Cover image of "The Daughter's Tale," a Holocaust story

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Holocaust tales abound in books and film alike. There’s no end to the gripping stories torn from diaries, the recollections of aging survivors, or the imaginations of talented novelists. Amazon alone lists more than 10,000 books on the Holocaust. Of course, some are dispassionate journalistic or historical accounts filled to the brim with statistics and biographical blurbs of long-forgotten men. But there is a rich literature of fact-based fictional accounts that convey the lived reality of that time with far more poignancy and emotional impact than any nonfiction account. And one of the best storytellers in that genre is the Cuban-American writer Armando Lucas Correa. In The Daughter’s Tale, the second of his two novels about World War II, he has built a heart-rending Holocaust story about one family’s experience.

A story grounded in historic events

The Daughter’s Tale is grounded in two of the historic events that serve as signposts in the history of Nazi Germany. Correa discusses them in an author’s note at the conclusion of his novel. But I’ll refrain from mentioning them here, because to do so would rob any reader of the suspense the author builds so artfully until the end of his story.

The Daughter’s Tale by Armando Lucas Correa (2019) 320 pages ★★★★☆

Photo of the ruins of a French village that plays a large role in this Holocaust story
Ruins of the village in France where much of the action in this novel takes place. The French government maintains the site as a museum. Image: The National World War II Museum

A simple story that illuminates a complicated history

The outlines of Correa’s story are simple, as is the case with all great stories. An eighty-year-old Frenchwoman in New York named Elise Duval receives a box full of letters written during World War II. The story that follows is that of Amanda Sternberg, who wrote those letters seventy years earlier, and her two young daughters, Vera and Lena. They’re German Jews whose husband and father, Julius Sternberg, a successful cardiologist, ended in a concentration camp.

Knowing his inevitable fate, he had left behind a bag full of cash and detailed instructions about what they’re to do after he’s gone. They’ve fled from Berlin to follow his instructions. But Amanda impulsively decides to defy him. The family’s paths diverge in Hamburg. She sends Vera off on the ship they were all to take, while she and Lena continue to France. There, they experience the horrors of the war and the tragic reality of the Holocaust.

About the author

Photo of Armando Lucas Correa, author of this Holocaust story
Armando Lucas Correa. Image: Amazon

Armando Lucas Correa is a Cuban writer and Journalist. He is the author of three historical novels, including The Daughter’s Tale. His earlier novel, The German Girl, is “an international bestseller that has been translated into [seventeen] languages, published in 30 countries and sold more than one million copies.” He lives in New York City with his husband and their three children. 

I’ve also reviewed the author’s bestseller, The German Girl (A deeply affecting novel about the Holocaust).

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