Maya’s Dance is an inspiring novel is based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor.
Maya is only 17 when she and her family are sent to the Nazi camp, Sawin, in 1942. Her family are separated and put to hard work. Maya remains with her mother, Rosa, and attempts to be hopeful through her love of dance. This is one thing that the Germans could not take away from her. During this time, Maya meets and falls in love with Jan Novak, a member of the Polish Guard. Jan, aware of the atrocities happening, plans to find a way for Maya to escape with the promise to find her after the war.
Fifty years later, Kate Young, a journalist, is sent to cover the ceremony for the anniversary of the Holocaust. Here she meets Maya who shares her story about the soldier she fell in love with.
She asks for Kate’s help to find Jan. However, Maya’s deteriorating dementia means Kate has to find her way through fact and fiction, to try and find out what happened.
Kate and Maya’s relationship is simply beautiful. The love and respect between these two filled my heart with joy. Kate’s compassion towards Maya and her determination to find Jan fills Kate with the drive and motivation that reminds her of why she loves journalism. As I read back and forth in the dual timelines, I found the thoughts, memories and reflections shone through as the strength of this well researched novel.
Reviewed by Claire Stanley
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helen Signy is an Australian writer who grew up in England – or, depending how she feels that day, an English writer who lives in Australia. She completed an honours degree in English literature at the University of Birmingham then set off to travel the world. She worked for four years as a reporter at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and landed in Australia in 1992, where she scored a job at The Sydney Morning Herald.
During her 20 years as a print journalist, she reported on the genocide in Rwanda and famine in Sudan, worked on the foreign desk, edited sections across the newspaper, and supported the early transition from print to digital in a role at smh.com.au, for which she and her colleagues won a Walkley award.
In 2008, Helen and two partners set up a communications strategy company, helping academics, governments and not-for-profits to better tell their stories. She currently works as a science communications adviser for a research centre involved in the prevention of chronic disease, and loves her continuing role as contributing editor to Reader’s Digest. She has never lost her passion for the thrill of a breaking story. This is her first foray into fiction.
Helen lives on the Northern Beaches in Sydney with her husband and two of her three (nearly) grown-up children.
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