Memories from Cherry Harvest

by Amy Wachspress

Overview

Three generations of women struggle with oppression in this prize-winning historical saga from “a natural born storyteller” (Julia Alvarez).

When I remember Russia, I ache with longing for the village of my birth, where the beloved grandparents magically produced candy in a handshake and told stories of long ago when God spoke to humans and enchantments filled the world . . .

Two Jewish sisters, born in Russia shortly before the Communist Revolution, are forced to flee the pogroms and persecution and travel with their parents to British-occupied Palestine. The girls’ parents befriend a widower with two children and join forces, creating a blended family. When the girls are teenagers, World War II tears the family apart, sending the girls separately to France and America. Their lives unfold in tandem: babies are born, friendships forged, and cherry pies baked—despite the brutal backdrop of the Holocaust. As the family grows into the next generation, one of the daughters, an artist drawn to a bohemian lifestyle, surrounds herself with a multicultural circle of friends the likes of which her ancestors could not have imagined. Subsequently, the artist’s turns her passion to providing aid to Salvadoran refugees fleeing the death squads in their homeland, just as her own grandmother once fled the pogroms of Russia. As she follows her vocation of reversing the damage that torturers inflict on their victims, she must also overcome a past-life trauma that haunts her very core.

A winner of the Fabri Literary Prize, Memories from Cherry Harvest spans seventy years and five continents, explores the physics of memory, and shows how the tenacity of good can ultimately withstand and overcome the memory of tragedy.

“Like Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies and Doris Lessing’s Martha Quest novels, this story about fighting the injustices of the 20th century will engage readers of politically charged fiction.” —Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593764401
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	06/19/2012
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Amy Wachspress has an M.A. in English Language and Literature and has raised over $100 million in funds as a grant writer for projects in more than twenty-five states. She is the author of the award-winning children’s fantasy adventure The Call to Shakabaz. She and her husband raised their three children on forty acres of remote forest in rural northern California.

Editorial Reviews

Wachspress’s disappointing debut is a busy family chronicle of four generations of Jewish women, each standing as a marker of the period of history in which she lived. In the early 20th century, Rivka and Ruth’s family escapes Russia for Palestine, where they befriend Miriam, who becomes like a third sister to them. Rivka is arrested for Communist activities and escapes to France (where she is soon joined by Miriam), and Ruth heads to America. During WWII, all three women are involved in the struggle while simultaneously trying to build their lives and families. The story continues with Ruth’s daughter Rina, who follows a bohemian path, then Rina’s daughter Miriam, who commits herself to the plight of Salvadoran refugees and eventually has a daughter of her own. Each woman’s life is recounted in exhaustive but emotionless detail, leading to heavy-handed summary dialogue like, “Despite our losses, we have been fortunate.” An underdeveloped story line about reincarnation attempts to tie the women together more tightly, but is never clear enough to resonate. Though ambitious, the novel falters under its own weight. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Memories from Cherry Harvest

"Like Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies and Doris Lessing's Martha Quest novels, this story about fighting the injustices of the 20th century will engage readers of politically charged fiction."--Library Journal

"Amy is one of the hidden treasures in the world of writing. She is a natural born storyteller with a burning belief in how stories can transform us and make for a better world." --Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of The Butterflies

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2012 Fabri Literary Prize, this semiautobiographical family saga chronicles three generations of strong women, beginning with sisters Ruth and Rivka, who escape the pogroms of Russia for Palestine as World War I ends. Sympathy for oppressed Arabs draws the teenage Rivka into the Communist Party until she's arrested then leaves for France. Simultaneously, Ruth emigrates to the United States. As the novel unfolds, readers follow the sisters' experiences during World War II and the Holocaust. Ruth's daughter Rina grows up to be an artist immersed in the left-wing counterculture in 1960s New York. Rina's own daughter, Miriam, moves to Arizona, where she becomes involved with the sanctuary movement helping Salvadoran refugees. VERDICT Each generation here is motivated by a sense of righteous indignation concerning the politically oppressed. It is as if some supernatural power guides them into political action. Indeed, the author suggests that this family continues to be motivated by spirits from past lives. Like Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies and Doris Lessing's Martha Quest novels, this story about fighting the injustices of the 20th century will engage readers of politically charged fiction.—Andrea Kempf, formerly at Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

Library Journal