Love & Treasure

A spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War.In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches piles of fine gold watches mountains of fur coats crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure a responsibility that grows complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life.A story of brilliantly drawn characters a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman s finest novel to date a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past. Read Love & Treasure By Ayelet Waldman – kino-fada.fr The subjects s and themes of this book are usually winners for me WW11, art theft and victims and survivors of the holocaust This book had all of these and , but ended up disappointing me greatly There are three separate sections The first part engaged me and I cared about the main characters and the subject matter So far, so good However, it was downhill from there The madcap action of Part 2 was frankly unbelievable But, it was still a readable 3 star book Part 3, narrated by a pa The subjects s and themes of this book are usually winners for me WW11, art theft and victims and s...3.5 What first attracted me this book was the mention of the Hungarian Jews, most of the Holocaust books I have read seemed to be of the German or Polish Jews That this takes place after the Americans have liberated the camps was also a plus The 42 car gold train, as it came to be known ended up in Hungary and...I always like to learn about the Holocaust through historical fiction Here we have the Hungarian gold train which I knew nothing about and will definitely research further The Americans seized it before the Russians could get hold of it, and promptly began to pilfer from it.The book is divided into 3 separate and distinct time periods Each section had a strong, progressive, interesting female character Jack, the young American soldier who stole a peacock necklace from the train, was my favor I always like to learn about the Holocaust through historical fiction Here we have the Hungarian gold train which I knew nothing about and will definitely research further The Americans seized it before the Russians could get hold of it, and promptly began to pilfer from it.The book is divided into 3 separate and distinct time periods Each section had a strong, progressive, interesting female character Jack, the young American soldier who stole a peacock necklace from the train, was my f...I have read a fair number of books about WWII and the Holocaust but I have never read anything about The Hungarian Gold Train In fact I didn t know anything about it Ayelet Waldman has educated me by telling this story about the Hungarian Jews during and after the war and what happens to their possessions that were taken from them Then she reveals some things that I never really knew with regard to how the Allies , yes the Allies including the U.S took these stolen possessions and a harder I have read a fair number of books about WWII and the Holocaust but I have never read anything about The Hungarian Gold Train In fact I didn t know anything about it Ayelet Waldman has educated me by telling this story about the Hungarian Jews during and after the war and what happens to their possessions that were taken from them Then she reveals some things that I never really knew with regard to how the Allies , yes the Allies including the U.S took these stolen possessions and a harder to face fact about how some of the Displaced Persons , the holocaust survivors were treated after the war Captain Jack Wiseman is charged with managing the conte...I ve always been intrigued by Ayelet Waldman I ve read several of her books and usually wanted to like themthan I eventually did So I was really happy to see her step up into a new realm and go for something very different It s perhaps her most successful novel, too.If you re like me, you ve read a lot of WWII novels, a lot of holocaust novels, and sometimes I avoid them because there have already been so many But I love the approach Waldman takes It s not about either the war or the I ve always been intrigued by Ayelet Waldman I ve read several of her books and usually wanted to like themthan I eventually did So I was really happy to see her step up into a new realm and go for something very different It s perhaps her most successful novel, too.If you re like me, you ve read a lot of WWII novels, a lot of holocaust novels, and sometimes I avoid them because there have already been so many But I love the approach Waldman takes It s not about either the war or the holocaust directly, but the several connected stories in different time periods center around the Hungarian Gold Train, a shipment of valuable property once owned by the Jews of Hungary and confiscated by the government After the war, the US guards the property, specifically under the guard of Jack, one of the central characters of the novel Also featured in the stories are Natalie, Jack s granddaughter, who is fulfilling his las...Video review favorite book of 2017 A heartbreaking novel about loss that intertwines several charming love stories The historical passages are beautifully portrayed, there are tons of amazing twists, and don t make me start on that Part III because it s truly fucking amazing.This is a solid effort by Ayelet Waldman, who has written a couple of previous novels that I haven t read She has chosen a subject unearthing the stories of those lost in the Holocaust that has too often been taken up by mediocre or worse writers and riddled with melodrama and clich Waldman does better She centers the novel on the historical Hungarian Gold Train, crammed with millions of dollars worth of gold, jewels, furs, and household goods that have been collected from the Je This is a solid effort by Ayelet Waldman, who has written a couple of previous novels that I haven t read She has chosen a subject unearthing the stories of those lost in the Holocaust that has too often been taken up by mediocre or worse writers and riddled with melodrama and clich Waldman does better She centers the novel on the historical Hungarian Gold Train, crammed with millions of dollars worth of gold, jewels, furs, and household goods that have been collected from the Jews of Hungary When the train, on its way to Germany in 1945, is intercepted by the victorious Allies near Salzburg, Austria, a promise is made to return the goods to their rightful owners or heirs but the impracticality of the task, not to me...As a piece of historical fiction, particularly one that deals with lesser discussed aspects of history related to WWII, this is an impressive book On the other hand, as a piece of original fiction which simply serves as a worthwhile read in itself, history interests aside, I m less comfortable recommending it.My largest concern with the book is that it seems incredibly derivative of The White Hotel, though Waldman s work is farconcerned with art The structure especially reminds me of Tho As a piece of historical fiction, particularly one that deals with lesser discussed aspects of history related to WWII, this is an impressive book On the other hand, as a piece of original fiction which simply serves as a worthwhile read in itself, history interests aside, I m less comfortable recommending it.My largest concern with the book is that it seems incredibly derivative of The White Hotel, though Waldman s work is farconcerned with art The structure especially reminds me of Thomas work, a few large separate parts coming from narrators and protagonists of different genders, backgrounds, interests, and experiences, with F...This is a phenomenal book It embraces so many topics the Hungarian Gold Train, the Holocaust, women s suffrage, love, family and friendship And weaving it all together is one beautiful peacock pendant.I am a huge fan and admirer of Ayelet Waldman This book is completely different from her other work, and it is clearly a work straight from her heart I can t imagine the amount of research that went into the writing of this fantastic novel And the characters are all so well honed that you alm This is a phenomenal book It embraces so many topics the Hungarian Gold Train, the Holocaust, women s suffrage, love, family and friendship And weaving it all together is one beautiful peacock pendant.I am a ...I only picked this up because of Ayelet Waldman s snit fit at not being included in the NY times Notable books of the year I don t know why I do this because it never works out for me see also James Wood s pout about The Emperor s Children This is probably OK if you need something easy but still want to feel intelligent I mean, look the main character s name is Jack Wiseman And he is a Wise Man That s how literature works, right No It s fine if that s what you re into, but it damn s I only picked this up because of Ayelet Waldman s snit fit at not being included in the NY times Notable books of the year I don t know why I do this because it never works out for me see also James Wood s pout about The Emperor s Children This is probably OK if you need somethin...

• English
• 06 April 2018
Ayelet Waldman
• Hardcover
• 352 pages
• 0385533543
• Ayelet Waldman
• Love & Treasure