Almost Autumn
Ilse Stern has a teenage crush on Herman Rød, but he has just stood her up. Although she doesn’t know it yet, he has a good reason: it’s 1942, and the resistance in Norway has begun. Ilse and her family are Jews living in Oslo, and the Nazis are systematically destroying their lives and livelihoods. This all occurs whilst most others look on. Many Jews escape to Sweden with the help of the resistance, but somehow, Herman doesn’t know how to approach Ilse and her family with this information. Before long, the Nazis arrest all Norwegian Jewish males, and Ilse’s father disappears. One month later, they come for the rest, and all it would take to save Ilse and her family is one brave soul.
This debut novel by Kaurin won the Norwegian Ministry of Culture prize and was named Young People’s Book of the Year in Norway. It’s not hard to see why. Kaurin’s voice paves the way for the reader to experience a lesser known part of the Holocaust with reading ease—though nothing about the events she describes is easy. The story can feel a bit disconnected in the beginning because Kaurin uses multiple points of view, though all the characters’ individual stories align in the end and the reader is well rewarded. It does not take long for the plot to drive forward, and what struck me the most is how sudden and drastic the fate of so many changed forever.
