Ronald H. Balson Returns to the War
The Second World War will already be one hundred years old in just a couple of decades, but hopefully we will never stop hearing about it not only for the lessons it carries (which we refuse to learn anyhow), but the untold stories it still hides deep within. In Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson, we are taken back to the war as a woman makes an attempt to keep an old and dear childhood promise.
It is the third novel in the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series, however it doesn't require you to have read the previous chapters, each one working as a standalone. If you'd still like to have a look at those before proceeding, which I do recommend, you can check out our Once We Were Brothers review as well as our Saving Sophie review.
Moving onward, the story opens by introducing us to Lena Woodward who has been living a long and prosperous life in Chicago since the end of World War II. However, her past is determined to make its way to the surface, and soon Lena is confronted with a promise she made a long time ago and hasn't fulfilled yet.
Fulfilling this promise will require her to venture back to Poland, both in the present and in its Nazi-occupied past. To help her with this dive into her soul she enlists private investigator Liam Taggart and lawyer Catherine Lockhart; many questions from Lena's youth remain without answers, and she is determined to unearth them, no matter how painful they might be.
The driving question behind Lena's quest revolves around two missing babies, and along with her hired cohorts, they all take the plunge into a past too terrible for words to do it justice... but even there the light of hope can find its way through.
Life Under Nazi Skies in Karolina's Twins
Just like the previous works in this series, Karolina's Twins places a rather strong emphasis on the historical aspect of the story, often times giving it centre stage in favour of the plot. This book isn't paced like a thriller and I think does demand some attention and effort on the reader's part... which I'm sad to say, is an increasingly rare phenomenon these days.
In regards to the historical excursions we undertake, they're all relayed to us through the scope of the investigation led in the present day by our characters, and are all centred around Nazi-occupied Poland where the Jewish people were being systematically exterminated.
This is a difficult topic to approach correctly in my opinion. One must be careful not to sensationalize or use for personal gain the suffering of holocaust victims, but still relay their fates as truthfully as possible so humans can never forget what our species is capable of. I think Balson strides this line perfectly from start to finish.
Many passages are dedicated to describing the lives of regular people during the Nazi occupation and the sort of treatment they were subjected to, and Balson doesn't soften the subject one bit with euphemisms or avoidance. Though they are technically fiction, these passages are quite obviously based on historical research and feel accordingly real.
With this ultimately being a novel and not a history textbook, Ronald H. Balson does understand the need to include some positive factors, smaller and widespread as they might be. These little rays of light, testaments to the potential for altruism and goodness in human nature, remind us darkness isn't the only option.
The Story of an Iron Lady
I've only addressed the historical aspect of this book up until now, but rest assured there is very much a plot to follow, one which naturally carries us from one excursion into the past to the next one. For the most part, it's about Liam and Catherine helping Lena uncover details about her past and ascertain the fates of various figures.
The mystery at the centre of it, relating to the two missing babies mentioned earlier, was compelling enough to draw me in and make me anxious for the discovery of new clues, leads and people's stories. While there are some relatively predictable moments here and there, I think those little moments of localized weakness can be forgiven in light of the whole picture.
Lena is quite an interesting character in her own right, and once again, it shows Balson based her personality and story on his profound historical research. I think this aspect gives her some real power as a character, as I could never help but remind myself there were truly those who went through the suffering she did.
We also get to see quite a bit of Liam and Catherine doing what they do best, digging up mysteries from the past and laying old questions to rest. They help to inject a bit of a modern atmosphere into the plot and while they do take a bit of a back-seat to the whole story being told, they always remain enjoyable elements which drive events forward.
On the whole, I'd say the story is more on the tragic side than anything else, and though I think many of us saw the conclusion coming, I couldn't help but enjoy the warmth and hope it carried. It can't be easy to end a book on such a dark topic with a real positive note, but Balson managed it about as well as anyone could.
The Final Verdict
Karolina's Twins by Ronald H. Balson is a truly gripping novel of Jewish historical fiction, a worthy entry in the Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart series. Exploring both the terror of Nazi-occupied Poland and the hope people nevertheless carried in them with the help of a compelling mystery at the centre of it all, the author tackles truly heavy subjects with the respect they deserve.
If you've enjoyed the previous novels in this series, or are in search of a novel centred more on the humanitarian aspect of the Nazi occupation and its victims, then I strongly recommend you give this book a chance.
 | Ronald H. BalsonRonald H. Balson primarily considers himself as an attorney with the firm Stone, Pogrund and Korey, operating in the Chicago area. His many cases have taken him across the U.S. as well as on the international scene, and he even became an author when he wrote his widely-acclaimed book, Once We Were Brothers. |
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