I'm so glad. My book club selection brought groans when I read the back cover. Anguish. The hardest historical period for me is during the Holocaust. I sat down with the book and swallowed hard, dived into the first chapter, and was intoxicated by the plot and Tatiana de Rosnay's beautiful writing style. She pulled me into the depth of human tragedy and mercifully let me surface for a chapter while I got a whiff of modern Paris. Then she plunged me under again, and let me experience an innocent's look at the prism of horror that was Nazism, evil beyond imagining. The author's passion for both justice and mercy blended Julia's persona with the reader's as we waited to learn the fate of the heroine, Sarah. Ironically, she who lived died a thousand deaths of fear and haunting in her young life. I was so relieved that Julia salvaged the best part of Sarah and of herself.

Wall's book shocked me; most of us may have chosen to keep such a shabby upbringing a secret, if we felt embarrassed or shamed by a parent's abysmal skills. I put myself in her place and confess a deeply held reluctance to shame a parent by such an honest disclosure. But different strokes. Walls has not only provided us a compelling story of resilient, tough, gutsy kids thriving IN SPITE OF haphazard parenting, she has also given us sharply drawn characterizations of a man and woman unsuited to parenting who transcend logic and produce this talented, grounded child grown into a delightful and successful artist. It makes me think of the innate 'wisdom' of so-called dumb animals. It also makes me think there is a divine planner making divine plans for each of us.