The last embrace - Pam Jenoff

August 1940 and 16-year-old refugee Addie escapes Fascist Italy to live with her aunt and uncle in Atlantic City. As WW2 breaks, she finds acceptance and love with Charlie Connelly and his family.

But war changes everything: secrets and passions abound, and when one brother’s destructive choices lead to the tragic death of another, the Connelly family is decimated, and Addie along with them.

Now 18, she flees, first to Washington and then to war-torn London where she is swept up with life as a correspondent. But when Charlie, now a paratrooper, re-appears, Addie discovers that the past is impossible to outrun. Now she must make one last desperate attempt to find within herself the answers that will lead the way home. 

My thoughts:

This is the story of Addie, who flees Italy to go live with her aunt and uncle. Her family is Jewish, and even if she does not know the fate of them, the rest of us sure know what could happen.

In Philadelphia she meets the Connelly family, and feels like one of them. She also has a crush on one of the sons. 

We get to see pre-war USA and the tensions it causes. Not to mention how she as a Jew should stick to her neighborhood, and not go to the Irish one. People do not mix.  Only with your own kind, race, country.

But that is only one part of the story. There is also Washington after a tragedy in Philly. And London later on. I liked the London part as it took us closer to the war.

As for Addie. She loved and never forgot. But this is not a romance. I never even knew who I wanted her to be with. First love is good, but true forever?

Conclusion:

There is this other Jenoff book I want to try now, it sounds so good, and I do enjoy her style.

Cover

Nice

Paperback, 384 pages
Expected publication: August 13th 2015 by MIRA
Historical fiction
For review