Day After Night

A Novel

By: Anita Diamant

Narrated by: Dagmara Dominczyk

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters - young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe - in this intensely dramatic novel.

Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than 200 prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration-camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience, even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

This is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption, a novel that reimagines a moment in history with such stunning eloquence that we are haunted and moved by every devastating detail. Day After Night is a triumphant work of fiction.

©2009 Anita Diamant (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Diamant opens a window into a time of sadness, confusion and optimism that has resonance for so much that's both triumphant and troubling in modern Jewish history." ( Publishers Weekly)

Some of the saddest and greatest memories of all

The book brought tears, despair, hope to my hart.
The story of theses strong women with harts of gold is moving and extremely well written. The reader Dagmara Dominiczyk give it a great voice.
This book is a serious lesson of life, courage and Hope is the driving force of all men. Hatikva!

Great book!!

I love how the narrator read it and changed her voice for each character. And I love how the author writes the story lines with no fear of the awfulness these people went through. Fabulous!

Great story, great narrator

Terrific characters, horrifying stories and a great theme. Diamant's writing is up to parr and the narration, which is so important in listening to a book, is just right.

Wonderful book

Loved the characters; all very different but strong in their ways.
Moving story. Wonderfully written and voiced.

Great characters and moving story!

A beautiful story that accurately and poignantly portrays a cross-section of the Jewish survivors and refugees in Palestine after world war 2. The performance was good. The voice and accents are not distracting.

Heartfelt

Realistic and compassionate historical fiction. Each of the four main characters, survivors of the Holocaust, reveals a different experience of the horrors they endured and the various ways in which they cope. This story touched my soul, and it lingers in my mind. The narration is a tour de force of various emotions, languages, and attitudes of the characters. “Day after Night” is a memorable experience.

slow

The subject matter interested me, but I just had a hard time getting really into it. I liked it, but it was not the most compelling listen. The narrator's voice & accents grated on my nerves, sorry to say. The good thing about listening to this book is I learned something I never knew about Jews who were freed from concentration camps and went to live in Israel. So it was worthwhile.

Wonderful snapshot in time

This book reminds me of my teen years reading Exodus (by Uris) over and over.

Thought provoking, hopeful.

I am constantly amazed when I hear stories of people who have overcome unbelievable circumstances. We are all called to overcome. This story gives me courage and inspiration.

Great narrator really good story well thought out

I thought this was well done. I have family who are holocaust survivors and this book was not just another thrown together story but a well researched and well thought out story that is plausible. I've not loved everything by Anita Diamant so I was hesitant but I wasn't disappointed.