The Ghosts of Rose Hill

This felt like a lovely wonderful and slightly scary fairy tale. The writing was beautiful and definitely made it feel like a fairytale. The downside was that the characters seemed a little flat and hard to connect to, but the writing made that little issue almost forgettable.

I received The Ghosts of Rose Hill as an ARC from NetGalley. I enjoy ghost stories and decided this would be perfect for Spooktober...and I was right.

Told in poetic passages, we follow the Ilana as she finds a forgotten cemetery, meets Benjamin and defeats evil. This is so much more than just a ghost story. It's a journey of a young girl, trying to find herself and in the process she becomes a savior and realizes her strength, courage and life is hers to command.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. While a review wasn't expected, I have offered my opinion and these are my own thoughts.

A lovely book that feels both contemporary and timeless. I loved the inclusion of music - which seems to make sense for Prague - and the information about Jewish cemeteries. I'm not sure I've ever thought about that angle of the Holocaust and it just adds another horror onto the horror of that time.

  ‘'Lopez means:son of Lope,son of wolf.But it's the Lopez womenwho have always howled the loudest.They had to be fierceand stubbornto survive.''
‘'They fled the pyres(the flamesfueled by hatred)devouringthe street corners,synagogues,cemeteriesof Spain,crossing the ocean with their faithand Shabbat candlesticktucked under their skirts.''
Ilana leaves Miami for Prague. She is a daughter of refugees from the Czech Republic and Cuba, a girl whose ancestors faced the torture of the Nazis and the tyranny of Castro's regime. Her parents have already planned her future but Ilana knows that she has her own course to take, her own restless spirit to follow. When they decide that a European summer in the company of her aunt will change her mind and make her more receptive to their parents, Illana leaves her friends behind. But Prague is waiting. Its streets are whispering. Its very air is alive with hundreds of years of History and Culture. llana only has to listen to its call...
‘'Praguethe golden city of a hundred towersand a thousand storiesfor the summer.''
‘'Prague is old,but her streets are dancing.''
‘'I dream about menwandering the streets of Prague,their lantern -eyes alight.The wind doesn't stirtheir coats;their throats barely flashas they breathe.''
This marvellous story needs to grace the bookshelves of every reader. It is an ode to one of the most beautiful cities in our world. Its pages echo with the lullabies of folklore, the steps of the vodnik, and the Golem. The sorrowful song of a violin, the starlight in Alphonse Mucha's works, the laughter of the witch puppets of Prague.
‘'Prague's always confusing itself.It doesn't know what's part of its true historyand what is a storypeople tell about it.
It can't remember if it was built by travellersor a woman named Libusewho could see the future,if Rabbi Loew was a scholaror a magicianwho made a soldierout of clay to protect the Jewish people here.
It doesn't know if the birch groves are sleentof if they're full of vila-enchanted women whose beautyhauntsthe minds of foresters
Prague believes in magic,Prague believes in itself.''
A city of ghosts that fall in love with the living. And the living cannot help but fall in love with them...This IS Prague.
‘'There aren't many Jews left in Prague;the Shoah(the greatest shipwreckof our People)stole them away,leaving their books,their songs,their stories behind.But the Jews of Pragueare all around me here.Their dust grows upthrough the earth;their hands reach for me.''
‘'Inside the Pinkas Synagogue        (built in 1535)there are names painted on the walls in red and black ink.
They're a chapterin the history of my People,but I can't read them all.There are too many -   78,000victims of the Nazis,  Czechs and Slovaksmurdered, all because   they were Jews.
This is what it's like to be Jewishin Europe.Every beautiful thinghas horror buried under it.                         I'm always walking on bones.''
This is a girl that hears the call of her past. A strong, courageous young woman who risks all for those she loves, for her heritage, for a desperate attempt to see a tiny moment of justice restored. Romero's story is a siren's song that doesn't tempt but urges us to open our eyes, to learn, to love. It is a cry to be brave when the time comes for us to fight against our dreams. A cry for us to understand that we must NEVER FORGET.
‘'Baruch ata Adonai,Eloheinu Melech ha - olam,asher kidshanu b'mitzvotavv'zivavu l'hadlik ner shel Shabbat.''
Many thanks to PeachTree Teen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/





 

The Ghosts of Rose Hill was a beautiful and haunting story set in Prague. The main character, Ilana, is a teen who loves music and and art. When she spends the summer in Prague with her aunt, she meets some interesting characters and finds an old, overgrown, Jewish cemetery.
This book was beautifully written and fun to read!