Repentances [Paperback]

Annette Meyers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2005

A Mystery Guild Featured Alternate

As an oil painting ages the paint may become increasingly transparent, revealing the ghost of a previous image beneath. These images are called "repentances" - as is this haunting novel in which the sins of the past will not stay buried. On the eve of World War II, Jewish immigrant Nathan Ebanholz makes the final payment on his wife and baby daughter's passage to New York. But Nathan's joy is short-lived: when their ship sails, Miri and Rayzela are not on board.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This engrossing tale of murder and deception from Meyers (Murder Me Now, etc.) captures the tones and accents of an earlier era while maintaining a sense of urgency and high suspense. In 1936, Nathan Ebanholz, a Jewish immigrant, is trying to bring his wife and baby daughter from Europe to New York to escape the Nazi threat. He has paid Marvin Zweikel, who makes a good living at this human trade, to arrange their safe passage, but his loved ones are not on the ship they're supposed to be on, as Zweikel discovers. When Ebanholz, who's having an affair with Zweikel's wife Stella, learns that the couple have hidden the true fate of his wife and daughter from him, he kills Stella in a rage. In a further impulsive act, Nathan kidnaps a sick three-year-old girl from the hospital where Stella worked as a nurse and takes the youngster to the suburban New Jersey home of his childless sister, Anna, and her gentile husband, a doctor. The rest of the book focuses on the girl Rosie, who grows up ignorant of her origins to become an artist in Greenwich Village, though she is increasingly haunted by fearful visions. Inevitably, the new generation repeats the mistakes of the old in a well-crafted novel that manages to entertain as it seriously explores issues of good and evil.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Meyers, whose Olivia Brown series takes place in 1920s Greenwich Village, keeps the setting but flips the calendar ahead to 1936 in her latest effort. Europe is heading toward war, and Jewish immigrants are trying to rescue relatives from Hitler's grasp. Nathan Ebanholz, who has paid an agent to arrange passage for his wife and daughter, learns at the last minute that there will be no joyous reunion; his family has perished in a fire set by anti-Semites. When the agent refuses to return Nathan's money, a chain of events is triggered that leads to kidnapping and murder. The past will not remain buried, and only the truth will allow those affected to face the future with a measure of happiness. Meyers' compelling story again draws on fascinating details of life in Greenwich Village, but this time the author also offers a powerful portrayal of the plight of immigrants, a theme that resonates not just in history but in contemporary life as well. Recommend this one to all readers of historical mystery. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Five Star Trade (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410402061
• ISBN-13: 978-1410402066
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,406,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ANNETTE MEYERS


Annette Meyers was born in Manhattan, grew up on a chicken farm in Toms River, NJ, graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and came running back to NYC as fast as she could. She is the author of 8 Smith and Wetzon Wall Street and Broadway mysteries, using her experience as a Wall Street headhunter and arbitrator, as well as her Broadway experience as Harold Prince's assistant. The most recent novel is Hedging. Her other works: 2 Olivia Brown 1920s Greenwich Village mysteries, Free Love and Murder Me Now; and a stand-alone psychological suspense novel: Repentances. Her noir short stories have appeared in many anthologies. One of these stories- "You Don't Know Me" - was included in James Ellroy's edited Best American Mystery Stories, 2002.
As Maan Meyers, she and her husband Martin write The Dutchman series. There are now 7 history mysteries in the series, and numerous short stories that feature characters from the novels. The setting is New York in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The 7th novel - The Organ Grinder - set in 1899, was published in October, 2008. THE DUTCHMAN, the first book in the series, is now available on Kindle
Annette was the 10th president of Sister in Crime. Website:www.meyersmysteries.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystical and tragic, January 2, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Repentances (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

Annette Meyers has a varied past, having worked sixteen years as an executive search consultant on Wall Street, and then since 1996 as an arbitrator with the National Association of Securities Dealers. She also spent sixteen years as an assistant to Hal Prince on Broadway. Meyers is the author of seven published mysteries and has had her short stories published in various anthologies. She is a former president of Sisters in Crime and is the current president of the International Association of Crime Writers in North America.

The title Repentences is a metaphor for an oil painting that has been painted over another painting. As the paint ages, the old painting may "ghost" through.

It's 1936 in New York, and the Jewish population is feverishly trying to bring loved ones over from Germany. Nathan Evanholz is waiting for his wife and child and has already paid for their passage. But his family is tragically killed, and in his sorrow he commits a murder and a kidnaping of a young girl, believing her to be his daughter. His sister researches the child's origins, and when she sees the terrible privation and abuse agrees to engage in "the lie" to protect the child...Rosie. But Rosie has to eventually discover the truth, and that truth may destroy her as her adopted family frets:

"Anna is afraid. Rosie is her child, not of her loins, but her soul. Loved and protected. But not Nathan nor Anna can protect her from her past now. What they can do is help heal the damage they've done. They must tell her the truth and accept the possibility that she will not forgive them."

Repentences is not a murder mystery, but an historical mystery which portrays a slice of what life in New York was like for the Jewish people in New York, trying to hold on to their identities and some semblance of family life. Desperate circumstances beget creative solutions, and Meyers creates a rich tapestry which whirls around a simple family just trying to hold on to sanity. As the past bleeds through Rosie's subconscious, she must deal with ghosts of the past before she can truly self-actuate. Meyers' characters love fully, and spend a great deal of time trying to work through pain too deep to comprehend. Her tale is mystical and tragic.

Shelley Glodowski, Senior Reviewer
Midwest Book Review