The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron
Available for $18.90 via Booktopia.
Visiting Paris as an eight year old with her much-loved father, Sera James saw a painting that stayed with her into adulthood. It shows a beautiful Auschwitz prisoner, head shaven, holding a violin. To the point of obsession, Sera searches for the painting.
Following the death of his grandfather and the defection from all responsibilities of his father, William is the unwilling patriarch of the Hanover family. He owns a copy of the painting for which Sera is searching, and he has 100 million reasons to find the original. As both have research about the original, they decide to combine forces to achieve their common goal.
Seventy years earlier in Austria, Adele von Bron’s is well known as the granddaughter of a renowned violinist, and the daughter of a concert pianist and a high-ranking Austrian general. As a talented violinist Adele is required to play at parties and concerts for the Nazi high command, to “play for Austria”, to play “for the Fuehrer”. Nevertheless, Adele cannot accept the picture her parents paint of this new and glorious Austria, she cannot accept what is happening outside the walls of her home.
Through guest appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic, Adele meets and falls in love with cellist Vladimir Nikolai, who nicknames her Butterfly. As the son of a merchant family, Vladimir does not meet the von Bron’s image of the ideal son in law and they forbid the relationship. Worse than his family background is the fact that he like Adele, he sympathises with the Jews. In 1943, Adele and Vladimir are both inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, playing in the camp orchestras as new arrivals walk to the gas chamber and others leave for work detail.
I have read a good deal of Holocaust literature, both fiction and non-fiction; my interest was sparked by noticing a work colleague had a number tattooed on his forearm. What is unusual about this novel is that both Adele and Vladimir are Christians, so the perspective is a little different to other novels about Auschwitz.
There is much to recommend this book; the story of Adele’s life in Auschwitz, how she copes with the loss of her status as her parent’s daughter, the love she receives from another prison orchestra member and her on-going argument with herself about the ethics of what she does, even though it is not her choice.
In my opinion however, the modern story is not as satisfying. Even though both Sera and William are likeable characters, their story is predictable, boy meets girl, they fall in love, there is a misunderstanding, misunderstanding solved and “they live happily ever after”.
Despite this small reservation, I would read another novel by Kristy Cambron and thank Thomas Nelson–FICTION for making available my ARC via NetGalley.
Available for $18.90 via Booktopia.
Reddit rating
About the Author
I’ve been taken with the WWII Era since I was a young girl. My grandfather was a B-17 co-pilot in the war and I remember the stories he’d so often tell. Years later, I came across the lost art of Auschwitz while studying for my undergraduate degree in Art History. I didn’t know it then, but more than a decade later, God would remind me of the heart of this book. In the wee hours of the morning in early 2013, it came alive once again.
I write WWII and Regency Era Christian fiction titles. I am so grateful that they placed first in the 2013 NTRWA Great Expectations and 2012 FCRW Beacon contests (Inspirational Categories)! One of those stories (which I hope will make it to bookstore shelves one day!) also became a Finalist in the 2013 Laurie contest. I’ve been a contributing author on RegencyReflections.com since 2012, and still post there with my Regency friends from time to time. In my day career, I’m a Communications Consultant for a Fortune-100 Company — so along with fiction, I get to write and do cool aesthetic design all day long!
Jeremy’s my husband and best friend. Together, we make our home in Indiana with our three football-loving sons. I drink way too many coconut mocha lattes and j’adore Paris, English Literature (especially Jane Austen), Downton Abbey, classic movies, and NFL football.