Rating: 
Summary: Belva Plain has done it again!
Review: Belva Plain has crafted a splendidly stunning story in her novel, "Legacy of Silence" which leaves one begging for more. Not since Sidney Sheldon's "The Other Side of Midnight" have I encountered a story that I could not put down. It has all the ingredients a family saga needs: Two strong woman characters, a plot that continually moves along and unfolds and a great amount of suspense which finally explodes. To reveal the plot in any great detail would be a mistake. "Legacy of Silence" is about deceit, lies and the means in which one can control the history of ones family. The characters of Caroline and Lore will remain with the reader long after the last page has been read. The New York Times once said of Belva Plain, "She is the queen of family sagas" Yes, she is!
Rating:
Summary: Belva Plain has done it again!
Review: Belva Plain has crafted a splendidly stunning story in her novel, "Legacy of Silence," which leaves one begging for more. Not since Sidney Sheldon's "The Other Side of Midnight" have I encountered a story that I could not put down. It has all the ingredients a family saga needs: Two strong woman characters, a plot that continually moves along and unfolds and a great amount of suspense which finally explodes. To reveal the plot in any great detail would be a mistake. "Legacy of Silence" is about deceit, lies and the means in which one can control the history of ones family. The characters of Caroline and Lore will remain with the reader long after the last page has been read. The New York Times once said of Belva Plain, "She is the queen of family sagas." Yes, she is!
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Book!
Review: Belva Plain knows how to capture your attention right from the start. Her characters are perfect and the story is one you won't want to put down. Endings can be disappointing in many books, but not in this one. Right to the end, you will be surprised and captivated. Bravo, Belva!
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book. I did not want it to end.
Review: Belva Plain made the characters come to life in this novel. I thought the ending was excellent. Lore was a very interesting character and Belva kept her doings a secret to the end. There was a lot of interesting history in this book, the second world war, the nazis, the persecuted Jews. It really gave you a feeling of what those years were like for some people. It was a very realistic story of what could have happened in those years. All of the emotions of life were displayed...death, birth, war, hate,love, loyalty, honesty, dishonesty and so on. Belva, hurry with another novel and I will be the first in line to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best novel's Belva Plain has written.
Review: Belva Plain's Legacy of Silence held me in suspense. I felt at times that the deceit, lies, and betrayals hit close to home. Never in all the years that I have read novels by Belva Plain did this touch the social woes that families go through. Thank you for a novel well done.
Rating:
Summary: Belva Plain does it again. Does not disappoint.
Review: From the moment I started reading page one, I knew this book would be one that I couldn't put down. The fact that I had so much to do and was able to finish it in three days, is typical of Belva Plain's writing. I have read everyone of her books, as they come out and only hope she keeps them coming. I was a little bewildered as to where the the duplicity was to be, but when you get to the last few chapters, everything comes together. What an awful time for these people.
Rating: 
Summary: inacurate
Review: I was disappointed! I do not want to spoil the book for future readers, but the plot does not ring true. All I can say is that the depth of the sibling rivalry is not revealed until the siblings are both dead. If there was that great a trauma, surely the reader should have had some inkling of it in the first 375 or so pages!
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the family conflict?
Review: I was disappointed! I do not want to spoil the book for future readers, but the plot does not ring true. All I can say is that the depth of the sibling rivalry is not revealed until the siblings are both dead. If there was that great a trauma, surely the reader should have had some inkling of it in the first 375 or so pages!
Rating:
Summary: inacurate
Review: I was dissapointed with the akward style of writing of this book. Also found some glaring errors. Vic. there were no car radios in 1938 (unless in Mercedes, perhaps.) German gentiles could not emigrate, specially men of army age.Most gentiles married to Jews tried to hide them underground during the war, with varying success. But immigration for them was impossible after 1936.
Rating:
Summary: Completely Commonplace
Review: In 1939, Caroline Hartzinger, a Jewish woman, flees Germany and comes to America. In a new country with only her sister to depend on, she discovers that she is pregnant, although she is not married. She knows a terrible secret about the child's real father, and to save face she marries the kind, respectable Joel Hirsch. She does not love him, yet does what she feels is necessary. How will Caroline's legacy of shame affect her family? And what sort of life will she have?Admittedly, I couldn't expect this book to be profound, impossibly high-caliber literature. Yet I definitely expected more than I got. Having never read a Belva Plain novel before, I figured that since she was very famous and the book had oodles of gushing reviews plastered on its cover and inside pages, I could expect a solid, at-least-four-star read. "Legacy of Silence" certainly has some redeeming elements. Perhaps the best thing about this novel is how easy it is to read-it is definitely one of those novels just to grab if you want something that, above all else, keeps the pages turning quickly. Also, somehow the book "works" at least somewhat because it keeps you wanting to know what happens to the characters. Maybe it's just that subsconscious "cheap romance addict" coming out in me! Nonetheless, I felt compelled to know what twists and turns, no matter how cliche, the characters lives took. And speaking of cliche, that's exactly what partly ruined this book. It's almost inexplicable, yet plot twists just seemed too conventional and annoyingly tidy. Furthermore, although I felt this book was readable, I read it in a detached, almost uncaring way-never seeming to really, really care about the characters. It was like, "Oh, she's got cancer...on to the next chapter." Also, I was rather disappointed with the ending of this book. Although the overall premise of this ending had potential to be interesting, the characters' reactions to the last "revelation" seemed muted and rushed. Finally, I don't know for sure, but this novel may be somewhat historically inaccurate; I don't think Jews could leave Germany at all at the time Caroline and her sister did. Not horrible, yet far from great. A cliché plot and typical pitfalls of mediocre literature keep this one completely in the "pulp" category.
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