06 March 2012

Today's Imprint Read: No One Is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel

What if you and your tiny hidden village were about to be annihilated by a mighty enemy? What if there were no place to hide except in the world of imagination? Eleven-year-old Lena tells us how her Romanian family and neighbors, with the help of a stranger, took a do-over and started the world anew. Here they are on day one of their reinvented life, which has no war, no history, no traditions:

The sun broke through the clouds and rolled up over us like it knew the whole plan. Rain continued and an arc of color spread across our sky. We voted to keep living in the houses we had already built and to keep being married to the people we were married to. There were those who protested this, who proposed we gather in the square and pair off anew, tallest to shortest. There were those who thought it would be better to put the stupid with the smart to even things out and those who thought we should try to put the smart with the smart and hope for true genius.

"But I love my wife," my father said.

"How do you know? Today is the first day—you have never seen her before today. What if you hate her by tonight?" the banker asked.

My father regarded my mother's mossy brown eyes. "I have a feeling," he said. "A very strong feeling." He winked. (p. 28)
No One Is Here Except All of Us, by Ramona Ausbel (Riverhead Books 2012; quote is from uncorrected proofs)

Quick Facts
  • Setting: Romania, 1939 on the eve of World War II
  • Characters: Lena and her family, a mysterious woman, the villagers
  • Main themes: the power of imagination, story telling, Holocaust
  • Other themes: love and hate, fear and hope, history and the future, reality and imagination
  • Genres: historical fiction, coming-of-age, magical realism
Want to Know More? Watch the embedded video to learn about the background of the novel. Ramona Ausubel has granted a number of interviews, among them are one with BookBrowse and another with Interview Magazine. Prefer to listen? Check out Ausubel's podcast with Other People. To learn more about Ramona Ausubel, visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and like her Facebook page. The publisher's website offers a reading guide. For more Riverhead Books and for news about events and great books, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.


18 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea 3/6/12, 6:35 AM  

This one is on my wish list, even though I'm not a huge fan of magical realism. I like the fact that it is set in Romania as well.

Unknown 3/6/12, 6:47 AM  

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I love your teaser, I haven't read this book but it sounds interesting.

bermudaonion 3/6/12, 7:35 AM  

Sounds like a fabulous book! I can't wait to read it!

Irish 3/6/12, 8:10 AM  

I like this teaser and the premise of this book. Thanks for sharing. Now...to find time to read it.

My Teaser is from Croak and can be found here.

Irene 3/6/12, 10:42 AM  

this sound really good. I too love the fact that it's set in Romania. Thanks Beth.

Alice Audrey 3/6/12, 11:05 AM  

The premise is certainly intriguing. Good teaser, too.

Zibilee 3/6/12, 12:00 PM  

Oh this is a wonderful description and teaser, and sounds like something that I would love to read. So glad you posted this today, as I will be looking for it now!

Martha @ Hey, I want to read that 3/6/12, 12:02 PM  

I'm really looking forward to this one, it sounds like something very special.

Nise' 3/6/12, 2:38 PM  

A book to stretch my comfort zone! Yay.

Julie P. 3/6/12, 2:52 PM  

Sounds intriguing...

JLS Hall 3/6/12, 4:31 PM  

Wonderful teaser! Sounds like a folk tale. Makes me want to read it, even though I usually stay away from war novels.

Here's my TT for this week: Elizabeth the Queen

Sandy Nawrot 3/6/12, 7:07 PM  

Oh man, does this one call my name! And I love the interview...she is very engaging.

Shelley Munro 3/7/12, 2:34 AM  

This sounds like a fascinating concept for a story.

Unknown 3/7/12, 5:43 AM  

Sounds like an interesting read.

Vaporizers 3/7/12, 8:52 AM  

Sounds interesting....

Heather 3/7/12, 12:32 PM  

An intriguing premise!

Audra 3/7/12, 12:43 PM  

I am so excited for this one -- I've got it at home, making eyes at me!

Thanks for stopping by. I read all comments and may respond here, via e-mail, or on your blog. I visit everyone who comments, but not necessarily right away.

I cannot turn off word verification, but if you are logged into Blogger you can ignore the captcha. I have set posts older than 14 days to be on moderation. I can no longer accept anonymous comments. I'm so sorry if this means you have to register or if you have trouble commenting.

Copyright

All content and photos (except where noted) copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads 2008-2020. All rights reserved.

Quantcast

Thanks!

To The Blogger Guide, Blogger Buster, Tips Blogger, Our Blogger Templates, BlogU, and Exploding Boy for the code for customizing my blog. To Old Book Illustrations for my ID photo. To SEO for meta-tag analysis. To Blogger Widgets for the avatars in my comments and sidebar gadgets. To Review of the Web for more gadgets. To SuziQ from Whimpulsive for help with my comments section. To Cool Tricks N Tips for my Google +1 button.

Quick Linker

Services

SEO

  © Blogger template Coozie by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP