News from the Board

Hava Fleming, Religion

Book review

I had the privilege of helping an elderly gentleman, Victor Kary, z"l, write his memoirs before his death just a few years ago. He had been born in Vienna and was an early child on a Kindertransport from that city. When I read about Sarah Gainham's novel, known by the critics in the 1960s as "The lost masterpiece of wartime Vienna", I ordered a copy and have just completed the 622 pages. It is, I agree, a masterful work, and seldom can an author capture the essence of those 1930s and 40s as she has done. I found the descriptive passages, as well as the dialogue, compelling and vivid. Her characters, drawn from layers of society, from east and west, but who for reasons of war, are in Vienna on various survival missions. The strong woman, Julia Homberg, a renowned actress, is at the heart of the narrative, and we come to understand that there are many layers to the phrase Night Falls on the City.