The Book Club will be meeting on Monday, January 23rd, at 2 p.m. to share thoughts on the title “A Hundred Sweet Promises” by Sepehr Haddad. If you have read this book, please join us as we discuss this title.
This novel is based on a true story. A family secret revealed 40 years ago by a grandmother to her grandson is now an acclaimed Russian historical fiction read. The author’s grandfather, Nasrosoltan, a famed music composer who on the eve of World War I travels from Persia to Russia to study classical music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with such masters as Rimsky-Korsakov. While there, Nasrosoltan falls in love with a Romanov princess, but the royalty surrounding him considers this a forbidden love. Unexpectedly, the Tsar gets involved, and Nasrosoltan suddenly finds himself in a battle between head and heart while being caried forward on a wave of destiny towards an uncertain future.
Up next month for the Book Club, will be the title of “The Doctor’s Daughter” by Shari J. Ryan. This story takes place in Auschwitz in 1941. In Nazi-occupied Poland, Sophia cannot look her father in the eye. Sofia’s mother is Jewish–how dare he work as a doctor for the SS? She cannot forgive him, even if the bargain was made to spare their lives. In the middle of the night, Isaac emerges from a packed train with hundreds of others. Beneath Auschwitz’s barbed wire, soldiers surround them, and gunshots pierce the dark sky. The SS decide prisoners’ fates on the spot–and Isaac is chosen to work, rather than to die. Every day Isaac and his fellow inmates are sent to a nearby farm. From sunup to sundown, they toil the land with barely a scrap to eat. Every breath feels like it could be Isaac’s last, so when he sees a beautiful auburn-haired girl peering out of the farmhouse window it feels like a dream. Sofia refuses to accept what she is seeing. Disobeying her father and evading the guards, she risks her life to sneak a letter to the green-eyed boy outside. She explains that she has hidden them food, and that she’ll do everything in her power to save them. This secret exchange sparks an escape that should have been impossible–and a love story that is unforgettable. But is love enough in the face of evil? And when Sofia and Isaac are concealed underground, holding their breath as the Nazis hunt them, will they survive?
