In the Shadow of the Greenbrier

• Author: Emily Matchar
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Publication Date: March 12, 2024
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Ashley Hewlett for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of Pam Jenoff and Diane Chamberlain, a deeply poignant multigenerational Jewish family saga set around the iconic Greenbrier hotel, inspired by the remarkable yet little-known true events that shaped America’s history.

Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier exerts an undeniable force on the Zelner family. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family—Sol, Sylvia, Doree, and Jordan—must each grapple with their place in their hometown…and their family.

In 1942, young mother Sylvia is desperate to escape her stifling marriage, especially co-running Zelner’s general store with her husband. When the Greenbrier is commandeered for use as a luxury prison, Sylvia finds her loyalties strained and her heart on the line. Seventeen years later, Sylvia’s daughter, Doree, struggles to fit in, eagerly awaiting the day she’ll leave for college and meet a nice Jewish boy. But when a handsome stranger comes to town and her brother Alan’s curiosity puts him and Sylvia at risk, Doree is torn between family and desire.

An immersive family saga rich with historical detail, In the Shadow of the Greenbrier explores the inevitable clash between the past and the future and lifts up the stories people tell to survive.

I was really excited to receive a copy of this book, since it combines historical fiction with the saga of various generations of a Jewish family. I never knew anything about this hotel, so it was also a chance to learn more about American history and the South.

The Greenbrier Resort is a famous hotel in West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains, and it was known for its luxury setting catering to the rich and famous, including Hollywood stars and presidents of America. But it was also turned into a luxury prison during the years of World War II. And over the course of the 20th century, it exerted a strong influence on one Jewish family living in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The story is told over the course of a century, through the eyes of four members of the Zelner family at various points in time. Sol immigrates from Lithuania in 1909 rather than comply with the Tsar’s harsh conscription laws for Jewish men, and works as a traveling peddler before settling down in White Sulphur Springs to open a store as the Greenbrier is being built. Sylvia’s story begins in Poland in 1942, when after she marries Louis Zelner, they immigrate to America to work at the store his family owns. Doree’s tale begins in 1958, when she’s expecting to leave her small town to go to college and find a nice Jewish man to marry. Finally, Jordan’s chapters take place in Washington, DC in 1992, where he is a young reporter looking to uncover a story about the Greenbrier from an anonymous tip, while his mother begs him to stay in DC. 

Each of the characters was intriguing, but some of them were easier personalities for me to identify with than others, but even the tough ones just needed some time. Once I really got to know who they were and why they were the way they were, it was easier for me to understand. Seeing Sylvia’s suspicion of German and Italian people, even diplomats, was easy to understand in the climate in which she left Europe, when antisemitism was widespread, institutional at the highest levels of society, and completely acceptable. Jordan’s curiosity about the Greenbrier was only enhanced by his mother’s reluctance to talk about anything related to the Greenbrier or her past.

The characters were all so different from each other, yet they were all so willing to grow and learn and change their minds after learning more. Each one had to adapt to changing circumstances, each centered around the Greenbrier, despite the different time periods in which their story was set. There’s an overarching mystery surrounding this hotel in the second half of the book, but I found myself far more invested in the characters themselves, their experiences living as a Jewish family in a small town in the South and facing prejudice and discrimination that changed over time but never really went away, and how trauma gets passed down and becomes part of the fabric of generations in a family.

I was incredibly impressed by this debut, and really had a difficult time realizing that it was a debut because it was done so beautifully. The jumps between time and characters was a bit abrupt at first, possibly because I wasn’t as equally invested in all of the characters, or possibly because the author was finding her stride, but things smoothed out rather quickly. Ultimately, this is a fantastic read not just for the saga of the Zelner family, but also to learn about a historic site that I knew nothing about. I actually found myself browsing the internet to see photos of The Greenbrier, which is still in operation (and is gorgeous, btw). This is a wonderfully done and thoroughly researched historical fiction novel, and I can enthusiastically recommend this one.

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