The Hours Count: A Novel by Jillian Cantor

The Hours Count: A Novel by Jillian Cantor. Riverhead Books,
                                   2015. Adult historical fiction.


Using the real characters of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the couple who in 1953 were executed for conspiring to commit espionage, or spying, Cantor weaves a masterful fictional story about them and their neighbors and families. It is true that when she was arrested Ethel left her young children with a neighbor. The fiction kicks in with Millie and Ed Stein who live down the hall in the novel. Millie's son, David, does not speak. Her husband, Ed, a Russian Jew, ignores their child. Millie and Ethel bond as women and as mothers who live on the 11th floor and go to the same park and butcher's shop. As their husbands' work intertwines, the naïve women are surrounded with lies, talk of "Reds", and things that they do not understand. Millie becomes more than friends with Dr. Jake Gold and confides in him about David's problems and those with her husband. As things become more dangerous for them all, Millie's life spins out of control as much as, but in different ways than, Ethel's.


An afterword sheds light on what is real and what is not. Certainly the McCarthy era was terrifying for many. Rumors of spies made average citizens suspect of their own neighbors. Cantor stresses that Ethel was accused and convicted of typing up notes. Ethel's own brother later admitted that was a lie. Cantor's haunting portrayal of the caring mother and loyal wife fleshes out Ethel Rosenberg as well as other women of the time. Because it is so well written, the novel will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.