Hester Among the Ruins by Binnie Kirshenbaum
Hester thinks she has found the perfect relationship.  She finds his faults and quirks endearing, and she is quite content with her role as mistress.  But there are many differences.  He is 20 years her senior.  He has been married four times.  He is German.  She is Jewish.  She has come to live in Munich.  It is the 21st century - can it work? 

Hester, a marginally Jewish, 30-something, New York intellectual, is the writer of kitchen table history - history of the everyday man.  She has fallen in love with a charming German professor 20 years her senior and the subject of her most recent project.  She plans to write about his life as a member of the post-war generation.  She has agreed to come to Munich so they can be together, discreetly, and work on her book.

As Hester researches her lover's life and his family's history, she finds herself needing to confront her own Jewish identity.  A child of Jewish immigrants who fled from Germany, Hester was embarrassed by her parents whom she believed were weak and pitied.  All her life she chose to ignore her roots with the belief that what happened in the past had not much to do with her.  But in Munich reminders are everywhere.  Those of the post-war generation hold Jews in high regard and have dedicated monuments to them.  Philosemitism is common.  Hester feels her Jewishness intensely as she lives in the land where her ancestors were persecuted.  She begins to search for evidence in her lover's life about Nazi ties which may or may not be there.  She becomes obsessed with the need to know as her love affair dangerously teeters in the balance.

Hester Among the Ruins is intelligently written and highly enjoyable.  It is not only a touching love story but a modern history lesson as well.

About the author:  Binnie Kirshenbaum is the author of three previous novels. She lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.

 Hester Among the Ruins