The Price of Living Your Beliefs: A Review of Her Sister's Tattoo by Ellen Meeropol

Failing to learn from history is an unspoken warning in the new novel, Her Sister’s Tattoo, by Ellen Meeropol. Spanning decades and told from multiple points-of-view, the repercussions and lessons gleaned from the protests of the Vietnam War are rendered viscerally through the story of two sisters raised to be activists. Social activism has been present in all of Ellen Meeropol’s fiction. She comes by it naturally. She is married to Robby Meeropol, one of the surviving sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, executed as spies in 1953. Robby and his brother were later adopted by the Meeropol family.

Rosa and Esther have twin red star tattoos on their left breasts but their temperaments are not alike. Rosa, red-haired and fiery, sees activism as vital and necessary. The atrocities of Vietnam weigh heavily on her and she acts accordingly, sometimes without considering the consequences. Esther, the mother of an infant, is more cautious, as is her husband, a pediatrician. When the two attend an anti-war protest and mounted police begin to attack the protestors, Rosa suggests throwing the hard green apples they are carrying in their bag. Like many stories, a seemingly innocuous incident explodes into a major life-altering event when one of the apples hits a horse, causing the animal to throw the mounted policeman. A paralyzing injury is the result and both sisters are charged with felony offenses that could result in lengthy jail terms. Esther, in consultation with her attorney, testifies against her sister to avoid prison. This act leads to the estrangement of the sisters and Rosa’s disappearance for a time. Once she resurfaces and is charged (and labeled Red Rosa), the relationship that was once an anchor for both seems over.

Our current perilous times make this novel all the more relevant. My Sister’s Tattoo shows that sometimes well-intentioned actions can have longstanding consequences. Vietnam War protests did accomplish the goal of ending the war but many were maimed and killed both fighting and protesting. The implicit question never asked is if the price of living your beliefs is worth it. The story picks up with the next generation, the now young teen daughters of Rosa and Esther who meet at an activist camp their parents attended. Esther’s daughter, Molly, has trouble hearing the story she wasn’t told about her mother and the aunt she never knew. Emma, Rosa’s daughter “repeated the whole story again, about cops beating people and throwing apples and the horse rearing up and the cop falling down. Except this time she told it with two sisters, Rosa and Esther. This time it was worse because I knew what was coming, and her sentences punched holes in my lungs, up one side and down the other.”

The book demonstrates the costs and responsibilities of standing up for one’s beliefs. Has the country learned from Vietnam? What is the price of freedom? Is protesting a catalyst for change? Ellen Meeropol doesn’t answer these questions, but her characters wrestle with the consequences of both inaction and activism. Can families bridge differences? In our current times, lines have been drawn politically and it’s often difficult to open a dialogue with people of opposing views, as it is in this story. Esther contemplates her choices as the novel moves toward its conclusion. The years that have been lost will not be recovered but forgiveness and empathy can manifest in future generations. Perhaps the lessons of history are imperfect and ongoing and by staying active and alert, her characters, like all of us, claim the right to a more optimistic future.