Today’s Lunch Lit excerpt is Crossing the Borders of Time: A True Story of War, Exile, and Love Reclaimed by Leslie Maitland. It tells the true tale of love lost during WWII and then found again fifty years later when a daughter’s investigative journey reunites her mother with her teenage sweetheart. A true story that reads like a novel. It’s very moving start to finish.
For readers that came to the novels Sarah’s Key, Every Man Dies Alone, Those Who Save Us, and The Invisible Bridge, Maitland’s family memoir will speak to the same audience. It is rich in historical material. Maitland, a former NYT reporter, approached this book with the same rigorous gusto that she applied to her work for the Times. This is not only a memoir but a work of investigative history.
Little has been written about the internment camps in Cuba during the war where Jewish refugees were held before being released to rebuild their lives. There are few Holocaust stories that conclude with a happy ending. This is one of those rare occasions where love not only survived the war but five decades apart. This book is the perfect match for bookclubs.