The Curious Kidnapping Of Nora W is the first novel by prize-winning British-born French journalist, copywriter and author, Caste Green. In early April 2018, Dinora Wojnawski is less than three weeks away from being the oldest person in the world, at 122 years and 165 days. Her great-granddaughter, Deborah Levene has been charged with organising the party, and she has the venue, the rabbi, the caterers and the entertainment all organised when Nora spits the dummy: no party, no way, bupkis

When Sylvia Wojnawski, Deb’s ever-critical mother, hears the news, she is confident she can talk her mother-in-law around, a plan that falls at the first hurdle when the family finds that Nora has signed herself out of The Cedars Care Home to live with her favourite Cedars carer, Syrian refugee Arifa Hashmi.

Considering her elderly and vulnerable, they haven’t reckoned with Nora’s strength and resilience, her tenacity and her stubbornness: no matter how much they try to reason with her, she’s determined to stay put with Arifa and her son Nasir in their Stepney flat. Not only that, but it’s very handy to where she and her late husband had their East End shop, Henry’s Fruit in Quaker Street.

Even though Arifa seems caring and deferential, Deb, her mother and her New York lawyer brother are immediately suspicious that this Middle-Eastern woman and her son are embarking on a scheme to cheat Nora out of her savings (their inheritance). Especially when young Nasif suddenly acquires a laptop computer and money starts disappearing from Nora’s bank account.

Outings to the café that now occupies Henry’s Fruit, the Synagogue, the site of the Grand Palais, the old Jewish theatre, and the Jewish Cemetery all evoke memories for Nora, some of them joyful, others painful: Nora is a Holocaust survivor, and avoids sharing those stories with her twenty-one direct descendants. But an incident at the cemetery takes everyone’s minds off the cancelled party….

Deborah and Arifa carry the main story, with Nora’s reminiscences filling in some of the backstory. Green’s characters have depth and appeal, and she gives them wise words and insightful observations, as well as snappy dialogue that includes a good helping of humour. The sprinkling of Yiddish and Syrian Arabic words and phrases throughout adds authenticity.

The parallels between the experiences of each refugee family, similarities but also differences are quickly apparent to the reader, and clearly one of the reasons that Arifa and Nora connect so well. Green says that Nora was inspired by her late mother-in-law, ad that her aim was to write a novel about survivors of war and injustice and their lives as ordinary people with an extraordinary past, something she has definitely achieved. A moving uplifting and thought-provoking read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK One More Chapter.