Community Library Notes

“Akin” by Emma Donoghue is the story of 80-year- old Noah Selvaggio who is on his way to Nice, France. But first, he is asked by social worker Rosa Figueroa to visit his dead nephew Victor’s wife in prison. They are to discuss the possibility of Noah’s caring for Amber’s child, Michael, 11, for an undetermined amount of time. There are no other blood relatives around. Joan, Noah’s beloved dead wife, is always present in his head, with good advice for him. She warns him about this situation.

He makes reservations for Michael. In the days before they leave, Noah tries to get along with Michael. When Joan was alive, she won many awards and was successful, while Noah just plodded along. But they were happy together, even without children. Noah’s father, Mark, had an artificial hand, and Noah has kept it as a souvenir of the first World War. Noah’s nephew, Victor, died of an overdose, but his wife Amber said he wouldn’t have used that stuff. Donoghue writes in a delightful way, even

about the seriousness of the background story.

Noah’s grandfather, Père Sonne, was a famous photographer in France. At the airport, Noah finds and buys a book about his life. Margot, Noah’s mother, remained in France in Nice after the war. Her husband and Noah had gone to the U.S.

Noah wonders why they left him on his own for two years. Noah’s sister, Fernande, had been born shortly after his mom and dad reunited in New York. Noah keeps trying to understand his mother’s photographs. He thinks one is of him at age three or four, but Michael says no. He’s right, there is no resemblance. Michael suggests that perhaps Noah had a brother.

They find a plaque that says their hotel, Hotel Excelsior, had been a Nazi headquarters, where Jews had been held before being sent to their deaths at Dachau concentration camp. Was Noah’s mother a Nazi informer? Noah wonders. Why had she saved a photo of the hotel? His mind keeps asking questions. On this tablet, he learns that Eichmann’s top aide had watched from the balcony of the Excelsior as the Jews were rounded up into vans below

Noah and Michael visit the war museum and see uniforms and guns. Mr. Benoit, who works there, tells Noah one of his photos is most likely of the French couple who rescued hundreds of French Jewish children. Benoit suggests that perhaps Noah’s mother knew them. The rescue teamwas called the Marcel Network and the two founders lived through the war and later married. Later, M. Benoit calls Noah with more information. The photo of a woman says “MZ” on the back, and it might be Margot Isabelle, a forger of passports for Jews. Michael is happy to hear this. They go to a circus, see lions, elephants and clowns. Donoghue gives the reader the setting and the atmosphere of Carnival in Nice.

Michael thinks Noah’s mother photographed herself with a “selfie.” She perhaps photographed the other people from the back so they wouldn’t be recognized. Noah is suddenly proud of her. Is that why she sent Noah away? He wonders why Victor was free when his wife Amber was in jail for five years? Had he been framed by police because he had too much information? Noah and Michael visit Noah’s grandparents’ graves, Isabelle and Père Sonne. They take a “selfie” there.

They visit an oldman in a nursing home to discover the truth. Will they find out what really happened to Noah’s mother? Was she a good person or not?

This is an interesting bridge between Amber, Michael’s mother, Noah’s mother (who saved the photos) and Noah’s wife Joan— who talks to him in his mind. It’s mostly a story of an oldman and his young relative who runs him around, and a history of valor in World War II- era France.

Will.Noah be Michael’s guardian for the future? Find out in your Mendocino Community Library when it re- opens.