The Sweetness of Forgetting

The Sweetness of Forgetting is the third novel by Kristin Harmel, and it was published by Gallery Books in 2012. It follows the journey toward love and discovery of Hope who, after her divorce, is struggling with raising her middle-school daughter, slowly losing her beloved grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and running the family bakery in Cape Cod. When Hope learns that her grandmother was Jewish and nearly everyone she loved vanished in the Holocaust, Hope sets out to locate her surviving great-uncle and find out what happened to the love of her grandmother’s life. Along the way, Hope uncovers secrets that have been hidden for decades and lessons of love that have survived a lifetime. Alternating between Hope’s and her grandmother Rose’s points of view, the book’s themes of survival, legacy, family bonds, religious unity, and romantic love made it an international bestseller. Harmel has gone on to publish several other works of historical women’s fiction set around World War II. Other works by Harmel include The Winemaker’s Wife, The Book of Lost Names, and The Paris Daughter.

This guide references the Gallery Books paperback published in 2012.