Day After Night

A Novel

By: Anita Diamant

Narrated by: Dagmara Dominczyk

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters - young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe - in this intensely dramatic novel.

Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than 200 prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration-camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience, even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

This is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption, a novel that reimagines a moment in history with such stunning eloquence that we are haunted and moved by every devastating detail. Day After Night is a triumphant work of fiction.

©2009 Anita Diamant (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Critic Reviews

"Diamant opens a window into a time of sadness, confusion and optimism that has resonance for so much that's both triumphant and troubling in modern Jewish history." ( Publishers Weekly)

Just Like "The Red Tent"

I tried this, as I am partial to survivor stories from WW II, but like "The Red Tent" it was all internal dialogue with very little sense of place or external detail. I'd call this style impressionistic - deep feelings but little context. Pixelated.

great

well done anita diamant! creative story line and informative about the jews after the war. I especially loved the narration by Dagmara Dominszyk. she was great to listen to with all the accents she was able to do.

Some of the saddest and greatest memories of all

The book brought tears, despair, hope to my hart.
The story of theses strong women with harts of gold is moving and extremely well written. The reader Dagmara Dominiczyk give it a great voice.
This book is a serious lesson of life, courage and Hope is the driving force of all men. Hatikva!

Great story, great narrator

Terrific characters, horrifying stories and a great theme. Diamant's writing is up to parr and the narration, which is so important in listening to a book, is just right.

slow

The subject matter interested me, but I just had a hard time getting really into it. I liked it, but it was not the most compelling listen. The narrator's voice & accents grated on my nerves, sorry to say. The good thing about listening to this book is I learned something I never knew about Jews who were freed from concentration camps and went to live in Israel. So it was worthwhile.

Wonderful book

Loved the characters; all very different but strong in their ways.
Moving story. Wonderfully written and voiced.

Heartfelt

Realistic and compassionate historical fiction. Each of the four main characters, survivors of the Holocaust, reveals a different experience of the horrors they endured and the various ways in which they cope. This story touched my soul, and it lingers in my mind. The narration is a tour de force of various emotions, languages, and attitudes of the characters. “Day after Night” is a memorable experience.

Thought provoking, hopeful.

I am constantly amazed when I hear stories of people who have overcome unbelievable circumstances. We are all called to overcome. This story gives me courage and inspiration.

Excellent!

I enjoyed the story, though a difficult one to hear. The reader was really awesome! I often felt like l was there.

An Excellent "Listen"

I typically find it annoying when the narrator switches voices and accents but in this case it was seamlessly done. Each voice/accent was distinctive without being caricatured. You'll get to know and love each of the four main characters and you'll probably shed a few tears at the end though it ends on a hopeful note. There were times during the 2nd third of the story where I found myself having to backtrack quite often, confused about who was who and what was going on. But for that section I'd probably give the book 5 stars. That being said, if you're a Diamont fan you won't be disappointed. If you aren't, listen and you will be.