SUNFLOWER FOREST PB Paperback – International Edition, December 1, 2008

harrowing and horrible and wonderful tale of a woman who went mad after being raped if I remember at Ravensbruck camp for breeding superior Aryan babies. It is a tale of how she believes a child's her own in modern day times, when it's not her child. Her remaining daughter's haunted by the fact that her mother murder's someone over her deluSional state and it's a harrowing and haunting tale of the daughter's ostracism after the mother murder's. It's so raw, it's delightful, iT makes me feel like I'm there. It's really one of the best books. I've read many Torey Hayden book's cover (many!)to cover.This is by far her best, and her only novel I believe that's based on a true story. MY mother's adopted and German, and there are many tales there, and I wonder how similar my mother's tale is to some of those here. Wonderful. Keep it up..

The first ficton work she did. At one time in the late 80's I had all Torey Hayden's books written. Someoen borrowed andI never got back. Now i have my origainal collection

I would reccommend these sellers. They were quick about getting books out. the books were all in shape described. very very satisfied with their service and look for them in the future for other purchases.

I haven't read anything else by Torey Hayden, and my comments are on this book alone.Hayden is to be commended for her believable portrayal of Mara, a wry woman who, despite flashes of witty frankness, is irredeemably disturbed by memories of her captivity in Lebensborn, a Holocaust operation in which Aryan-looking Jewish women were "bred" to German soldiers. Her account of the death of one of her babies and the taking of another is chilling, to say the least. Her attachment to the neighbor's boy is subtle enough, making her delusion that he is her lost son Klaus and the eventual consequences all the more devastating. Her ultimate delusion--substituting "Forest of Sunflowers" for "Forest of Wolves"--is spot on, a telling image.However, Leslie's narration spoiled the effect. I understand that Hayden needed to portray the responsibilities of an older sibling whose parent cannot fulfill her role, so some of her elevated tone was justified. Too many times, though, the cliches made me think of the heroines in VC Andrews novels--perfectly mature and perfectly intelligent, and rather condescending. "Mama, let's halt this talk of Klaus." Who, teen or adult, says such a sentence casually? What makes it especially unsettling here is that the rest of the book is handled so well. It's just that, outside of a few obligatory characteristics, I found Leslie to be rather annoying in places. I didn't want to--I mean, surely she deserves sympathy for the tragedy of what happened to her mother, and she is forced to grow up faster--but I got the impression that Hayden didn't really know how to write the dialogue of a real teenager, even if that teenager were as intelligent and burdened as Leslie. Sadly, others' reactions to her afterward--her French teacher, for example--were all too realistic. So there are good points, but on the whole it was hard to balance a gripping main idea with such an ambivalently characterized narrator.All in all, it is a laudable portrayal of a tormented woman and the consequences of one's past, but it is marred by a cloying, almost uppity, narration. Read it if you can find it--it's a worthy subject--but it's not worth spending _too_ much for an out-of-print copy, and you might not keep it for long if you find a more well-rounded book with similar themes. Previous readers of the author's work, of course, might collect it. I am speaking in terms of a reader for whom this was just a random book.

The book is great reading, but the first few pages were missing, was disappointed about that, but all other factors were what I expected. Thank you.

Having sought after Torey Hayden's memoirs telling the stories of her work in education, this novel was a new experience from this author and I was not disappointed. An absorbing read.

good book met my needs. a a a a a a aa a a a a a a a a

I liked this book overall but would caution others that are fans of Ms. Hayden that it is different from her other books.