The Border of Truth

by Victoria Redel

At 41, single professor Sara Leader decides to create a family by adopting a child. After the adoption agency asks for details about her background, Sara reluctantly begins to probe her father's secret history -- in particular, his flight as a 17-year-old Holocaust refugee aboard a ship denied entry into America. The more she learns about her father's past, the more Sara feels the need to question him about what happened -- and the more she realizes how her father's secrets have shaped her own life. Alternating between a teenage boy's energetic letters to Eleanor Roosevelt and a daughter's sifting through the fragments of her father's traumatic wartime choices, Victoria Redel brilliantly imbues her characters with not only bravery and strength but with the humor to survive the pain of the past and the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Victoria Redel's newest novel is I Am You (September 30, 2025, SJP Lit/Zando), which Melissa Febos calls "A lush, sexy, absorbing novel that brings to life two artists who are inextricably linked in passion and competition."

Redel's work includes four books of poetry, most recently Paradise, and the novel Before Everything. Her short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O, and NOON, among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. She is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and splits her time between Utah and New York City.
Redel is on the graduate and undergraduate faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. She has taught in the Graduate Writing Programs of Columbia University and Vermont College. Redel was the McGee Professor at Davidson College. She has received fellowships from The Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment For The Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center.

Victoria Redel was born in New York. She is a first generation American of Belgian, Rumanian, Egyptian and Russian and Polish descent. She attended Dartmouth College (BA) and Columbia University (MFA).

Reviews

[Mia Nisiyama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I found this solace of a novel in a pile of forgotten books in a shabby provincial bookstore i occasionally wander into whenever I feel yearning for the smell and feel of old paper books. I loved the idea and I adored the execution. the juxtaposition of the daughter's narrative and the father's letters, various layers of stories - stories one tells one's loved ones, stories one tells strangers, stories one tells oneself, and stories one tells the reader are woven together so seamlessly you could almost hear the characters' voices talking to you as if you are old unfeigned friends

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? This is my most recent novel. I think it is something a serious reader should/must/could read. Anything and everything I say here is shamelessly self promoting.

[Wendi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike Victoria's previous novel, Loverboy, which is like a small bomb detonating, The Border of Truth is vast and meandering ... a little too vast and meandering. Surviving the Holocaust, adoption, the relationship between a daughter and her emotionally distant father -- all interesting in their own right, but together these strands become diluted.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the story about the Quanza and its passengers fascinating but I wish there had been more of an explanation from the father as to why he kept his past from his daughter. We only have the daughter's suppositions and that left a lot of unanswered questions.

[Erika Scheig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment after Loverboy - it seemed pretty predicatable.

[Short Story Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two story lines. One from 1940, a young man trying to escape spreading Nazi occupation, care for his family, and find where he belongs. The other from 2003, a middle-aged daughter trying to escape the mistakes she’s made in her life, create a family, and find where she belongs. So beautifully intertwined, both characters searching for the other.

Much of the book is historically accurate, even though it’s fiction. I really enjoyed Googling European towns, people and events. I learned a lot about the past, and what it means to be a refugee -- how it’s a lot like the present.

The more I read, the more the momentum until I had to stay up late in the night to finish it because I couldn't sleep without knowing the ending. This is a lovely book with engaging narrative and secrets hiding within secrets. Everything you want from fiction.

[Scott Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story of how one woman discovers the immigration story of her father. Woven throughout the story are other stories about her research on Walter Benjamin and her adoption of a baby. The oddest part of the story is the series of letters (often written minutes apart) by her father when he as stranded on a boat off the coast of Virginia. He writes letters to Eleanor Roosevelt which never get delivered, yet he persists and they become a central feature of the book. Why continue to write these letters if they won't get delivered?

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

His letters to Eleanor Roosevelt interspersed within this book were a bit confusing but were a large part of the story. An odd way of building the story.

[Julia Scutt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars. I haven't read a novel in a while, so it was a little different, but I am happy that I still read it.

[clancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

touching story of, well, stories

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the recent death of her mother and failed romantic relationships, Sara is ready to adopt a baby. When she begins filling out paperwork about her parents and grandparents, she realizes that her father has never shared his past with her. When she begins to investigate, she discovers that her father was abroad the ship Quanza, a boat full of refugees fleeing the onset of the Holocaust. The novel switches point of view from Sara's current-day New York City living prying her dad for information about the past and her father's time abroad the Quanza where he spent many hours typing letters to Eleanor Roosevelt. The Border of Truth is a dark, riveting, foreboding, and refreshingly unusual novel. I recommend for those who enjoy dark historical fiction and alternating points of view.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I first got this book I was pretty excited. My library's blub sounded quite interesting. The first hundred pages proved that it was much different than what I had expected and hoped for, but I still enjoyed it. However, after the first hundred pages, it was like pulling teeth for me to read any pages. I just couldn't finish it and didn't enjoy it enough to re-check it out. Sure I'm curious about part of the ending, but the switching back and forth between the Holocaust story and the adoption story made both stories lose their feeling for me. Yes the Holocaust story will tie into the adoption story, but I just couldn't stick with it. Not for me.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a translator working with the letters of Walter Benjamin is intersected with the wartime letters of her father (to Eleanor Roosevelt), who was trapped on a boat from Europe trying to gain entry to the US in 1940. As the translator tries to investigates her father's story, the reasons for his reluctance to reveal his past become clear. Most of this book was pretty good, though various subplots felt slightly shoehorned and there were plenty of deus ex machina moments. Anyway, B/B+.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book. My first book read of Victoria Redel. Her writing is not bad, and she kept it up really good with the story. The reason why I gave it three stars is because, the story is at the same level the entire time, what I mean is that there was no plot twist it started telling the story of a young man in the 40's, and a 40 year old woman in New York 2003, I'm not going to spoil anything else, some people might like it more than me or not at all. But it was a nice read for me.

[Gitta Westra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in "letter" format, Itzak writes a series of pleas to Eleanor Roosevelt to intervene, filling his letters with colorful rumors about fellow passengers, endearing details about the movies he loves and his adolescent crushes, as well as harrowing tales about his family's flight from the Nazis.He is being held aboard a ship and waiting for approval to enter the US

[heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story telling as every other chapter was written in the form of Itzak's letters as a 17 year old hopeful to gain entry to the U.S. and the present where Sara realizes the importance of knowing her father, Itzak's, story before she becomes a mother. I wished there was more closure between father and daughter.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story kept my attention but I much preferred the contemporary strand with Sara the translator and her carpenter love interest. I didn't buy the WWII era letters to Eleanor Roosevelt. The author's teenage boy voice didn't ring true. The letters were too cute.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fact and fiction intertwined, this book makes educational yet gripping reading. A lot was left unexplained, but I assume this was because of the need to protect the real (and in some cases, living) characters in the whole sorry event. A story of hope, highly recommended.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, there were a couple of brilliant elements that made me love it, but on the other hand, it was pretty slow overall, so I really can't give it more than three stars.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was harder for me to get into than I expected, but once it started fitting together I liked it a lot. It's a neat insight on the emotional struggles that come with war.

[Peter Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, admirably researched, well beyond the pale of the Holocaust novel. Highly recommended.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

at first i wasn't sure about this book with the past being told in letters and the present being told by the narrator but i ended up enjoying it.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hated it sorry :-(

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found that this book lacked any excitement. I don't know if it was due to it being a historical fiction or what.

[Dulcey Heller]

Jun 08