When We Were Young
When We Were Young is an amazing debut from Jaclyn Goldis. From the very beginning I was enthralled as I was sucked into the settings of Corfu and Florida (and really…who wouldn’t want to get sucked into those settings!?!).
Corfu, 1942: To sixteen-year-old Sarah Batis, the Nazis are a distant danger—of far greater threat is the opposing needs of her heart and her people. Tradition demands that Sarah marry a Jewish man. Only Sarah has fallen in love with a fisherman outside their community. And when the Nazis invade, Sarah must watch from afar as her family is taken away. . .
Corfu, 2004: Sarah's daughter, Bea, has built a happy life with a steadfast husband and two independent daughters. Their summers on the Greek island with the Winn family appear idyllic, especially the love that blossoms between Bea's daughter Joey and Leo Winn. But there is a secret threatening their beach paradise.
Florida, 2019: Joey is only days away from marrying the nice Jewish man her family adores. The arrival of Leo, Joey's first love, sends her reeling. Even after fifteen years, the attraction between them burns bright—but Leo isn't looking for a happy reunion. He's there to reveal why he really broke up with her during their last summer together.
Weddings have a way of bringing out the best—and worst—in those you love the most. And as the revelations of her family flood to the surface, what Joey learns will either bring them closer together . . . or tear them apart forever.
Oh how this story got me. I was crying silent tears by the end. Sarah’s devastating story of living through the Holocaust (and it’s aftermath) was so hard to read and wrap your head around, but so important to remember and learn from (I too lost family to the Holocaust). I was just floored by how Goldis was able to so brilliantly capture the voice of a woman who was young in the 1940s.
Goldis wrote a beautiful story and created a strong message about the power of following your heart no matter where it might lead you. Love is no guarantee but if you don’t acknowledge it or pursue it then you will live with regret, longing.
It reminded me the importance of living a life that speaks to you. Trying to meet others’ expectations, or focusing on making others happy or proud, is a recipe for living a half life.
What an absolute heartfelt and captivating debut! I cannot wait to see what Goldis writes next!
“Follow your heart... it means, you don’t get to know how it turns out. But you have to follow where it leads. You have to trust that wherever and to whomever it takes you, is where you’re supposed to go”
