From the beloved author of fifteen bestsellers comes a stirring story of a deception that reaches across continents, oceans, and years.   A prosperous family in Berlin cannot see what the future holds when they adopt an orphaned girl, Lore, instantly an older sister to their biological daughter, Caroline.  As the story opens, it is 1939, and Caroline and Lore are young women, living amid the madness engulfing Europe.  As their parents disappear into this madness, the two girls flee to Switzerland.  What happens next will change both of their lives forever as a single act of duplicity reverberates through three generations even as they grasp for new hope and happiness in America.  A story of family and lovers, betrayals real and imagined, Legacy of Silence will captivate readers from beginning to end.   Belva Plain has crafted a remarkable tale, spanning the decades from the eve of World War II in Germany to the United States of today, that led The New York Times to proclaim her "in a class by herself." Best-selling author Plain will not disappoint her legions of fans with her latest soap opera^-like portrayal of a not-so-well-adjusted family. When beautiful Caroline Hartzinger and the homely but stolid and steadfast Lore, whom she passes off as her older sister, flee Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany and leave their happy, middle-class existence, their lives are changed forever. Prior to leaving Europe, Caroline meets and falls in love with a young man who suddenly disappears. Caroline and Lore embark for the U.S., Caroline brokenhearted and pregnant. In this country, a series of events conspires to keep Caroline and Lore together, and the book goes on to chronicle their lives and the lives of Caroline's two daughters, up to the 1990s. The reader does not find out until the end, after Lore's death, that Lore, jealous and bitter of Caroline's beauty, has been manipulating Caroline and Caroline's family with lies and treachery, which, as it turns out, have been the source of many of the family's difficulties. Although this is a long novel, it is simply told and thus easy to read, and all of Plain's considerable number of fans will enjoy it. Kathleen Hughes Perennial bestseller Plain's (Homecoming, 1997, etc.) newest, received too late for a full review, follows the love-hate relationship of two sisters, from the early days of WW II down to the present. ``Smart, competent, and good'' Lore, an orphan, had been adopted by a wealthy and progressive German family when she was 12, just after the birth of their own daughter, Caroline. Lore, dumpy and lovelorn, becomes a nurse. The handsome Caroline, who is half-Jewish, watches her prospects contract as the Nazis seize power. The two sisters manage to escape to Switzerland when their parents are killed, and eventually, after hardships, emigrate to America. They go their own ways, with bitterness and regret, when an unlikely romance comes between them. Plain follows the long road to the sisters' reconciliation through several generations demonstrating, along the way, her talent for effortlessly moving a plot along, and illuminating the often complex bonds of love, resentment, and need that shape and define families. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "Surprising, moving." -- Publishers Weekly A selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club From the Paperback edition. oved author of fifteen bestsellers comes a stirring story of a deception that reaches across continents, oceans, and years. A prosperous family in Berlin cannot see what the future holds when they adopt an orphaned girl, Lore, instantly an older sister to their biological daughter, Caroline. As the story opens, it is 1939, and Caroline and Lore are young women, living amid the madness engulfing Europe. As their parents disappear into this madness, the two girls flee to Switzerland. What happens next will change both of their lives forever as a single act of duplicity reverberates through three generations even as they grasp for new hope and happiness in America. A story of family and lovers, betrayals real and imagined, Legacy of Silence will captivate readers from beginning to end. Belva Plain has crafted a remarkable tale, spanning the decades from the eve of World War II in Germany to the Unit Belva Plain is the internationally acclaimed author of fifteen previous novels.  She lives in northern New Jersey. The little house, during the days remaining, took on an atmosphere of gentle concern as houses do in which someone is ill or has died.  On the last day the husband and wife took Lore and Caroline to the train. "I will keep in touch with people I know," the doctor promised, "and if there is any news of your parents, Caroline, you will get it at once.  Meanwhile, look forward, and God bless you both." She would remember the Schmidts to her own last day. The ship was crammed.  Not only was it almost the end of the tourist season, but the