What Readers Are Saying

Book clubs and individuals from coast to coast are reading and discussing Motherland. Here are some of their comments. Scroll to the end of the page to learn how your book club can meet Fern Schumer Chapman.

From Chicago

This book is wonderful for book club discussions. It is a memoir that reads like fiction... Many topics to discuss – mother/daughter relationships on many levels, the sacrifices we make for our children, what we pass on to them intentionally and unintentionally…The burdens – positive and negative – that we carry from our past. Vivid characters, stunning descriptions, can't-put-it-down dialog. I can't wait for her to write another book!

...I have recommended Motherland to readers of all ages and religions, and everyone has loved it. It has quickly become the hot book club book in the Chicago area…Stores can't keep it on the shelves.

– Nancy Buehler (on amazon.com)

From Newark, California

The moral and personal epiphanies in this magnificent memoir are hard earned and soaked with tears. Fern Schumer Chapman does not dare generalize from her mother's experiences or pontificate about the value of forgiving and forgetting, of getting on with life, or putting the past in its proper place. To both Edith and Fern, the past is too profound, too precious, too precarious. Yet, by memoir's end, they and we realized that without the past, there is no hope for the future.

– Bruce Jay Wasser (on amazon.com)

From Las Vegas, Nevada

...This is a story of love and understanding and resolve. The journey was long and painful, but most rewarding to the reader. A true story you should not soon forget.

– Brady Buchanan (on amazon.com)

From Gaithersburg, Maryland

This book knocked me out! …While the book centers on one woman's search for the truth about her mother, it is surely to be gripping and ultimately joyful for anyone with a heart.

– TWH (on amazon.com)

From St. Louis, Missouri

After meeting Fern Chapman at a reading of her book, I purchased the book and read it almost non-stop. I was deeply touched by it, as I was by meeting the author, who is embued with warmth and kindness…Motherland is beautifully written, full of sensitive insights. I hope writing it has helped the author and her mother to reach a new and deeper understanding of each other and of themselves as individuals.

– Hedy Epstein (on amazon.com)

From Valparaiso, Indiana

Your book was a big hit with my book club! Two people [in the group] have already recommended it to other book clubs.

– Ann Bowman

From Southlake, Texas

No matter your age, your family position (mother, daughter, father, son), your genealogy, your religion, your heritage... no matter... this eloquently written journey will cause you to wonder and weep. This account will enlarge your heart and mind to the travesties of the Holocaust and the war, and how it affected neighbors, families, workers and communities.

– Mary Jo Pierce (on amazon.com)

From Lyons, Illinois

It is very rare indeed when a book can take your breath away and make you weep. When a book can transport you to a time and place you have never been. Well, this book does that and much more...

- Laura Duet

From Baltimore, Maryland

Our Book Club met last week and we reviewed Motherland. Everyone in the group enjoyed the book, and we followed the review with a lively discussion. Thank you for suggesting this book and providing the Readers Guides.

– Book Club Coordinator, Beth Israel Congregation

From Coos Bay, Oregon

I met the author at a conference and bought her book. I started it right away and had trouble putting it down. The past is not a thing that can be re-created; it is a story to be told and Ms. Chapman has told her story, and her mother's story, and the story of so many others, extremely well. And it is an important story: the effects of the Holocaust upon the next generation, and upon Germans who would rather forget all about it, and upon children who know next to nothing of what happened to their grandparents. I recommend it to everyone!

– Lionel Youst

From Carmel, Indiana

This book is a "must read" for book discussion groups. Not only is the story of Fern and her mother compelling, there are so many themes that beg for discussion. The mother-daughter theme has been addressed in other reviews, but the theme of forgiveness of self and others resonates throughout the story for Fern, her mother and the villagers in Germany.

– MJL (on amazon.com)

From Lake Bluff, Illinois

Your presence at our book club...was the intellectual and emotional highlight of the year.

– Annette Dezlin

From Indiana

...I've recommended this book to our local high school library as a further step in world history – the story not often told, but one that changes the light on everything.

– Carol Rowan-Ozug (on amazon.com)

From Winnetka, Illinois

I had a number of phone calls today from my friends expressing their supremely positive feelings about [our discussion of Motherland] last night…Fern has new book promoters, as a few of us have already suggested Motherland to others… [A] Fern Schumer Chapman Fan Club was organized last night.

– Laurie Rubin

From Indianapolis, Indiana

Motherland provided our book club's best discussion ever.

– Donna Kay Mark

Discuss Motherland with Fern Schumer Chapman
The author of Motherland is available to participate in person or by speakerphone with your reading group when you discuss her book. Hear first hand how the book came about and learn how Fern’s relationship with her mother has changed since its publication. If you would like to invite Fern to meet with your book club face-to-face or by telephone, please contact fernchapmn@aol.com or leave a message at this web site's Guest Book. We will contact you to arrange to meet at a mutually convenient date and time

Reading Guide Available
To request copies of the reading and discussion guide for Motherland, please call 800-778-6425 or e-mail reading@penguinputnam.com. The Guide is also available online at http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/rguides/us/motherland.html.

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