Clara's Secret
Voices Leveled Library Readers

It will come as no surprise to his friends that Stephan Frenkel has written, designed, and published a beautifully crafted volume that might be described as a piece of literary Lalique. His chronicle tells the story of his paternal grandmother growing up in Berlin during the marvelous cultural apoth......more

Knowledge of your past The story follows Clara in the year 1939 as she leaves her home city of Berlin to travel. Along the way, she lives through Europe's gilded age and meets important pivotal figures of human history. This is an interesting book in the historical sense. However, I do not know how m......more

The Purdue OWL defines creative nonfiction this way: “It is focused on story, meaning it has a narrative plot with an inciting moment, rising action, climax and denouement, just like fiction.” Stephan R. Frenkel in Clara’s Secret tells the story of his paternal grandmother, Clara Prinz. Frenkel had......more

This is a huge triumph and debut for Stephan Frenkel. Clara's Secret is a great sweep of the influences on his Grandmother as a teen and young woman growing up in Berlin during the Belle Epoque (1901 to 1914) . It is simultaneously a detailed history of that peaceful and hopeful period and compellin......more

In his opening pages, Stephan Frenkel sets the stage for the wonder of Berlin during the Belle Epoque. He introduces his protagonist, Clara, in the city's famous Tiergarten, awaiting the arrival of Kaiser Wilhelm and his imperial guard. She is 11 years old. We also learn that she is Stephan's belove......more