Lost Catacomb (Hochberg)

The Lost Catacomb 
Shifra Hochberg, 2014
Enigma Press
358 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780615975696


Summary
An intoxicating blend of Vatican thriller and heart-rending love story, The Lost Catacomb's multiple timeline moves seamlessly across the centuries, from the early Roman Empire to the present and to World War II, where it explores the motif of loss—lost lovers, lost identity, and lost treasures—against the backdrop of the Holocaust in Italy.

At its center is Nicola Page, a beautiful young art historian who flies to Rome to assess a newly discovered catacomb of enigmatic provenance. Its magnificent frescoes hold the clues to a centuries-old murder and the existence of a fabled treasure from the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Assisted by a handsome Italian archaeologist, Nicola is quickly drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and peril, masterminded by a powerful priest who is determined to destroy those who would reveal the dark secrets of the past.

And as Nicola uncovers layer after layer of this deadly past, she is brought face to face with shocking facts about her own family history—facts that will forever change the course of her life.

Author Bio
• Birth—December 13, 1949
• Where—Detroit, Michigan, USA
• Education—Ph.D., New York University
• Currently—lives in Jerusalem, Israel


Shifra Hochberg, who received her Ph.D. in English literature from New York University, has published over 20 academic essays, mainly in the field of nineteenth-century fiction and feminist literary theory.  She currently teaches at Ariel University in Israel and makes her home in Jerusalem.  

In the course of writing The Lost Catacomb, Shifra visited Italy 14 times, making on-site visits to all locations in the novel and meeting with families of Italian Holocaust survivors.  She was also privileged to view a special collection of Jewish catacomb artifacts at the Vatican Museum that is normally closed to visitors. (From the author.)

Visit the author's website.
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Book Reviews
A marvelous book--thrilling and literary. A compelling depiction of the Vatican, with its profound mysteries and troubling ties to the Holocaust, riveting action, and a tender love story that will appeal to a wide audience.
Aryeh Lev Stollman, author of The Far Euphrates and The Illuminated Soul

 
I was impressed by the extensive on-site research [Hochberg] conducted.... The Lost Catacomb is a thoughtful and erudite yet fast-moving thriller about archaeological and personal discoveries.  At its center is Nicola Page, an American art historian with Italian roots who is brought to Rome to examine the provenance of a newly uncovered catacomb; at the same time, she hopes to uncover long-buried secrets about her family.
Sarah Johnson - Reading the Past


[F]ast-moving, fascinating....  Hochberg is...a master storyteller in the way that, from the beginning, she drops little hints of what is to come in the book—such as references to the Nazi era. For anyone interested in historical fiction, the troubled history of Jews in Italy, art history, and above all, the great Eternal City of Rome, The Lost Catacomb is a valuable treasure in itself.
Raanan Geberer - Reader's Favorite

Discussion Questions
1.  What are the thriller elements in The Lost Catacomb and how are they given literary resonance?

2.  How does the search for the provenance of an ancient catacomb become a metaphor for the personal issues that Nicola faces?

3.  How do the three central love stories echo and reinforce each other?

4.  Discuss the two major metaphors in the novel--the stars and the myth of Andromeda.

5.  Which of the three female figures in the love stories do you identify with the most and why?

6.  Discuss the thematic relevance of the epigraphs that precede each section of the novel.7.  What did you learn about the history of Italian Jewry that you were unaware of before you read The Lost Catacomb?

7.  How do you feel about the implications of the relationship of the Vatican with the Nazis during World War Two as depicted in the novel?

8.  What literary allusions and subtexts did you find in the novel and how do they enrich the text?
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9.  Discuss the theme of loss in the novel.  Which plot elements does it include?
(Discussion questions courtesy of the author.)

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