"I know you from somewhere," Josef says to the woman he has just been introduced to at his grandson's wedding. Both Josef and Lenka - the bride's grandmother - are the young couple's last grandparent.
"You must be mistaken," Lenka replies, not wanting to appear rude, but wanting to concentrate on her granddaughter's wedding. However, the exchange continues for several minutes, letting the reader know that something almost magical is up, until the older couple finally realizes the truth: "'Lenka,it's me,' he said. 'Josef. Your husband.'"
So begins Alyson Richman's The Lost Wife. While the first two chapters, as well as the final chapters and epilogue are set in modern New York, the majority of the book is set in Europe during World War II. The novel introduces us to the young Lenka and Josef, both of whom live with their families. Josef is the older brother of one of Lenka's schoolmates. Against the backdrop of war and the Nazi march across Europe, Lenka and Josef fall in love, even as both families worry about whether to leave their homes. (Both families are Jewish, so staying a step or two ahead of the Nazis is a real concern.)
At one point, Josef's family is able to secure passage out of the country. He proposes to Lenka, with the understanding that since they will then be married, she will be able to accompany his family. Lenka is under the impression that her birth family may also be included in this escape. After the hurried wedding and very brief honeymoon, Lenka discovers that her family can't come right away with her new husband's family, and she opts to stay, with the understanding that she will meet up with Josef and his family once they are safely settled. However, the boat that Josef's family is on sinks; the reports state that the entire family are among the missing and presumed dead.
Shortly afterwards, Lenka and her family are rounded up with other local Jews and sent to concentration camps. While most of her family perishes, Lenka manages to survive the torments of the camps, even after ending up at Auschwitz.
When the prisoners at Auschwitz are liberated, Lenka is still alive. One of the American soldiers, Carl, takes her under his wing, falling in love with her. Lenka, who still believes that she is widowed, eventually marries Carl, who brings her to the United States. While she feels affection and gratitude towards Carl, it is not the same passionate love she had with Josef.
Meanwhile, Josef has made it to the United States, having survived the boat wreck that killed the rest of his family. He, too, remarries, believing that Lenka has died in the camps.
The last few chapters fast forward from the horrors of WWII to the present, where both Lenka and Josef are waiting for their grandchildren to marry, unaware of the surprise awaiting them at the wedding.
The backdrop of this book has the potential to depress the reader, and in many ways, it is heart wrenching when one realizes that while this is a novel, the reality of The Lost Wife was played out in millions of lives. In fact, many entire families were snuffed out in the concentration camps of WWII. But the story of these two people who loved each other and who thought for the majority of their lives that the other was dead, only to discover each other during the wedding of their grandchildren, is a beautiful story that will take the reader along time and again.
