Summary
No One is Here Except All of Us is Ramona Ausubel’s first novel that was inspired by the memories and stories told by her Romanian-born grandmother. The novel takes place in 1939 in a small Romanian village where the inhabitants are becoming more aware of the devastation that has been occurring across Nazi dominated Europe. The story is told from 11-year old Lena’s perspective as she recounts her experiences of tragedy and horror where it reads allegorically, religiously, and poetically. Lena character is a sensitive and spiritual 11-year old girl who holds a fictional representation of Ausubel’s idea of her own great grandmother. Lena’s stories and imagination relate to the real world in terms of encountering hardships and misfortune. The novel is concerned with family history, collective memory and the influence of the imagination.
Casey Nixon ’19