A Castle in Brooklyn: A Novel

Written by Shirley Russak Wachtel

Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

Spanning decades, an unforgettable novel about reckoning with the past, the true nature of friendship, and the dream of finding home.

1944, Poland. Jacob Stein and Zalman Mendelson meet as boys under terrifying circumstances. They survive by miraculously escaping, but their shared past haunts and shapes their lives forever.

Years later, Zalman plows a future on a Minnesota farm. In Brooklyn, Jacob has a new life with his wife, Esther. When Zalman travels to New York City to reconnect, Jacob’s hopes for the future are becoming a reality. With Zalman’s help, they build a house for Jacob’s family and for Zalman, who decides to stay. Modest and light filled, inviting and warm with acceptance—for all of them, it’s a castle to call home.

Then an unforeseeable tragedy—and the grief, betrayals, and revelations in its wake—threatens to destroy what was once an unbreakable bond, and Esther finds herself at a crossroads. A Castle in Brooklyn is a moving and heartfelt immigration story about finding love and building a home and family while being haunted by a traumatic past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781799790358

Shirley Russak Wachtel

Shirley Russak Wachtel is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a doctor of letters degree from Drew University and for the past thirty years has taught English literature at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey. The mother of three grown sons and grandmother to two precocious granddaughters, she currently resides in East Brunswick, New Jersey, with her husband, Arthur. For more information visit www.shirleywachtel.com.

Reviews for A Castle in Brooklyn

[ibkennedy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lovely story so beautifully written.

[susan0316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel starts during WWII but is more about the effect on the lives of two young men who managed to survive and move to America. It covers their lives and the lives of their from 1944 - 2010. Even though they had a good life in America, the loss of family and their daily struggle to survive the war was never far from their minds.Jacob was hiding in a barn loft in Poland when Zalman showed up looking for a place to hide. At the time Jacob was 18 and Zalman was 12 and they had both fled from their family homes to keep from being sent to the camps. They were discovered by a Nazi patrol and taken out into the woods to dig their graves but managed to escape. From that beginning chapter, the story jumps to 1952. Both men have emigrated to the US. Jacob is working at a factory and attending English classes in the evenings and Zalman is working on a farm out west. When Jacob first saw Esther in class, he wanted her to be his wife. After a brief courtship, they marry and he goes to work for her father. Now he can finally build the house that he dreamed of during his days in hiding. He asks Zalman to return to New York and help him build the house and to live with he and Esther. For all three of them it's a castle and their happy home. When tragedy happens, their lives are totally changed. Zalman returns to the farm to work, Jacob starts working long hours on his job and in her loneliness, Esther goes back to school to get a degree and become a teacher. Zalman is totally estranged from his former friends and told to never come back but that doesn't stop Jacob from thinking about his friend and how far they've come in their lives. His pain begins to affect his marriage with Esther and she realizes that even if they stay together, she needs to create her own life and find her own happiness.This book was an interesting look at the effects of war that lasts for years. It's a story about creating a family from those that you care about and about the importance of friendship and the final effects if that friendship is ended. My only problem with the book was the introduction of several new people near the end who I didn't think added much to the story. This is a debut novel for this author and based on my overall enjoyment of this book, I look forward to her future books.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two young Jewish men were orphaned during the Holocaust, but by hiding together, survived. They eventually achieved passage to the United States. They learned English, and one fell in love with another Jew who left before the Holocaust. This new couple married and started to establish a life. The other, with a longstanding interest in architecture, built them a house in Brooklyn. From there, this story unfolds with tales of love and loss, of affection and serendipity, and of things that stand the test of time.The main story focuses on the love of two brothers and one’s wife. This story was emotionally compelling and left me turning the pages. The human strengths and failings of the characters are all too real. The buoyancy of immigrants – and of Jews in particular – amidst adversity is thematically all over this story. In that sense, it is a story of human triumph within loss and survival.This book is set in history, but is not really historical fiction. Other than the Holocaust, its moorings are essentially timeless and not specific to a certain location. Some of the later stories of other tenants did not catch my intrigue and seemed a bit unnecessary for the main plot.Life commonly has many starts and restarts. This book underscores that and should draw an audience interested in human perseverance and determination. The characters are strong. This story also speaks of the power of place to house human drama. Lovers of literary fiction will be drawn in because of the appropriateness of these three’s love for each other. Yes, much like each protagonist, this book has a few shortcomings, but not enough to hold back the work from ultimate success.