The Sugar Men

By: Ray Kingfisher

Narrated by: Jane Oppenheimer

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Sixty-four years ago, Susannah Morgan managed to flee the horrors of the Holocaust. But the memories of that childhood ordeal have proven impossible to sweep away.

For most of her new life spent settled in sleepy North Carolina, the flashbacks have been a lonely obsession - one she has hidden from her family, and about which her heart is torn. Because for all the pain and the cruelty of those terrible years, she harbours sweet memories too, of unexpected friends who risked their own lives in order to save hers. As Susannah’s time on earth draws to a close, her innermost thoughts of those long-gone days become questions - ones that demand answers.

Against the wishes of her children, Susannah returns to Germany and the scene of unspeakable crimes. There she will come face to face with the Holocaust’s terrible, wretched legacy, and will finally make peace with the ghosts of her past.

©2016 Ray Kingfisher. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Concentration Camp and Lifelong Scars

Once again Ray Kingfisher has written a book about the Holocaust that cuts deep into the human psyche. And listening to or reading The Sugar Men will butcher you, slicing deeply, wounding you, entering your heart, finding your deepest places of fear, hate and yes, hope and love. Told from a different perspective, the experience of a child, Susannah Morgan and her family who lived happily in Berlin, until things began to change. When Susannah heard increasingly tense arguments between her father and uncle about what was happening in Germany and the persecution of Jews, she was afraid. Her father, always optimistic about his beloved Germany, and her uncle, the realist, urging his brother to take heed and protect his family, until they all fled to the Netherlands together. And even that wasn’t enough. The harrowing tale of both families being carted off to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and what happened to them afterward is the bulk of the story. I learned some things that I hadn’t come across in all my previous books on WWII and the Holocaust. Such as the Jews taken to the concentration camps from the Netherlands didn’t all receive the numbered tattoos on their bodies, and only had the numbers added to the Star of David sewn to their clothing. And the most important and the thing that will stick with me, is that some of the guards were kind to the prisoners, risking their lives, indeed losing their lives, to sneak food to them. It is one thing to believe that not all of the men conscripted into Hitler’s army were willing participants, quite another to read of the courage and conviction to help. The story of Susannah’s rescue and the day the British military liberated Bergen-Belsen is so sad and touching, and the way the German soldier labeled her “The Lucky One”, which stuck with her, was fortuitous. The scars that Susannah carried with her throughout her life, as she fell in love and raised her children made me want to scream and cry. Her trip back to Germany to face her past, though not understood by her adult children, was the best part of the entire book. I so wished that Susannah could have made peace with the God that had preserved her through a living hell in Bergen-Belsen, but who am I to judge? Her meeting with her British liberator was absolutely superb. Excellent book, and one that everyone should read/listen to. Lest we forget.

A good read.

It was a great story over all. I felt it was a little spread out and could have been a shorter story. Still having the same ending.

Brutally Honest & Eye Opening

This book was excellent and I loved the narrator. This book finally helped me understand why survivors of the Holocaust often don't speak of the horrors of what life was like in the death camps. After the war, many people were told to put the past in the past and move forward. This shows how impossible it is to forget. This was right up there with the Tattooist of Auschwitz. Highly recommend.

beautiful story

this is an amazing story of what a mind and body can endure. And still find hope and love in this world.

Emotional reflections from our history!

Once again Ray Kingfisher weaves joy with tragedy. A good read for all ! Readers connect with existences in prison camps, and the effect on the women and men who lived and died through it all!

Emotional

Beautifully written and performed by the narrator. You will experience a wide range of emotions in this book. A must read for anyone interested in the holocaust on a personal level. I will miss Susana.....

We can never let history die.

The pain of history comes to life in this story, as well as the joy of life.

Amazing

This caught the tone and feeling of what it was like to be a prisoner in a concentration camp, the pain and suffering without being gruesome. I cared deeply about all the characters.

Fantastic book!

A very thoughtful, personal story of a Jewish girl as she struggled to survive the Holocaust. I don't frequently cry while reading, but this story had me going several times. I'll be looking into other titles by Ray Kingfisher.

great book

Sad, but lovely story about love, loss, and closure. If you only order one book this month, I highly recommend this one.