that. This is a direction however that I did not want to see King step into. Of course a good writer cannot pigieon hole themselves, but his later fantasy work just flew by me.

[nkscf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my absolute favorite books and also my introduction to the writing of Peter Straub. Being a King fan, it was a no-brainer to check this out, but now that I've seen some of Straub's writing as well, it inspired me to pick up Ghost Story, another favorite of mine.As for The Talisman, it focuses on a young boy whose mother's ill and who learns from a friend of the existence of another plane of existence (the Territories) where copies of the people in our universe live, called Twinners. Setting out to find a cure for his mother's illness, Jack Sawyer heads into the Territories, where he befriends a werewolf-esque being called Wolf, gets into trouble at a school for boys that's affiliated with the antagonists, and ends up on the other side of the country where he learns a lot about himself along the way.One of the best novels made by either writer, The Talisman may seem to drag on for certain sections, but these areas are very small and hardly noticeable around better chapters. It is a very fun read and its sequel has its moments as well.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Officially the worst book I've read by King as I continue to reread his books in chronological order. First, while I do distinctly remember owning this book when it came out, I had absolutely no recollection of the story whatsoever and now I understand why as it is so forgettable. This book needs to loose 400 or so pages to make it a decent YA fantasy. The book is indeed very adolescent, coming mostly from a 12-year-old's perspective there is hardly anything in the majority of the book to offend anyone. I'm surprised at how cliched the story is. Jack finds out there is an alternate world. His mother is dying in this world and the Queen, who is his mother's twinner, is dying in the other. He has been chosen to be the one who must travel west across the country to find the talisman which will rescue the Queen and his mother. So off he goes on a journey with pages and pages of nothing happening. Even the big showdown at the end with good vs evil was more campy than anything else. I really had to force myself to finish this book, and then only for the sake of my chronological project.

[texastam · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It kept my interest during the whole book.

[bookson23rd · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Horridly adolescent story (tee hee, he said "penis"!). Too many characters are introduced, never to be heard from again. So what is the talisman? How does it work? What is the guitar pick? Even Jack/Jason doesn't fully understand what they are. They should have cut out half this book and then developed the remaining characters. I only read this as a prelude to "The Black House", which is much, much better.

[nox07 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really liked this book. I don't have it yet, but I do want to read the next book, The black house.

[lesindy · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I started this book in July. I forced myself to read it. I love King, and the only book of his I *forced* myself to finish was Lisey's Story. I thought that that book was the only book of his I didn't like. I was wrong. The Talisman is a very long book that drags on needlessly. The only thing that struck me was how miserable King & Straub make life seem. Nothing but pain and murder. I didn't see a point at all. Why continue going on? There was just more horrific things to be seen. The ending was very abrupt and God help me, I have Black House. I hope this sequel will be good.

I was told this book was like The Dark Towers series. No wonder I never wanted to read them!

[jseger9000 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two of the greatest horror writers of all time team up and write... a fantasy?!Young Jack Sawyer is hiding with his mother in a deserted summer hotel when he discovers that he can cross over from our world to a fantasy version of America known as The Territories. Through a series of plot twists too detailed to go into here, Jack discovers that he must head West (through both the 'real world' and The Territories) to California to save his mothers life. This being a fantasy, there is more at stake than the life of our hero's mom.The writing was fantastic. Their styles blended together very well, better than I was expecting. When I started the book, I was worried that I would spend the entire time thinking 'King wrote that bit', 'Straub did that', but as I read, it felt as if they sat side-by-side in front of a typewriter and banged the whole thing out together. The writing really was the best of their two styles.So I loved the writing, but still, I had a hard time getting into the book. Fantasy just isn't my bag, so there's always that I guess. But The Talisman also suffered from sins that neither writer would ever let slide in one of their solo efforts.Both of these authors are experts at creating believable characters, but aside from Jack the characters here felt flat. None of them had any more depth than a character in a T.V. show. These weren't awful characters, but both authors can do so much better than the hammy villain Morgan Sloat or the one-note henchman, Sunlight Gardener.And then there was Richard Sloat, who falls prey to one of the worst sins a character in a horror novel can commit: he repeatedly refuses to accept the facts around him, regardless of the amount of proof provided. Richard spends ninety percent of his 'screen time' insisting that he is having a vivid dream. I'm not a huge fan of From Dusk Till Dawn, but I've always appreciated George Clooney's line "And I don't want to hear anything about 'I don't believe in vampires' because *I* don't believe in vampires, but I believe in my own two eyes, and what *I* saw is fucking vampires!" Maybe Richard should watch that movie.Though I wasn't crazy about the characters, I really liked the name 'Jack Sawyer'. It's not a quirky name that would distract the reader, but 'Jack' is a name heavily wrapped up in fairy stories while 'Sawyer' of course makes me think of Tom Sawyer, America and 'lighting out for the territories' (which is also sort of the name of the first section of The Talisman). It gave me the feeling that Straub and King put some real thought into what they were trying to accomplish with the book.However, for each admirable thing I found in The Talisman there would also be a stumbling block. Though I mentioned that it looked like the two authors put some real thought into their story, they would make glaring (to me) errors. One that really bugged me is that the story relied on characters acting illogically or hitting on huge coincidences to move the story along.For instance, when Jack lights out for the Territories, he just sort of wanders off with very little real preparation. I kept wondering why fabulously wealthy Jack didn't just buy himself a bus ticket to California? I know he had to leave quickly and all, but the extra two hours spent on arranging a bus or plane ticket would have shaved weeks off of his trip.I understand thematically why the book happens the way it does. I'm just surprised that King and Straub didn't offer any in-story rationalization of why Jack is behaving that way. It would have been so easy to have Jack's 'adviser' Speedy whip-up some reason that he had to make the journey by the sweat of his brow or something. But it is just never addressed.I was also irritated when Jack is pulled into the dastardly Sunlight Gardener home for wayward boys. Now, to be fair, that section of the book is terrific, but later we find out that Sunlight Gardner is in cahoots with the bad guy. It just seemed hugely coincidental that Jack wound up at that home.I remember Stephen King talking about his annoyance with the old T.V. series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, because Kolchak wouldn't be able to go on a cruise without coincidentally bumping into a group of Satanists.To me, Jack's stumbling across the Sunlight Gardner Home was just as wildly coincidental as anything Kolchak hit upon. This could have been alleviated if it were implied that Jack's actions were being directed by some outside operator (or if it turned out that Sunlight Gardner was just a real prick, but not linked to the Territories), but as it was presented, it felt like one 12 year old boy is crossing two different countries and repeatedly bumping into the same couple of power players from the Territories.For all my gripes (and I had quite a few) I did get into the book as it chugged along. The further into the book I got, the more engrossed I became with the story. Richard became a somewhat less irritating character. And though I always preferred Jack in our world to Jack in the Territories, I appreciated that the Territories were a fantasy world with no elves or dwarfs. At least King and Straub's fantasy world didn't feel like a Tolkien clone. I appreciated all the thought and little details they put into their fantasy land, like how their money works or their religious views (God pounds his nails), but I still enjoyed it more when Jack was dodging monsters in the good old US of A.I'm of two minds on this one. A lot of it was admirable. I really enjoyed the blending of the two authors styles. I thought the pacing was handled very well, always keeping the story moving (which is a feat for a 700 page book) and I did enjoy aspects of the fantasy world. The problem is, for every plus, there is a strong minus. In the end, the minuses outweighed the pluses. Though I didn't hate the book, I don't see myself wanting to read it again.If you prefer the Dark Tower (and related) books to King's 'regular' horror novels, then you will probably groove on The Talisman. I don't like those books myself and didn't especially like The Talisman. But I did like the combination of King and Straub's writing. The book wasn't terrible, just not my thing.

[jbreedlove_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A boys quest through two worlds. Well written and well told.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As with many of King's works, I find his books that deal with real people to be far scarier and more entertaining than the books that involve supernatural (and many times silly) monsters and beings. Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, The Shining, Misery are terrifying without being ridiculous.

[gwenraab · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. I lost my old copy and bought another when I, with my significant other,started a book club. I wanted to review Black House, and thought it best to read the Talisman first. This was a great move! Although Black house is "not a sequel," it does find an adult Jack Sawyer (with no memory of his past adventure) living in a small town. He is a police officer who investigates some strange happenings that cause him to have bizarre dreams. Eventually he remembers, and knows he must act quickly to save the town. If you liked Talisman, you'll love Black House..

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never read anything written solely by Peter Straub, so I didn't really know what to expect from a collaboration between him and Stephen King. Honestly, in the end, it just felt mostly like a Stephen King book, but maybe that's because I haven't read any Peter Straub. In terms of the writing on a basic level, The Talisman is a pretty easy read. The flow is pretty good and there aren't any stupidly show-offy words or anything like it. At times it does feel a bit like it could do with some editing, but overall, I liked it.

I liked the plot quite a lot. The core principle is something anyone can relate to, really: someone close to Jack Sawyer is dying, and he has to find a cure. The way this plays out isn't so realistic, perhaps -- if one object could cure all ills, life would be so much simpler, after all! But that's fantasy for you. The Territories is a pretty average idea of "the other world", which reminds me of Stephen Lawhead's version in The Paradise War, except less Celtic and more... well, American. The worlds King and Straub build up are rich with detail, all the same. The idea of Twinners and the importance of single-selved beings within the story is interesting, and I enjoyed the Jack/Jason thing that spanned throughout.

The characters are lovely. The bad guys are all pretty obvious and twisted, it's true, but the sympathetic characters -- particularly, for me, Wolf and Richard -- are amazing. My definition of amazing tends to be "not perfect, maybe even kind of irritating at times, but somehow I love them so much anyway". Which is the same for both Wolf and Richard. As for the main character, Jack -- well, he fits the bill, too. The only problem with him was that I could never quite picture a boy of his age acting in the way he does. I kept imagining him as older than he actually is -- fourteen, fifteen, instead of twelve. But that wasn't a huge problem for me.

I really, really enjoyed this book, overall. I can see flaws in it, and in places it turned out to be a little too predictable for me, but all the same, all that aside, I loved it.

[csweder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This has a companion book, The Regulators. Aside from being told they were companion books, I really wouldn't have guessed.

[nemesisdk_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i really liked it. not your tippical SK book.

[skinglist · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Held me over in the gap between DT 4 and 5

[anagarika0sean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another book connected to The Dark Tower series. There was no boring part of this book. Loved it!

[joetivy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A favourite of my adolesence. What I can remember of it was a very ambitious, sweeping fantasy epic with a dual world thang going on.Must read again.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

God pound it, that was a tedious read! There is an awesome 300 page book in this behemoth! Jack Sawyer takes on a Herculean task and must cross the country/Territories to achieve it. Part Tom Sawyer, part Jack Kerouac, and even a bit of Jesus in this 12 year old! A good tale, but stretched out much too long. Makes me nervous about the sequel. Wolf!

[gopfolk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great novel...was not sure what to expect with this collaboration but it was amazing.Moving right into Black House.

[daniel5estes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub was my first journey into the world of Jack Sawyer and the Territories, and as a fan of King's Dark Tower series (of which this eventually became a companion novel), I was thrown back to a time when the Dark Tower universe was young and largely unexplored. Or as King might phrase it, much of the fossil had yet to be discovered.Getting comfortable with Jack's world takes some time even though it's similar to our own. Mostly similar. It wouldn't be King without a few supernatural surprises. Fortunately, Jack has no idea what he's in for so we get to learn and grow with him.

[bookishbunny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A well-crafted, suspenseful adventure. An epic quest, the battle of good vs. evil, friendships new and old, redemption and love...what more could you want?

[buckeyeaholic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book twice. Back to back. I read it then told my boyfriend about it. He wanted to read it but really wasn't much of a reader. So I read it out loud to him each night during the summer while we listened to the baseball games.

[jane3phillips-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When two masters of horror team up you get a masterpiece such as The Talisman. I've actually never read any of Peter Straub's work however am a big Stephen King fan. The Talisman is the story of 12 year old Jakc Sawyer's quest to save his mother and his journey across America and it's twin dimension The Territories. I found this book to be more dark fantasy than horror, however it had its horrific elements as you would expect from the the authors. Truly, the most horrific parts for me were the more human aspects, but this is typical for King at least.

[srboone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Terrific revisonist version of Huckleberry Finn. Wolf is one of King's best reations.