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lings — she is studying to be a surgeon
and he is a physicist racing Einstein
to prove relativity — face the tough
decision as to whether to stay or leave,
and how to protect each other and
all they have learned. When he goes
missing, his sister risks all to fight for
him in this story of love, adventure
and science.
The Rabbi Finds Her Way by Robert
Schoen with Catherine deCuir (Stone
Bridge Press) is a career coming-of-age
story, as a young Reform rabbi joins a
large California congregation as associ-
ate rabbi. The novel opens up the world
of a female congregational rabbi, with
some familiar scenes and unusual twists.
The sprawling Hotel Neversink is the
crown jewel of the Catskills, founded in
1931 by a Jewish immigrant family who
used every penny they could find to buy
the grand mansion on top of a hill. Told
through the voices of family members
and others who have passed through the
grand hotel, Adam O’
Fallon Price’
s The
Hotel Neversink (Tin House) follows the
family over a century, through ambitious
undertakings, mysterious vanishings,
family secrets, comedy, love stories and
a younger generation’
s desire to keep the
place alive.

The Volunteer: One Man. An Under-
ground Army and the Secret Mission to
Destroy Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather
(Custom House) is the nonfiction account
of a Polish resistance fighter who infiltrat-
ed Auschwitz, organized a rebellion and
assassinations of Nazi officers, smuggled
out information and then managed to slip
out of the camp to report on what was
going on there. The author, who has been
a war reporter for the Washington Post

and other papers, explains that the story
was erased from the historical record by
Poland’
s communist government and has
remained unknown until now.
A debut novel by an American writer
living in Israel, Make it Concrete by
Miryam Sivan (Cuidono Press) is the
story of a writer who ghostwrites the
stories of Holocaust survivors, on tight
schedules. Friends encourage the writer,
an independent spirit, to do something
different, as she is haunted by the ghosts
of personal and communal history. The
story she wants to tell most is that of
her mother, also a survivor, whose own
story is tightly held.
Julie Orringer’
s anticipated novel The
Flight Portfolio (Knopf) is based on the
true story of Varian Fry, an American
journalist who helped rescue thousands
of Jewish refugees during World War II,
including many artists and writers. Set
in France and opening at the Chagalls’

home, the novel is filled with suspense,
history, art and a love story.
Mistress of the Ritz (Delacorte) is a
novel by Melanie Benjamin set during
World War ll, inspired by the cou-
rageous story of Blanche Azuello, a
Jewish-American woman who created a
new identity for herself in Paris, where
she worked undercover for the French
Resistance and played hostess at the
Ritz Hotel, serving Nazis.
Based on extensive research into
true events — the massacre of a French
village in June 1944 — Armando

Lucas Correa’
s novel, The Daughter’
s
Tale (Atria), is set between New York
City and Berlin, unfolding a story of
family, love, sacrifice, survival against
odds and reckoning with the past. The
novel is inspired by the true story of a
Holocaust survivor Correa met after
the publication of his first novel, The
German Girl, based on the true story
of the S.S. St. Louis, a transatlantic
liner offering Jews safe passage out of
Germany.
An untold story of World War II,
Scholars of Mayhem: My Father’
s
Secret War in Nazi-Occupied France by
Daniel C. Guiet and Timothy K. Smith
(Penguin Press) tells of Guiet’
s father,
who worked clandestinely behind
German lines in France to coordinate
aid for the French Resistance and also
lead missions against German military
efforts. Guiet learned that his father had
been in the CIA, but only at the end of
his life did his father, a native French
speaker, begin to tell of his successful
missions during World War II. Guiet
was the only American involved in
a unit of Britain’
s Special Operations
executive code-named Salesman. The
unit parachuted into France the day
after D-Day and organized an army of
10,000 Resistance fighters. Daniel Guiet
and Smith, a reporter and editor, spent
several years researching and docu-
menting this story, including Guiet’
s
written account of his wartime experi-
ence.

HOLOCAUST

Newcomers
in an Ancient
Land: Adventures,
Love, and Seeking Myself in
1960s Israel by Paula Wagner
(She Writes Press) is a coming-of-
age story by a writer who travels
to Israel with her twin sister at
age 18 to learn more about their
father’
s Jewish background. She
falls in love with the land and the
language, and her life is trans-
formed during a momentous era.
Chutzpah: Why Israel Is
a Hub of Innovation and
Entrepreneurship (Harper) by
Inbal Arieli, a leader in Israeli
high-tech and co-CEO of True
Synthesis, is a leadership assess-
ment and development company,
connects the country’
s economic
success — with its high concen-
tration of startups — to the way
Israelis are raised in a culture of
risk-taking, independence, cre-
ativity and resiliency.
Jerusalem: City of the Book
by Merav Mack and Benjamin
Balint, with photography by
Frederic Brenner (Yale University
Press), explores the hidden librar-
ies and archives of the city and
the librarians who care for them,
unfolding the history of the city
through ideas developed there
over centuries. The book opens
with a quote from Jorge Luis
Borges, “I have always imagined
that Paradise will be a kind of
library.
”
In his latest book, Defending
Israel: The Story of my
Relationship with my Most
Challenging Client (All Points
Books/St. Martin’
s Publishing
Group, out in September),
high-profile lawyer and profes-
sor Alan Dershowitz recounts
behind-the-scenes stories and
incredible “mock trials” he has
done in defending a land he
learned to love at summer camp
in 1948. An ardent supporter, he
is not above harshly criticizing
Israel when he disagrees with its
actions. He also chronicles chang-
ing attitudes toward Israel and
offers a new way of thinking and
defending the Jewish homeland.

ISRAEL

YOUNG READERS

Gittel’
s Journey: An Ellis Island Story
(Abrams Books) by Leslea Newman
and illustrated by Amy June Bates is a
heart-warming and heart-wrenching story
about Gittel and her mother coming to
America. It is based on Newman’
s grand-
mother and a family friend, among many
other children. The spare text works well
as a read-aloud, and the book is beautiful-
ly designed and illustrated.
In Saving Hanno: The Story of a
Refugee Dog (Holiday House Books),
geared to readers ages 8-12, Miriam
Halahmy tells the tale of 9-year-old
Rudi, who escapes Nazi Germany on a
Kindertransport to England. He wants to
bring his dachshund, Hanno, but cannot,
yet his family finds a way to smuggle
Hanno to London. When the German
invasion seems imminent and many
British citizens start euthanizing their
pets, Rudi and other kids are determined
to save their furry friends.

When Charlie, 12, starts doing research
on her namesake, Great-Aunt Lottie, a
violin prodigy, she uncovers details that
may conclude that maybe Lottie did not
die in the Holocaust. In Searching for
Lottie (Holiday House Books) by Susan
L. Ross, for ages 8-12, pieces of the puzzle
fall into place in this intriguing, intergen-
erational mystery.
Based on true events, Francesco Tirelli’
s
Ice-Cream Shop by Tamar Meir, beauti-
fully illustrated by Yael Albert (Kar-Ben),
is the story of a young boy who loved
eating ice cream from his uncle’
s cart and
then opened his own shop years later in
Budapest. During the war years, he closes
the shop and hides Jews and others in
danger, saving lives.
Kol Hakavod: Way to Go by Jamie
Kiffel-Alcheh and illustrated by Sarah-
Jayne Mercer (Kar-Ben) provides appeal-
ing examples of respect and small kind-
nesses that can be shared.

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