Thank you Netgalley and Tali Asnin-Barel for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

As a historical fiction enthusiast, I was looking forward to embrace the story of Naomi and her daughter Helena to live through the darkest times on human history - the WW II and Holocaust.

However, after 100 pages, I give up - I no longer have desire to pick up the book and proceed- there is no clear storyline, very little explanation, and too much historical information (I understand that may be some readers require that a long history check, however, I am quite well acquainted with sequences of event from 1936 and what damage some of the decision had done). I also understand the greatness of the above mentioned events for the family, that story is being told through the book, at the same time it is not engaging and quite tiring.

Naomi Steiner is working as a maid in 1941, on a rural farm in Western Austria and she gives birth to a baby girl. When the Germans invaded Austria without a bullet being fired, Naomi’s well off Jewish-Austrian family start looking at ways to leave Vienna and obtaining visas, children’s names are put on the kinder transport lists and not everyone is willing or fit enough to travel. The Steiner’s move in different directions, trying to find a safe refuge and teenager Naomi is the youngest sibling. Naomi realizes it’s up to her to keep her baby safe, she does what she has to survive and she has no idea what has happened to the rest of her family.

Beneath a Glass Bridge has a dual timeline, it’s set in Austria in the 1940’s, England and Israel is the 1940’s and 1950’s and America in the 1990’s.

Author Helena Meyers is married to bridge designer Mike, they have three children, Blair, Roy and Abbie. Helena has been putting off telling Blair about her past, when she finally gives her the box of mementos and it triggers a chain of events. Blair is extremely upset, she runs away from home and won’t speak to her mother. Helena leaves as well, she has things from her own life that she hasn’t dealt with, painful memories from her childhood, growing up in Austria during the war, and how her mother was after the war ended and living in Israel with her Aunt Ruth and Uncle Jonah. Helena starts to write down her life story, what happened to her extended family and how their world was torn apart by the Second World War and the holocaust.

I received a copy of Beneath a Glass Bridge by Tali Asnin-Barel from NetGalley and Books Go Social in exchange for an honest review. A heartbreaking historical saga, about war, the holocaust, loss, motherhood, mental illness, and survivor’s guilt, childhood trauma, moving to Israel and starting again and repairing troubled relationships. A long read, it really makes you think about what you would do in the same situation and four stars from me.

Beneath a Glass Bridge was an interesting read. I did find it confusing since the story kept going back and forth between time periods throughout the book. It also ended a bit abruptly with some questions unanswered.

I love to read novels set around the time of WWII. This novel goes from the 30s to the 90s. It is interesting, educational and heartbreaking. Helena’s story is unfolded to us. I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this book.

Another excellent World War II novel with a different plot than what I am used to. The author did an amazing job!

I really felt for Naomi and Helena, the story was heartbreaking and it was a really good read, the characters were great.

An emotional story that reads like a memoir about Helena and her family, jews living in Austria during WWII. Her experiences during her childhood made a lasting impact throughout her life. She was unable to talk about her past with her husband and family until she leaves them to go to Yosemite and write. As an author her stories never came too close to her own personal story, but now she was finally ready to share it.
I had to stop and put this book aside several times because it's a very sad story. But I'm so glad I got a chance to read it. It really shows the emotions of the jews at the time and the influence it had on their lives after. I really thought this was based on a true story!
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Helena's story was interesting.
Holocaust story.
The only thing is I read a lot of other books about WW2 and this one was good, but not the best.
The plot flow was a bit slow here.

It’s impossible not to feel engrossed by stories of well written characters suffering during the Holocaust, in this respect this novel is as good as any other I’ve read in this genre. The cover is also appealing, and in keeping with many historical fiction book covers of late. Not quite a 4 star rating for me because I felt the way the thrown away letters in the present that kept popping up throughout distracted from the story about Helena and her mother’s past. I also felt a bit of perseverence was required I’m the first quarter of the book, it introduced a lot of character and moved slowly. I’m grateful to NetGalley and publisher for my honest review in exchange for a digital copy of Beneath a Glass Bridge.

A looooooong, historical novel, well written, perhaps a bit wordy, only my opinion. Quite a good look at the Holocaust and its effects on the ones left behind. Helena's story is compelling and powerful, overall a good novel.

Beneath a Glass Bridge
By, Tali-Asnin Barel
Much thanks to Net Galley, Books Go Social, and the author, Tali-Asnin Barel, for the digital copy of “Beneath a Glass Bridge” in return for an honest review.
I loved this book!!! This story travels through pre World War II Austria, London, and Israel as a new country.
The story features a beautiful Jewish family who deeply love and support each other. As war progresses, anti-Semitism becomes widespread throughout Europe. The Steiner family is made aware that no Jew is safe. They are forced to understand that it is beyond their power to always keep each other safe. Despite all the love this family shares, they become separated by distance and death.
Years later, those who survive reunite in London. Most have high hopes for their futures. Others are haunted by nightmares of the past.
The family is then drawn to Israel. Once secured in Israel, they discover that life presents it’s own joys and sorrows, even in this most holy land of their ancestors.
This story follows Ruth, Naomi and Helena throughout their lives. It’s a story about love,, commitment, survival, and kindness.
I loved the characters in this book. This is a story that I did not want to put down and I hoped it would never end.
Five stars, hands down.

Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and the author, Tali Asnin-Barel, for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. I love historical fiction and this beautiful novel did not let me down. The story is well crafted and thought provoking.

Wow! What a read! First and foremost...let it be known that this book spans the late 1930’s to 1991. It’s broken into three sections, each representing a different stage of life for the lead character, Helena. She’s a different person, emotionally. She grows exponentially throughout the book but holds on to secrets from her family and the only way to get them to understand is to write the story.

Helena is born to a young Jewish woman, hiding in Austria during WWII. Her father was the great love of her mothers life and his disappearance was something she never recovered from. She was a distant mother, something that Helena struggles with right up until her mothers death.

She’s goes through life divulging very little to those that are close to her. She carries these secrets up until things turn upside down and she chooses to write a book to tell her story in hopes that her family will understand why she is the way she and why she made the choices she did. In the process, she hopes to repair the damaged bridges in her life.

I can only imagine what a child, especially a Jewish child in hiding, went through during WWII. The struggle to receive love from a mother so distraught over her lover and her family. Surviving only to move to another country with the only family members to survive the war. Growing up with cousins who’ve had a better start to life. Dealing with a mother permanently mentally damaged from the throws of war. To moving to another new country where times are proving to be tougher than what was once promised. To navigating love and desire. It’s a lot of weight that Helena carries on her shoulders.

This story paints a much deeper picture of war from a perspective I’ve read little about. You read survivor stories but I think Helenas point of view is one often forgotten. She was born into a situation completely out of her control. She hears about family members she never knew from a depressed mother all the time.The struggles that she goes through are just as tough as those who experienced first hand. But, like so many, she gets to the point in life that her story has to be told before it’s too late.

This story is gripping. It’s emotional. The characters are well developed. The amount of history included in the story is extremely educational. I do wish there was an authors notes including in the copy of the book. It’s an unedited ARC so hopefully they will be included in the published version. The authors notes tell a story as well and provide more depth to the plot.

Definitely recommend!!
Thank you NetGalley & Tali Barel for the chance to read this a little early! I was deeply moved!

"I was born in darkness, on a grey winter's day, into a grimreality." Thus the story begins, Western Austria, the year 1941. This beautiful book tells the story of Helena, a successful Jewish-American writer, who leaves everything behind and travels far away in order to deal with her feelings, her past, her relationships with her family and beloved ones. Her journey starts in Austria before WW2 and goes all the way to the new born country of israel.
While away, Helena writes letters (never sent) to her closest family and builds more and more bridges - some are long-lasting, some crack and can be fixed but others are just too fragile and fall apart, forever. This novel is charged with emotion, a story that is powerful and will hold you in its grip. I have read many WWII stories, but this one will resonate within me for a very long time. It is unbelievable that this is a debut novel, the author's talent exudes with each page! My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In Beneath a Glass Bridge, author Tali Asnin-Barel, tells the personal story of Helena Steiner. Helena was born to Naomi Steiner in Vorarlberg, Vienna, just as Hitler annexed Austria. The book is divided into four sweeping sections:Vienna, London, Tel-Aviv, and California. In each section Helena includes: letters to her husband Mike and daughter, Blair, where she explains what she had to run away from them to the Yosemite Park.

It is impossible not to be trapped in Helena's and the Steiner's family story, each section, detailing significant events in history.

I requested this book from #netgalley, and after receiving it, I did not pick it up. I was then contacted to please provide my review.This gave me the push that I needed o open Tali"s book. I am so happy that I did .It truly is an incredible story, beautifully written and unputdownable. 5 stars for this book! Thank you #netgalley for the digital e-ARC.

NB: Tali Asnin-Barel, was born in Israel, and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is an attorney, and active community leader. This is her debut novel. Congratulations Tali! #beneathaglassbridge is an incredible book!

Helena was born during world war 2 and she is writing the story of her Jewish familly.
Her mother Naomie an Austrian Jew was forced to flee after the invasion of the german with the help of a friend of the familly Mordecai and she secretely loved him. She was supposed to leave for Jerusalem but things didn't happened as expected and at the place where she hid she was rapped several times.
When Mordecai came he found her in a terrible state... He led her to the frontier of the Liechtenstein where she lived during the war. She found herself pregnant from her daughter Helena...

Helena is telling her story after her Daughter Blair left the house because of a secret she has just revealed to her.
It's like she is trying to put the pieces of a puzzle and explain why her life has been that way. I found the story sometimes hard to read and painful, especially because of what Naomie went through during the war it was so sad. That experience left her broken.
We see in this book the effects of trauma how it can affect one's life and their relatives and how it is important to get healed and real with those around us.

Thankyou to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and the author, Tali Asnin-Barel, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Beneath A Glass Bridge in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
Such a beautiful and thought provoking story. I was drawn in by the characters.
The storyline was well thought out and written with well developed characters. You are made to feel a part of their lives as history unfolds.
Well worth a read.

This is a L-O-N-G book about a woman who leaves her family to go to Yosemite Park in California for periods of time to write her family history. It is difficult for her; she has tried before. This time, however, she is determined to tell the story of her ancestors beginning with Josef and Rebecca, her great-great grandparents. It is not a particularly pleasant story; not entertaining. They are Austrian Jews, since the thirteenth century, and this part of their story spans the war years, the Nazis, the resistance, the wish for Palestine to be a homeland.

In the "Nazi order, there is only room for Aryan people, elevated to the level of "'culture makers' and the Slavic people of Eastern Europe, servants, who were downgraded to the role of 'culture carriers' and the 'culture destroyers', the lowliest of races -- the Jews and the gypsies-- had no room in the new order at all."

As the noose begins to tighten, Helena's Opa is in denial, like too many of his peers. "Nothing bad will happen. We are respected members of the community, and my position at work is secure." In 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and members of the family begin to scatter. To Palestine. To London.

Mike is the husband of Helena, the narrator. Mike is a civil engineer. A builder pf bridges. A fixer of structures. "all kinds captured his imagination -- wooden and steel beam bridges, arch bridges, hanging bridges, truss bridges with their diagonal, horizontal and vertical poles, and cantilever bridges -- enormous structures born out of magical engineering tricks."

"I am a man, not a bridge," Mike said. "That's why I'm here. I'm writing a bridge to you, to our children, to myself. A bridge to the past." Helena replied.

A thought-provoking book. I drew a family tree to help me keep all the people's relationships straight.
The characters are so well drawn, by the end of the novel, I felt that I knew them.


Net Galley and Books Go Social pub date 02/13/2020

A magnificent debut novel. Beautifully written. A look at the impact of the Holacust and WWII of the ones left behind to struggle, not only with what they went through but also the lasting effect it had.

Helena is a writer that is trying to cope with her past secrets. She has never told her husband, or children about her whole life. When her oldest turns 18, she gives Blair a box, that tells the truth of Blair's real parents.
Blair leaves and this causes Helena to finally come to terms with her past. As a writer, the only way for her to do this, is to write a book, detailing her secrets and the story of her family forever changed by WWII and the Holacust.

War will always happen. It will also, always change the lives of those affected by it. Rather it is the soldiers fighting, the citizens in the country it is happening in, or those left at home wondering about their loved ones.

I recommend this book. It's like no other WWII/Holacust novel I have read. It looks at the war from a family that was affected by it. By those left behind and the obstacles they had to overcome.

Thanks to Book Social, Tali Asnin-Barel, and Netgalley for the book to read for my honest opinion.

Although I enjoyed this book, I preferred the part of the book written describing the main character's past. I found the letters and the present day narrative a little confusing. A good effort.