Humans can be dramatic. We describe an annoying incident or a mild confrontation as traumatic or as a PTSD-inducing experience, but most of us don’t understand what kind of strength it takes to not only survive a terrible physical and mental ordeal but to then continue living an ordinary life among other people. In “The Missing Star” by Julie Canepa, you will meet two real people, Dr. Vladimir Munk and his beloved wife, Kitty Lowi Munk, who survived the Holocaust, emigrated to Plattsburgh in 1968, and lived as our neighbors.

Before Kitty’s passing in 2015, the author and the Munks became friends when she met them in the retirement home where they lived. Many subsequent visits and long chats evolved into a story that Canepa thought needed to be told. As a result, we get to know Vlad and Kitty well, starting with his earliest childhood memory of his father’s promotion at the distillery factory and her arduous tea party with her mother, respectively. We know all along that Vlad and Kitty survive, meet, and fall in love, but the suspense of waiting for their meeting, despite the horrific events happening in both their separate lives, is paradoxically sweet.

Throughout their continual struggles to find adequate food, water, and basic supplies, both Vlad and Kitty encounter everyday troubles: Vlad reluctantly practices for his weekly piano lessons, nervously learns his Bar Mitzvah speech, and develops a crush on every pretty girl he sees; Kitty feels neglected by her mother, she gets lost on a family vacation, and endures a long recovery after a severe bout of appendicitis. However, because they are Jewish, Czech citizens, and living under Nazi influence, life-and-death experiences color every single event. For example, at great risk Vlad steals golden beets off a passing cart, he steals coal in the middle of the night for the imminent eviction of his family, and he worries constantly about his mother as she faces the loss of family member after family member. Kitty, long before she becomes an adult, takes on the role of cooking for her family and supervising her father’s fragile health while navigating the difficult relationship with her mother.

“The Missing Star” is a must-read. For readers who live in the Adirondack Region, Dr. Munk was our neighbor, and friend, until his passing last week. For those readers who are not neighbors, their story still resonates because Vlad and Kitty were real people who survived a real genocide that occurred not very long ago.