The Past is Never Past A Judaic Novel by Esther Katz Silvers

Broken engagement, broken promise, broken elbow, broken heart.

When recently widowed Pearl King decides to spend the summer of 2014 with her daughter in Israel, she brings along old German letters for her granddaughter to translate. Following a broken engagement, Ilana Horowitz is eager for the distraction. These letters spark numerous questions and while answering them, Pearl shares stories about her past. Her husband had been a Ritchie Boy, her brother-in-law one of the Kindertransport children, and she’d been an army nurse.

Pearl’s visit takes an unexpected turn after the kidnapping and tragic murder of three boys on their way home from yeshiva and the eruption of Operation Protective Edge. Yossi Klein, Ilana’s former fiancé, is injured in a hit-and-run. Pearl’s son, married to a non-Jew, visits after she breaks her elbow.

As the Horowitzes and Kleins navigate the war―trying to keep their spirits up, faith intact, and repair what is broken―Pearl’s recollections convey that the past is never truly gone. Instead, with Hashem’s help, our memories shape and build a better, brighter future.