The Lady with the Hat [Hardcover]

Uri Orlev (Author), Hillel Halkin (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 1995

Yulek, a seventeen-year-old Holocaust survivor, finds himself tragically alone at war's end. Hoping to begin again, he makes his way to Palestine, where he meets a sad and beautiful Jewish girl named Theresa. Saved from the Nazis by Catholic nuns, Theresa, like Yulek, is uncertain about her place in the postwar world. Together they struggle to rediscover the joy of living. Meanwhile, a mysterious English woman sets out on her own search for the long-lost nephew that she has spotted in a newspaper photo of Jewish refugees. Perhaps by finding him, she will also find some long-hidden part of herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Israeli author of Lydia, Queen of Palestine and The Island on Bird Street reprises the theme of Jewish experience during WWII, opening this novel two years after the war has ended. Yulek, the sole survivor of his family, has no further links to the Polish village where he grew up: "The Germans did us a big favor," the current occupant of Yulek's house tells Yulek when he returns from the camps. And so Yulek looks toward Palestine for his future, even though the British enforce strict immigration policies there. Meanwhile, in London, an elegant woman named Melanie recognizes Yulek's face in a newspaper photo of a Jewish refugee camp in Italy-she is his aunt, cut off from the family when she married a British lord. Not certain that Yulek will even remember her existence, Melanie sets out to find him, traveling to Italy and then tracing his circuitous route to Israel. The issues of a Jewish homeland are presented sympathetically and dramatically, but while the writing remains superior to that of most YA novels, it is not Orlev's best. In shifting from the first-person narratives of his previous books to a third-person narration encompassing multiple points of view, the author dissipates the intensity of his story and exposes its dependence on coincidence and other unlikely elements. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up?Yulek, 17, is alone in the world. His family was killed in the concentration camps during World War II, and now, two years later, he makes a trip from a Zionist training camp in Italy to his former home in Poland before embarking on a journey that will ultimately end in Palestine. In his hometown, he learns that an English woman has been there making inquiries about his family. It could only be his Aunt Malka, who estranged herself from her relatives years earlier by marrying a Christian. But Yulek doesn't know her married name or where she lives. Meanwhile, Malka, now Lady Melanie Faulkner, happens upon a picture of him and some other young people in a Jewish newspaper. She is determined to find him, but complicated circumstances prevent their reunion. As with The Man from the Other Side (Houghton, 1991), Orlev has created an intimate portrayal of the life and times for Jews during the World War II era. Both books go beyond Jewish issues?they have non-Jewish characters who are crucial to plot development and who add balance. In this title, the Jewish postwar settlements in Palestine and the British position regarding Jewish immigration are central to the plot. While history students will find the novel enlightening, anyone who selects it for recreational reading will need a basic background in the period's events to appreciate the story's significance.?Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395699576
• ISBN-13: 978-0395699577
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,643,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book..., April 14, 2008

By 

Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lady with the Hat (Paperback)

World War II has ended. What is left for the Jewish refugees? The promise land. This book is about a boy coming to grips with what he wants in life now that the war is over and no one is left from his family *or so he thinks*. This the story of a woman cast out of the family before the war because married Christian. She discovers a photo in a newspaper that looks like her brother when he was younger. She starts a journey to find the boy in this photo and finds a whole lot more! It is a wonderful book and I can recommend it to everyone.