Book Review: Beneath A Radiant Moon by P.L. Jonas

**This is another book I reviewed for The Historical Novel Society’s August issue.

Book Review

This is the saga of a Slovakian American family that begins in 1907 in Hungary and ends in 1965 in America. The family is fictional but loosely based on the author’s family. The story begins with our protagonist, Mira, living in her beloved village in Hungary with her husband, Janos, and their son. Things are tough for Slovaks at the time, because of the Hungarian policy of Magyarization, aggressive assimilation of other cultures, including the Slovaks. After the Cernova massacre, when villagers protesting Hungarian interference in the consecration of their new church are murdered, Janos decides it is time to move to America. Mira is resistant and does not want to leave her family, although her sister has already departed for America. Janos goes without her and promises to send money and visit as often as he can. This starts a long period of separation, trials, and loss for both of them. When Mira finally agrees to go to America, more trials await, including the start of the Great War and the Spanish Flu epidemic.

This is an honest, realistic, and captivating family story. The characters are well developed and deeply relatable. This is a story of love, but also heartache, tragedy, loss, and betrayal. Both Janos and Mira show periods of selfishness that affect their marriage. Along the way, they experience tough times, and family secrets begin to surface. I enjoyed the descriptions of Slovakian traditions, customs, and food. There is an honest look at racism at that time, including discrimination against Mira’s friends, who are Jewish, and Janos’s horror at the East St. Louis Massacre in 1917. As the family changes and grows, so does the country and the world. Recommended.

About the Author

A native Arizonan, P.L. Jonas has traveled all over the US and ten other countries. Her stories draw from personal experience, a fascination with history, and a love of research. When she’s not writing or editing, she is reading and painting while her beloved cat looks on.