Review of Discovering Twins

[Bertha Jackson]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Discovering Twins" by Stella Claire ter Hart.]

---

5 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Discovering Twins: No secret is safe forever is a historical fiction by Stella ter Hart. When Stella ter Hart was pregnant with her first child, her mother said twins ran in the family. She did not think too much about the comment at the time, but after her mother's death, while going through her papers, she made some startling discoveries that made her curious about her mother's life. The only thing she knew about her mother was that she was Dutch Jewish, and they had a few relatives in Holland and Australia. Her mother never talked about her family, and Stella soon discovered why she kept her secrets. This fascinating book takes the reader through the author's family tree when she discovers through her genealogy research that 1,999 of her ancestors were murdered because they were Dutch Jews during the Holocaust. How many of her family survived the Holocaust? Was she able to find them?

As Stella ter Hart states, this is not a book about the Holocaust, but the Holocaust played a significant role in her family's history. Although I enjoyed the pictures of the author's family, I often cried when I read that a cherubic baby and others were killed in a gas chamber. The family trees that she developed helped me put the many different family members together with each other. Many readers may find the author's links helpful in locating their ancestors. For example, one is the information on those who died in concentration camps. Stella ter Hart has a fantastic talent for writing descriptive scenes. I felt like I was visiting Amsterdam, Holland, and other places in the Netherlands, with the architecture and tulips. I was surprised to learn that the tulips in my yard are edible.

The author stated at the beginning of the book that the book's narrative provided adequate clues to translate the Dutch and German terms and phrases easily, but that was not the case for me, and I had to stop reading to go to the list at the end of the book. I would have preferred they had been translated when they were used instead of disrupting the flow of my reading experience.

The handful of errors in this book did not distract from my reading enjoyment, and I found no other reason not to give this fantastic book less than a perfect score. The negative aspect is personal and not worth deducting any stars for, so I gladly give this professionally edited book 5 out of 5 stars.

If you enjoy reading memoirs or biographies of descendants of the Holocaust, I recommend you read this book. You will get a good idea about the atrocities these brave and innocent people endured by the Germans. If you do not enjoy reading about the murder of innocent babies, children, the elderly, or anyone for that matter, you may want to skip this book.

******
Discovering Twins
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Nisha DSouza]

If you enjoy reading memoirs or biographies of descendants of the Holocaust, I recommend you read this book. You will get a good idea about the atrocities these brave and innocent people endured by the Germans. If you do not enjoy reading about the murder of innocent babies, children, the elderly, or anyone for that matter, you may want to skip this book.

I enjoy reading memoirs and biographies in general. However, reading about the killing of babies or children makes me very sad. So I prefer not to read them. I have read The Diary of Anne Frank and was heartbroken. It was horrendous what happened during the Holocaust, and I feel for the Jewish families who had to live through that.

Great review though Bertha. Thank you for that.

[Bertha Jackson]

If you enjoy reading memoirs or biographies of descendants of the Holocaust, I recommend you read this book. You will get a good idea about the atrocities these brave and innocent people endured by the Germans. If you do not enjoy reading about the murder of innocent babies, children, the elderly, or anyone for that matter, you may want to skip this book.

I enjoy reading memoirs and biographies in general. However, reading about the killing of babies or children makes me very sad. So I prefer not to read them. I have read The Diary of Anne Frank and was heartbroken. It was horrendous what happened during the Holocaust, and I feel for the Jewish families who had to live through that.

Great review though Bertha. Thank you for that.

I cried through a lot of this book. The same as I did with The Diary of Anne Frank. Thank you for your kind comments.

[Hazel Mae Bagarinao]

How harsh and brutal it is to kill an innocent baby. I'm sure while reading this book, my heart is screaming for sorrow to witness such a terrible killing. Even though I will feel like that, I'm still interested to read this. Thanks for sharing your wonderful and engaging review, Bertha!