TITLE: Through the Eyes of The Child: Survival of the Holocaust
AUTHOR: Jack Veffer
Images and memories of the Holocaust haunt its survivors, and many of us have read books in which we hold the hand of a survivor and walk with them through horrors that they have no choice but to remember.
In Through the Eyes of The Child we hold the hand of a small child during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the Holocaust. The events take place over many of his most formative years and the effect of such a childhood etches itself onto the reader's heart. Children look at things very differently than do adults, and so the result is a heart-wrenching look up into a volatile adult world from a tragic, yet original viewpoint.
The book is the very intimate, personal journey of a young boy named Jack, but it also illustrates the far reaching, long-term effect of such a cruel time in human history upon entire generations. The author of the book, Jack Veffer, relives his painful childhood and we bear witness. As young Jack matures in the novel, the reader is riveted by the political and economic turmoil of the time following the Holocaust.
So often throughout the book the maternal or paternal heartstrings of the reader are tugged, and you find yourself wishing you could have been there to make a difference in the lives of the children of the Holocaust. But this naïve wish is made comfortably and safely from your armchair in today's time. And although we know that as long as there are humans there will be inhumanity, from here we can foresee a future, thanks to the internet and other technologies of immediacy, when such atrocities would swiftly be brought before the light of day and the scrutiny of all, and not allowed to fester in the dark...or so we all pray.
Copyright ©2008 by Julie A. Serroul. All rights reserved.
About the Reviewer: Julie A. Serroul is a fiction writer, Associate Editor at The Scriptorium, and one of the founding editors of Third Person Press.
TITLE: Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract
AUTHOR: Blythe Camenson & Marshall J. Cook
Your Novel Proposal is an invaluable tool for anyone who has reached the point in their writing career when it's time to delve into the world of novel submission. Whether you are beginning the search for an agent or going directly to editors and publishers with your manuscript, this book will guide you through the process.
The book is divided into three main sections. In Part One: The Approach, the authors discuss publishing options, how to conduct the search for agents and editors, drafting the all-important query letter, and making your pitch. Part Two: The Package, deals with putting together a professional submission package that will make agents and editors take notice and provide them with exactly the information they require. Part Three: The Result, covers handling wait times and rejections, working with agents and editors through the acceptance and publishing process, and the technical side of having a book published. It closes with an appendix of resources for writers.
The subtitle sums up the meat of this book: "The complete guide to writing query letters, synopses and proposals for agents and editors." The authors present easy-to-understand instruction on what agents and editors are looking for, and, perhaps more importantly, what they are not looking for. There is much good advice in these pages, as well as insights into how the publishing industry works, and thoughts from many authors and industry insiders on the process of publishing.
The real treasures of the book, however, are the sample documents. One can spend any number of words explaining how to write a synopsis, but there is nothing like a real-life example to really drive the points home. The examples provide a starting-point, something one can modify and model on when writing one's own documents.
I can't recommend this book highly enough if you are serious about presenting yourself and your work in a professional manner. It should be on every aspiring novelist's bookshelf.
Copyright ©2007 by Sherry D. Ramsey. All rights reserved.
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