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Wherever There Is Light: A Novel
Wherever There Is Light: A Novel
Wherever There Is Light: A Novel
Ebook432 pages6 hours

Wherever There Is Light: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

From the beloved author of Comeback Love, an “absorbing” (The Washington Post) tale of forbidden romance set against the backdrop of the segregated American South, war-torn Europe, and the civil unrest of the Sixties.

Sometimes falling in love is the most courageous act.

Julian Rose is only fifteen when he leaves his family and Germany for a new life in 1920s America. Initially struggling, he eventually finds his way—first by becoming one of the preeminent bootleggers on the East Coast, and later by amassing a fortune in real estate.

Kendall Wakefield is a free-spirited college senior who longs to become a painter. Her mother, the daughter of a slave and the founder of an African-American college in South Florida, spends her days running the institution and trying to find a suitable match for her only daughter.

One evening in 1938, she hosts a dinner that reunites Julian with his parents, who have been rescued from the Nazis by her college. There, Kendall and Julian meet for the first time, and from that unlikely encounter begins a thirty-year, on-again off-again affair that will take the lovers from Miami Beach to Greenwich Village to postwar life in Paris. Throughout their travels, they will encounter the likes of Sartre, Picasso, and a host of other artists, writers, and intellectuals just as they are in the process of redefining culture for a new generation. Through it all, their longing for each other remains a constant in the ceaseless sweep of time.

Wherever There Is Light is an absorbing, panoramic tale of twentieth-century America and an unforgettable story of defiant love that “is epic and truly felt” (Kirkus Reviews).
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 3, 2015
ISBN9781476705613
Wherever There Is Light: A Novel
Author

Peter Golden

Peter Golden is an award-winning journalist, historian, novelist, and the author of nine books. He has interviewed Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush (41); Secretaries of State Kissinger, Haig, and Shultz; Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, and Shamir; and Soviet President Gorbachev. His latest novel, Nothing is Forgotten, which explores the connection between the Holocaust and the Cold War, is published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. He lives outside Albany, New York.

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Rating: 3.56250000625 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

16 ratings4 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gripping story telling. Sweeping scope that was honed impeccably with not an unnecessary sentence anywhere to be seen. These characters will stay with me for some time. Very thankful to have won this copy in a Goodreads Giveaway.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a captivating love story between a Jewish bootlegger and an artist Black girl through WWII and beyond. Their pasts as well as their different races make being together difficult.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    TOO MUCH dialog. I gave it up. Too many names. Too ugh not my style.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well, this book was definitely a meaty, thought-provoking read. Dealing with heavy subjects like race, prejudice, and war, there were several times where I had to just stop and digest the material, reflecting on its relevance to today’s world as well as on the times it portrays.I liked that the author wasn’t afraid to delve into these heavier topics. Interracial relationships and the history that go along with them are as relevant today as they were then. The judgment that society piles on such unions and their progeny is heart-breaking; every time that Julian and Kendall faced down those bigots and gave them one-four, I cheered. The author delves into murder, lynching, racial pressure from both sides of the color spectrum to not mix, and betrayal while telling this gripping story.I fell in love with Julian almost immediately. He’s tough, gritty, determined, intelligent, and protective as hell. He doesn’t give a fig what society makes of him, his views, or his life; he’ll live as he dang well pleases and woe betide anybody who stands in his way or threatens his own. I admire his viewpoint on life and its issues; it’s one I hope I can adopt some day.Kendall I’m a bit more mixed on. I do like her grit and her pluck in pursuing her dreams. She wasn’t going to let familial pressure steer her onto a predetermined road; she was going to pursue her dreams of travel and art no matter what it took.Her attitude towards how society viewed her relationship with Julian and her unwilling-ness to defend it and him, though, got on my nerves. Julian didn’t hesitate to throw pie in someone’s face after a derogatory slur directed her way; however, when the opposite happened, she didn’t say a word, just looked in the other direction and pretend that nothing happened. She also let the pressure that society put on race and her relationship keep her from building a life with Julian and so hurting both herself and him in the process. A part of me felt like she didn’t deserve Julian because she wasn’t willing to meet him halfway in the fight against society’s expectations and prejudice.Despite some reservations on how Kendall was sometimes portrayed, overall I really enjoyed this book. It tells a great story that doesn’t hesitate to explore material that other authors might shy from. The main leads were strong enough to carry the story and thematic material, giving these a human face and making everything very personal. Highly recommended to lovers of historical fiction!Note: Book received for free from publisher via GoodReads FirstReads program in exchange for honest review.

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Wherever There Is Light - Peter Golden

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