Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago Named BREW Readers’ Choice Award Winner for August 2025

United States, 1st Sep 2025, -
 

The Chrysalis BREW Project has named Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago by Ruth Benario as the BREW Readers’ Choice Award Book of the Month for August 2025.

The memoir was published on July 16, 2025. It is based on the diaries Ruth Benario kept as a young woman in Germany during World War II. After her death in 2011, her son, Peter Benario, worked with editor Carolyn Zalesne to complete the manuscript.

In her review for The Chrysalis BREW Project, Kajori Sheryl Paul wrote:

• “In Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago, Ruth Benario gifts us with a rare glimpse into WWII from the eyes of a young woman who actually lived in that era.”
• “Her love for the town [of Erfurt] is evident in her writing. I shuddered with her as she feared dying alone in a basement, forgotten by the world, as she waited out an airstrike alert.”
• “Ruth and Ernie’s love story was epic. They loved each other wholeheartedly. The way they risked their lives for each other is unthinkable to most.”

The book has been praised for presenting the experiences of “regular Germans of the time” and showing “how they lived in those turbulent years of WWII.” It also includes photographs from Ruth’s life, which the review said “made me feel like I was right there with Ruth as she lived her extraordinary life.”

The book is available via Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Yesterday-Was-Not-Long-Ago/dp/B0FCDL28LH

The BREW Readers’ Choice Award highlights books selected by readers for their impact and resonance. For August 2025, Yesterday Was Not So Long Ago received that recognition.

More details about this announcement are here: https://thechrysalisbrewproject.com/2025/09/01/august-2025-brew-readers-choice-awardee-yesterday-was-not-so-long-ago-by-ruth-benario/