The Postcard

The Postcard is a historical fiction novel that examines the Holocaust.

Although the Holocaust ended in 1945, historical fiction exploring the Holocaust remains popular. Author Georgia Hunter, who also writes about the Holocaust, explains her own curiosity, which reflects a deeper uncovering of, and fascination with, Holocaust stories: “I discovered [family fleeing from the Holocaust] at this age when I was figuring out who I was and where I came from. So part of it was my personal journey in self-discovery” (Cipri, Nino. “Picking Up the Pieces: PW Talks with Georgia Hunter.” Publishers Weekly, 30 December 2016). In The Postcard, Lélia struggles to ask questions of her mother, Myriam, and stops hunting for answers the closer her story gets to intertwining with her mother’s story. It is the granddaughter who is able to dig into the archives and unravel the mystery that surrounded their relatives, which also becomes a journey in self-discovery.

Due to the multigenerational reach of Inherited Trauma, contemporary novels about the Holocaust often depict the struggles of contemporary characters grappling with the agony of their ancestors and heritage.

Anne Berest explains:

After the war, women in orthodox Jewish families had made it their mission to have as many children as possible to replenish the population—and it seemed to me that the same was true for books. That subconscious drive to write as many books as possible, to fill those places left empty on the library shelves, not just by the books burned during the war, but by the ones whose authors had died before they could write them (270).

Popular novels in this genre include The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Reader, and We Were the Lucky Ones, written by the aforementioned Hunter.