The orchestra and the unnamed camp Hanna plays in during the war are also fictional, but I got the idea based on what I read about the real women’s orchestra in Auschwitz. I read that the musicians were treated better than the other prisoners but that many of them grew depressed and despondent as they were forced to play as other prisoners were marched to death. I also read that the orchestra was scheduled to be shot to death on the day the camp was finally liberated, which is where I got the idea for the scene Hanna finally remembers, near the end of the book. Richard Wagner was known for his anti-Semitism and his music was revered by the Nazis. His “Bridal Chorus” still, even today, is sometimes not used in Jewish weddings because of his anti-Semitic history. The idea for Hanna came also from multiple real stories I read about musicians who survived their time in concentration camps because of their musical ability, in one way or another, and who went on after the war to become professional musicians.
Though I never played the violin, I grew up playing music, spent most of my teenage years at band and orchestra rehearsals, and even fell in love with my husband when we played in a band together. Music has stayed a large part of my life, though now I listen to it rather than play it. I first thought of Hanna’s character as my family attended a symphony concert during the contentious 2016 election season. As I listened to the symphony play that afternoon, I thought to myself, No matter what happens in the world we will still have this beautiful music. And Hanna’s character came to me later that afternoon. I became fascinated by the role music had played before, during, and after World War II. And though my orchestras are fictional, the fact that the orchestras in Europe lost many of their players in the war and had to rebuild like everything else is true.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum site was an invaluable resource in helping me to understand the events in Germany in the years before World War II. In 1933 there were more than five hundred thousand Jews living in Germany. About half left by 1939. I read In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, which really helped me get a sense of what Berlin was like in 1933 and 1934, and Gone by Min Kym, which helped me understand what it would be like to grow up as a violin prodigy, and how deeply connected a violinist is to her instrument. I highly recommend both for further reading, in addition to the soundtrack that goes with Kym’s book. I took some fictional liberties in giving Hanna a Stradivarius and allowing it to survive the war in playable condition.
Max’s bookshop is, of course, fictional. But in 1935 Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen posited a theory about wormholes, using the theory of relativity to explain the existence of bridges through the space-time continuum that could allow people to travel into the future. Neither Max nor I quite understand the physics, but we both agree with the line from Hamlet: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Reading Group Guide: Discussion Questions for In Another Time
The book begins with a quotation about time and ends with Hanna thinking, The time is everything in this piece, in this concert. In Berlin. Discuss the importance of time and how it is used in multiple ways throughout the novel. Why do you think the novel is called In Another Time?
Max’s story begins when he first meets Hanna and ends when he believes he’s lost her, but Hanna’s story both begins and ends with her violin. Whose story is this: Hanna’s, Max’s, or both? Is this a love story? Whose love story is it?
The novel moves back and forth in time between prewar Germany and postwar Europe. In Berlin in 1933, Max thinks, The city was as it always had been—busy . . . Everything appeared oddly the same . . . except for the Nazi flags hanging up in the storefronts. In 1946 London, Hanna thinks, I’d . . . gotten used to the sight of missing and bombed buildings, so that I barely even noticed the piles of rubble and ash anymore, tucked in among the beauty and the splendor of what still stood in the West End. Compare and contrast prewar Germany and postwar Europe as settings. How do the conditions in both affect Hanna’s and Max’s lives and their relationships?
Hanna calls her violin her “greatest love” and also says “the violin was my home, and I would follow it wherever it would take me.” Where does Hanna’s violin take her? How does following her passion impact Hanna’s life and her choices, both in good ways and bad? What larger role does music play in the novel?
Max references the Heine quote: “Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.” Discuss why Max is so taken with this quote. Why is it important both historically and for the characters in the novel? What role do books and Max’s bookshop play in the novel?
Hanna says near the beginning of the novel that Julia saw Max as unreliable, that she did not know Max as Hanna did: generous, handsome, brilliant. What do you think about Julia’s perception of Max? Hanna’s? Which is accurate? How do you think the story might have turned out differently if Max had been honest about why he was disappearing for large gaps of time?
At the end of the novel Julia tells Hanna that she always thought she’d end up with Stuart. Hanna thinks that “Kissing Stuart was like eating a slice of Black Forest cake, sweet and rich and satisfying. But kissing Max was like dancing too close to the fire.” Compare and contrast Max and Stuart. What do both men mean for Hanna’s life?
Johann and Elsa seem to have a safe, quiet, and domestic life in Berlin, even as Hitler is coming to power and danger is growing for Max and Hanna. How do Johann and Elsa act as foils for Max and Hanna? How does Elsa become a key character in the novel after the war? Why does Elsa narrate her own chapter in 1950?
Julia and Hanna grow up together and yet they couldn’t be more different. Julia is practical while Hanna is passionate. Julia marries, flees Germany, and starts a family, while Hanna stays devoted to her violin. Discuss Hanna’s relationship with Julia. How does their sister relationship inform the novel?
In the end Max says to Hanna: “I’m sorry I didn’t save you.” And Hanna replies, “I saved myself.” Who or what is ultimately saved in the novel? Is the ending hopeful, sad, or both?
Acknowledgments
With deepest thanks, first and foremost, to the entire Harper Perennial team. Laura Brown, I am deeply indebted to you for falling in love with Max and Hanna’s story, and for your wise editorial vision, which helped me make their story shine. Thank you to Sarah Stein for taking over and seeing them through to publication. Thank you to copyeditor Laurie McGee for your wonderful attention to detail. Extra special thanks also to Emily Taylor, Mary Sasso, Emily VanDerwerken, Jennifer Civiletto, Amy Baker, and Doug Jones for your unwavering commitment to this book.
I am lucky to have the best agent, and I’m forever grateful to Jessica Regel for her undying support and always sage advice. Thank you for always telling me to write what I love and for believing I can figure out a way to pull it off. Your faith in me means everything! A huge thanks also to the entire team at Foundry, with special thanks to Kirsten Neuhaus, Heidi Gall, Colette Grecco, and Michael Nardullo for taking Max and Hanna around the world.
Thank you to my amazing parents, husband, and kids for their love, support, belief in me, and continued willingness to read the earliest drafts of my work. Thanks especially to Gregg, who is always up for takeout when I’m consumed in a fictional world, and always willing to talk through plot problems—I love you! Thank you to my group of mom friends who invited me to the perfect weekend to finalize the first draft of this book and who also toasted with me right after I finished. Thanks also for all the mah-jongg! Thank you to all my writer friends who are always willing to talk, text, email, complain, and/or rejoice with me. Special thanks to Laura Fitzgerald for always giving me great advice and for the celebratory margarita the day this book sold. And to Maureen Leurck and T. Greenwood, who keep me sane on a daily basis and continually remind me just to keep on writing. Thank you to Mary Kubica, Brenda Janowitz, Pam Jenoff, and Fiona Davis for support and friendship.
I am so grateful for the support from so many in the book community. Thank you
to Andrea Katz and Robin Kall, who are dynamo book influencers and whom I am also lucky enough to count as friends. Thank you to Emily Homonoff for the advice, doughnuts, and always, the ice cream tacos! Most of all, thank you to all the readers, booksellers, and librarians who continue to support me and my books and help spread the word—I’m so grateful for all you do.
About the Author
JILLIAN CANTOR has a BA in English from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of Arizona. She is the author of award-winning novels for teens and adults, including, most recently, the critically acclaimed The Lost Letter, The Hours Count, and Margot. Born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Cantor lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.
WWW.JILLIANCANTOR.COM
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Praise for In Another Time
“In Cantor’s superb novel, two kindred spirits struggle against the insidious rise of fascism in pre–World War II Germany. In Another Time is a stunning testament to the power of books, music, and love, and how they can endure, and ultimately prevail, during calamitous times.”
—Fiona Davis, national bestselling author of The Masterpiece
“With her bracing prose and unflinching eye, Cantor catches us up in the sweep of history and reminds us of the interminable power of the human bond and the moments that can last a lifetime.”
—Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale
“Filled with haunting prose, rich historical detail, and an immersive setting, In Another Time is a spellbinding story about the power of love and the strength of the human spirit. Moving and timely, Cantor’s novel provides an unflinching and nuanced glimpse of life in prewar Berlin and offers a stark reminder of the personal cost of war and its aftermath. A stunning, transporting novel.”
—Chanel Cleeton, author of Next Year in Havana
“Jillian Cantor’s In Another Time is a love song to the most powerful of all human emotions: hope. It is the story of Max and Hanna, two star-crossed lovers fighting to stay together during an impossible moment in history. It is gripping, mysterious, romantic, and altogether unique. I was enchanted by this beautiful, heartbreaking novel.”
—Ariel Lawhon, author of I Was Anastasia
Praise for The Lost Letter “A total page-turner.”
—New York magazine
“A gorgeous and thrilling novel . . . Perfect for book clubs and fans of The Nightingale.”
—PopSugar
“With beautifully drawn characters and historical details, The Lost Letter is a tender, ravishing story that illuminates the sacrifices of a generation on an achingly human scale. A deeply enthralling, deeply satisfying historical love story.”
—Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers and The Wicked City
Praise for The Hours Count “We kind of love historical novels, and Cantor’s is quickly climbing to the top of our all-time faves list. . . . You won’t be able to put it down.”
—Glamour
“[A] down-to-the-wire thriller.”
—New York Times Book Review
Praise for Margot “A convincing, engaging might-have-been.”
—People
“Inventive . . . Cantor’s ‘what-if’ story combines historical fiction with mounting suspense and romance, but above all, it is an ode to the adoration and competition between sisters.”
—O, the Oprah Magazine
Also by Jillian Cantor
The Lost Letter
The Hours Count
Margot
Copyright
in another time. Copyright © 2019 by Jillian Cantor. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
first edition
Cover design by Sarah Brody
Cover photographs © Mark Owen / Trevillion Images; © moglimoglzahn / Shutterstock (plane)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition MARCH 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-286333-1
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-286332-4
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