Book Description

Spring has arrived in New York City. The year is 1939 and the world is about to change. A 22-year-old novice songwriter in the Bronx named Reuben Rabinowitz spends his days playing the grand piano on the fifth floor of Macy’s. Also working at the department store is a young lady of 19 named Rose Deutsch. Reuben and Rose connect, flirt and date and eventually marry – all in the space of seven months – because of the imminent war. By Dec. 8, 1941, Pearl Harbor has been bombed and Reuben enlists in the Army. We go to war and we see its horrors, not only on the men fighting, but of the family left behind. We witness the death of loved ones. We witness the loss felt by those remaining at home, while their sons and husbands are fighting abroad. This stirring novel elaborates on the love between Rose and Reuben; their families and their friends; and the horrors of war that forever mark its survivors. The story resonates for everyone, for it shows how people in love cope with separation and loss. And it resonates from the realization that love conquers all, or sometimes doesn’t.