By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Trauma often reverberates through several generations, even if parents attempt to protect their children by never talking about what occurred. Deciding whether or not to share knowledge can be a difficult as is shown in two recent novels that explore mother/daughter relationships that were greatly affected by the events of World War II. In “The Red House” by Mary Morris (Doubleday), Laura’s mother Viola’s refusal to discuss her past left her daughter with far too many unanswered questions, while Lena is haunted by what she does know of her mother’s early life and the perfect older sister who died during the war in “The Baker of Lost Memories” by Shirley Russak Wachtel (Little A).
It’s Viola’s disappearance 30 years ago that is the impetus for Laura’s trip to Italy in “The Red House.” Viola walked out of the house without any possessions and was never seen or heard from again. Although the police suspected Laura’s father, nothing was ever proved. The two met when he was a GI in Italy after World War II. Viola claimed to have no family and refused to speak about her early life. When a detective calls Laura decades later about the case, rather than returning his call, she travels to Italy to learn about her mother’s past. Another impetus for her trip is that she is now the same age that her mother was when she disappeared. Plus, Laura has had an affair and is not sure if her marriage will survive.
Laura has one clue to her mother’s past: the paintings featuring a mysterious red house that Viola painted over and over, although she refused to explain what the building represented. When Laura arrives in Brindisi, where her parents met, she learn little about her mother until she is accosted in the street by someone who calls her by her mother’s name. Tommaso Bassanio knows the answers to most of Laura’s questions and some that she never would have thought to ask: Viola’s mother was Jewish and the red house was the building where she, her parents and younger brother were held imprisoned with other Jewish Italians. Laura is stunned by the revelation: she thought her mother was Catholic because she went to church and took communion.
“The Red House” is a beautifully written and affecting work of fiction. Readers not only learn about Laura’s early life and her trip to find her mother, but are transported back in time to discover how Viola viewed what happened to her during the war. These were the most moving sections of the novel. In fact, they are so well done and absorbing that it can be a shock to suddenly return to the present day and Laura’s story. At the end of the novel, readers, like Laura, finally discover the heartbreaking truth of what happened to her mother the day she disappeared. 
Although Viola never spoke about her early life, Lena can’t seem to escape her parents’ past. She knows about their successful bakery in Europe and the perfect younger sister, Ruby, who was murdered by the Nazis. Lena was born after her parents moved to Brooklyn and somehow it never feels as if anything she does will be enough to replace her lost sibling. Her one consolation is her friend Pearl, who accepts her exactly as she is. Except that one night in the 1960s, Pearl disappears. Lena’s parents tell her that Pearl moved, but since then, Lena has felt that something was missing from her life. That changes when she attends college and meets Luke, a fellow student. However, theirs is a troubled relationship: Luke buys a bakery for Lena to run, even though she’s not sure that’s really what she wants. Is the bakery Luke’s dream, a dream from Lena’s youth or simply the wrong life path for her?
The narration rotates between Lena and her mother, Anya, which gives readers a more in-depth look at their misunderstandings and the difficulties they face. Although Anya acknowledges she was not the mother Lena needed, readers will sympathize with her struggles, especially after learning how she survived the war. What will also strike readers is how differently the two view the same event.
“The Baker of Lost Memories” reads like a series of missed connections and regrets. An unexpected revelation at the end of the novel will change how readers view all the events that took place previously. Unfortunately, that revelation was not completely convincing, although it did shine a great light on the different ways Anya and Lena remember their joint past.