Just One [Paperback]

Esther Gerstenfeld Erman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2003

After a life filled with both happiness and tragedy, Estera perishes at Treblinka. Summoned back to Earth by a granddaughter's longing, her spirit begins a journey that transforms them both. As the granddaughter comes of age, she learns to accept Estera's human failings and heroism. Based on real lives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Books and language have always been Esther Erman's passion – a love second only to her family. Her first book, Just One, is a novelized telling of her family's stories, which she's heard and collected for many years. Born in Germany soon after World War II, she's now a California transplant from New Jersey. Active in the community of writers, Esther's busy schedule also includes teaching ESL to adults, judging writing contests, and trying to write fast enough to keep up with all her new ideas. Previous publications include stories, articles, doctoral dissertation, and the occasional poem.

Product Details

• Paperback: 297 pages
• Publisher: Zumaya Publications, LLC (March 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894942140
• ISBN-13: 978-1894942140
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,499,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings Back Long Forgotten Memories, October 12, 2006

By 

Crosswycke (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just One (Paperback)

A friend recently gave me a copy of this book. Reading it brought back memories of sitting in my great aunt's kitchen and hearing stories about my own family and how they had struggled in Poland and then left to start a new life in Bronx, NY. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who wants to know what it was like to be a Jewish immigrant family in New York.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you., September 14, 2006

By 

Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just One (Paperback)

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (8/06)

This is the true story of Esther, a young Jewish girl growing up in America in the 50's. Young Esther faces the taunts of classmates and the differing of society and her home life. Esther longs for a grandmother and cherishes anything she can find out about her.

Estera died in a gas chamber at Treblinka during the Holocaust. Only one daughter survived. Queen Esther greets Estera in heaven and shows her glimpses of her daughter and granddaughter's life on earth. Estera desires to hold her loved ones close to her. She longs to guide her granddaughter through life. But first she must lay aside her anger.

Estera appears to her granddaughter in a dream and in light. She warns that this must be a secret between the two of them. Over the years, Estera continues to visit her granddaughter. Through these visits Esther learns many things and so does Estera. `"Granddaughter's are treasures beyond imagination," I said to the queen. "Even when they give you trouble."'

As I read this book, tears filled my eyes; tears of joy and sadness, tears of understanding. When Estera speaks of her granddaughter I hear wisdom. I can relate to her statements. "I trembled to touch this child. I even had a moment of doubt that I would know how to hold this baby, to feed her and clean her and care for her...As soon as Surele was in my arms - from that very first instant - I remembered everything known since the beginning of time about holding babies."

"It was like I had known this child forever--and had been her grandmother from the first moment of Creation. I felt almost crazy. My eyes filled with tears--and yet I had to hold myself back from laughing."

The author speaks eloquently of the love of a grandmother for her grandchildren. But there's more to this book than just that love. There is truth in telling of the holocaust. Ms. Erman paints a picture of the nightmare when she tells what happened to Estera and Gittle. She tells of those murdered and of those who would live with physical and emotional scars for life. "Lying on the ground with the rough cobblestones pressing into my stomach and legs and chest and head, I was prepared to die. Surely I would not live through this."

I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it for everyone - especially mothers and daughters. I wish I had read it years ago. I would have had a better understanding concerning certain things. Ms. Erman - you have shared part of your life with us. I am better having read it. Thank you.

Received book free of charge.

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for Just One, June 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Just One (Paperback)

Just One is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. This fictionalized account of a true life story takes you right into the home of a young family making a new start in America after the horror of the Holocaust. Young Esther wants so badly to fit in with her classmates; her mother needs to cope with tragedies that readers cannot begin to imagine.

There is much Holocaust literature available but this stands apart in its spiritual side as Esther finds comfort in the presence of her grandmother, for whom she is named. It is beautifully written -- you'll swear that you can smell the cooking -- and emotionally honest. Children of survivors will recognize themselves in Esther Erman's poignant scenes.

I recommend this powerful book. It is at times brutally hard to read, but always gripping, and ultimately there is a sense of survival, achievement, and victory.