Three Tales from Vienna

A Novel

De: Ray Kingfisher

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

This epic saga spanning a century and three generations of a Jewish family is Ray Kingfisher’s most original and ambitious novel to date.

Three Tales from Vienna follows the fortunes of the Rosenthal family through the eyes of three sisters: the prim but compassionate Alicia, the confident social butterfly that is Giselle, and the studious baby of the family, Klara. But this is more than a tale of three ordinary Jewish sisters; this is also three tales of one great city, of how the changes brought about by union with Hitler’s Germany would prove to have a devastating effect on the character of Vienna as well as the Rosenthal family.

Tale One – Calm Waters, Ordinary Lives – is set before the union with Germany, when the three sisters enjoy a typical carefree existence, each searching for love and fulfilment in her own individual manner, each doing her best to ignore the looming cloud of their country’s aggressive neighbor.

Covering Vienna’s most tumultuous years, Tale Two – A Bitter North Wind – sees the sisters’ lives torn apart by the brutal National Socialist regime, forcing each of them to deal with persecution in strikingly different ways.

In the post-war setting of Tale Three – Salvage and Legacy – each sister must pick up the pieces of a life all but destroyed. Alicia, Giselle, and Klara are torn between honoring their parents and beloved brother, Hugo, or carving out a future where their own offspring are shielded from the effects of the persecution they lived through. But can family ties survive the memories of their ordeals? And do children of survivors inherit some of the pain and suffering their parents endured?

A window into history

The story was convincingly true although it is my understanding that the characters were fictional. Virtual voice did a pretty good job, but there were several moments where I thought the town was strange based on what was being said at the moment.

WWII and Secrets

read by virtual voice and yet I enjoyed it. except it was so soft I had to turn volume to max.

The story begins as one story, It then goes into three tales. returning to one story in the end.

The reason it becomes 3 tales is because of three different paths three sisters take during WWII. It felt real because it doesnt end all beautifully tied in a pretty now with rainbows and butterflies. There is the destruction caused by Secrets and successes despite the heartaches. The Secrets that aren't told go to the grave but other Secrets come to light. Just like in real life.