Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The Hours Count

Mildred Stein may seem a simple, typical housewife of the
The Hours Count
late 1940's but she finds herself in the middle of a maelstrom of espionage. Millie who picks up her weekly brisket from the kosher butcher every Friday. Millie who is thrilled to live in a small, one bedroom apartment - with heat! - in Knickerbocker Village. Millie who takes care of her two year old son David who has not said a word, ever. Her husband Ed is a Russian immigrant, he is an accountant. The neighbors are Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The first and only American couple to be executed for espionage, ever. Post WWII, the fear of the Russians, of the atomic bomb, the Cold War - has set America searching for communists. Anyone un-American must be investigated. As naive Millie navigates motherhood and a marriage she knows in her heart is no good, she starts to put the pieces together. The FBI shows up, Ed disappears and returns and disappears and returns. She falls in love with Jake. As author Jillian Cantor expertly pulls us through the lives of these characters, you can hear their words. You can smell the brisket. Ms. Cantor's superb writing took me to another world, another time. If she thinks The Hours Count, so does every word she has written. Do not miss this unforgettable look at history presented within a fictional story. Fabulous read.

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