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Release date: March 5, 2019

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Genre: Historical Fiction

Blurb:

Love brought them together. But only time can save them…

1931, Germany. Bookshop owner Max Beissinger meets Hanna Ginsberg, a budding concert violinist, and immediately he feels a powerful chemistry between them. It isn’t long before they fall in love and begin making plans for the future. As their love affair unfolds over the next five years, the climate drastically changes in Germany as Hitler comes to power. Their love is tested with the new landscape and the realities of war, not the least of which is that Hanna is Jewish and Max is not. But unbeknownst to Hanna is the fact that Max has a secret, which causes him to leave for months at a time—a secret that Max is convinced will help him save Hanna if Germany becomes too dangerous for her because of her religion. 

In 1946, Hanna Ginsberg awakens in a field outside of Berlin. Disoriented and afraid, she has no memory of the past ten years and no idea what has happened to Max. With no information as to Max’s whereabouts—or if he is even still alive—she decides to move to London to live with her sister while she gets her bearings. Even without an orchestra to play in, she throws herself completely into her music to keep alive her lifelong dream of becoming a concert violinist. But the music also serves as a balm to heal her deeply wounded heart and she eventually gets the opening she long hoped for. Even so, as the days, months, and years pass, taking her from London to Paris to Vienna to America, she continues to be haunted by her forgotten past, and the fate of the only man she has ever loved and cannot forget.

Told in alternating viewpoints—Max in the years leading up to WWII, and Hanna in the ten years after—In Another Time is a beautiful novel about love and survival, passion and music, across time and continents. 

Review:

Oh my heart this was a moving book! While it most definitely falls under the umbrella of historical fiction, this is also an epic love story that transcends time and distance and swept me away to a foreign land.

This alternates between Max and Hanna’s perspectives and spans across the years before and after WW2. I was equally drawn to both of their characters but I was head over heels for sweet, dear Max. He captured my heart almost instantly, he’s the type of character that will remain with me forever. I was also invested in Hanna, she’s just a bit more distant than Max, she’s so focused and passionate about her music career, her violin is her lifeline during a depressing time in history, that’s it hard to foster a deep connection with her. Both were amazingly well crafted and hearing from both of them throughout the years was truly a special treat.

Cantor writes in such a beautiful, evocative manner, even though her books always break my heart in some way, it’s in the best way possible. If you’re like me and you can’t get enough of WW2 fiction this is a must read, there’s a unique spin on the sub genre that I wholeheartedly enjoyed.

In Another Time in three words: Poetic, Moving and Emotional.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.