So of course I turned to the great and powerful wiki. moreģ.5 Had never heard of the Irgun, the Haganah or really knew nothing much about Isreal after the war. Thanks to Penguin Group (USA) Inc./Viking and Edelweiss. This is only the second O'Nan book I have read and I find myself wanting to read more of his writing which drew me in. I definitely learned things that I knew nothing about and while the story is in some way about the broader implications of establishing a Jewish state, I woke up thinking about Brand, his losses, where he would go from here. There was always a distance between him and these other operatives in the resistance, even Eva, who he lets himself fall in love with despite his guilt when he thinks about his beloved Katya. I was heartbroken for Brand as he reveals pieces of his past, and I couldn't get over the feeling that he didn't quite know what he was involved with here as he never seemed to be privy to what they were asking him to do. I'm glad I took the advice of my Goodreads friend Diane to read O'Nan's brief note at the end and I too looked up information about these groups before I got too far in this short novel.

I didn't know what Irgun or Haganah were and knew nothing of what happened after the war with British Mandate and occupation in Palestine after the war. O'Nan in this novel gives us the chance to think about the Jews who tried to settle in Jerusalem after the war. I've read numerous books on the Holocaust and WWII but I haven't read much about the aftermath or what happened to the holocaust survivors. He drives a taxi, lives with a new name, and I couldn't shake the thought that while Brand survived the camps, he was still in captivity.

As a holocaust survivor with his family taken from him and his home in Latvia gone, he tries to find a place for himself, as he accepts a new identity and goes to Palestine with the help of Haganah, part of the Jewish resistance in Palestine after the war.

He drives a taxi, lives with a new name, and I couldn't shake the thought that while Brand survived the c Brand is haunted by the loss of his wife, his parents, his sister, by the time he spent in the camps and his inability to save others. By the time Brand understands the truth, it's too late, and the tragedy that ensues changes history.Ī noirish, deeply felt novel of intrigue and identity written in O'Nan's trademark lucent style, City of Secrets asks how both despair and faith can lead us astray, and what happens when, with the noblest intentions, we join movements beyond our control.moreīrand is haunted by the loss of his wife, his parents, his sister, by the time he spent in the camps and his inability to save others. He falls in love with Eva, a fellow survivor and member of his cell, reclaims his faith, and commits himself to the revolution, accepting secret missions that grow more and more dangerous even as he begins to suspect he's being used by their cell's dashing leader, Asher.

Alone, haunted by memories, he tries to become again the man he was before the war-honest, strong, capable of moral choice. Now driving a taxi provided-like his new identity-by the underground, he navigates the twisting streets of Jerusalem as well as the overlapping, sometimes deadly loyalties of the resistance. Those who made it were hunted as illegals by the British mandatory authorities there and relied on the underground to shelter them taking fake names, they blended with the population, joining the wildly different factions fighting for the independence of Israel.Ĭity of Secrets follows one survivor, Brand, as he tries to regain himself after losing everyone he's ever loved. In 1945, with no homes to return to, Jewish refugees by the tens of thousands set out for Palestine. Those who made it were hunted as illegals by the British mandatory authorities there and relied on the underground to shelter them tak From master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, a timely moral thriller of the Jewish underground resistance in Jerusalem after the Second World War From master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, a timely moral thriller of the Jewish underground resistance in Jerusalem after the Second World War In 1945, with no homes to return to, Jewish refugees by the tens of thousands set out for Palestine.

D2 city of secrets