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The publication date for “The Apple” is September 1, 2009.

The world is captivated by a Holocaust survivor and his love story that he says began during his terrifying ordeal as an orphaned Jewish boy in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Herman Rosenblat is feted by the media and is a celebrated guest on Oprah who calls his tale “one of the greatest love stories ever told.” His memoir is scheduled for a major worldwide release, and the movie based on his love story is set to shoot, when trouble begins to brew as outraged survivors and historians bring forward evidence to discredit key incidents in Herman Rosenblat’s account. At the last minute, his book is canceled amidst the year’s most controversial publishing story. Now, ostracized by many in his community, Herman finds himself in the middle of an angry debate about fact, fiction and the perils of embellishing a memoir, especially a Holocaust memoir.

Based on Herman Rosenblat’s life and love story, The Apple by Penelope Holt describes how real love and the dream of love keep the character of Herman Rosenblat alive amid the death and horror of Nazi Germany and during his years of struggle after the Second World War. The book explores Herman’s will to survive the War years, how loving parents and devoted brothers sacrifice to sustain him in the camps, and why he believes his destiny was to meet and marry his wife of fifty years, Roma, and to leave a legacy of hope in the wake of a genocide he experienced firsthand.

An electrified barbed wire fence rings the perimeter of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, photographed in 1988, near Weimar. Photograph: Ira Nowinski/Corbis

“The Apple”,  seriously is one of the Best Books I’ve read!  Even as heart-breaking as it is to read, I couldn’t put it down.  You just wanted to jump inside the story and pull Herman and his family to safety.  I honestly don’t think I could have survived what Herman and his family went through in the Holocaust.  The only bright spot (if you can call it that) is that Herman and his three brothers were all together in the same camps, Wolborz, Piotrkow, Bugaj, Buchenwald, Schlieben, and Theresienstadt throughout the Holocaust.   All surviving, including their sister (who was in France) went on to live their lives afterward.  What’s worse is that it was allowed to even happen!  What kind of monsters lie within the human race?

Photo Courtesy of Copyright 2009 Jossip Initiatives

The last three chapters were especially hard for me..

Remember this?

Mr Rosenblat, 79, a retired television repairman living in Miami, said that he met his future wife while he was a teenage boy in Schlieben, a sub-division of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

“Oprah does not want to attack you, Herman. She just wants you to answer the allegations and tell your side of the story. Clear the whole thing up. Don’t you want to set the record straight?”

The question posed is “Is it ever necessary for a survivor to intersperse fact with fiction in order to tolerate personal history?”

God only knows how any of us would have mentally “coped” being in the Concentration Camps! I don’t blame Herman at all for believing or clutching to the belief that it was Roma, his true love, that had tossed the apple over the fence to help sustain him during a very dismal time. Hasn’t he suffered enough?
As you can tell, I am extremely passionate about this story.  This statement sums it up for me..

People claimed that they were sympathetic, but underneath, they seemed ready to pounce.

Herman’s father, (Tatus), taught Herman, his brothers, and sister to be happy, and not be bitter. To not hold a grudge and always tolerate others.  Keep dancing Herman!


Copyright 2007-2009. Penelope Holt

Author, Penelope Holt was born and Educated in England. She has, for many years, lived and worked as an advertising and marketing executive in New York. She has contributed to a number of business books and publications. The author began her writing career as a playwright of works performed in England, Scotland and America.

I highly recommend this touching book!  Keep a box of tissues handy

I want to Thank May-Lynne Chen-Contino over at for the Awesome opportunity to review this “keeper” of a Novel!

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The Apple is based on two-time Oprah guest Herman Rosenblat’s Holocaust love story “hoax”, which became the publishing scandal of 2008. Read the story behind the story with a FREE iTunes download of The Apple for iPhone or iPod Touch and in return write an iTunes book review.  When you get the code, you just need to go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/ Click on redeem gift card on right and put in your code to download the book. Then just read and review.   Enjoy!

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