An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who are separated at the start of the Second World War, determined to survive-—and to reunite.

"Against all odds, three Slovakian sisters have survived years of imprisonment in the most notorious death camp in Nazi Germany: Auschwitz. Livia, Magda, and Cibi have clung together, nearly died from starvation and overwork, and the brutal whims of the guards in this place of horror. But now, the allies are closing in and the sisters have one last hurdle to face: the death march from Auschwitz, as the Nazis try to erase any evidence of the prisoners...

"The Art of Inventing Hope offers an unprecedented, in-depth conversation between the world's most revered Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, and a son of survivors, Howard Reich. During the last four years of Wiesel's life, he met frequently with Reich in New York, Chicago and Florida--and spoke with him often on the phone--to discuss the subject that linked them: Reich's father, Robert Reich, and Wiesel were both liberated from the Buchenwald death...

"Ruth Gruener was a hidden child during the Holocaust. At the end of the war, she and her parents were overjoyed to be free. But their struggles as displaced people had just begun. In war-ravaged Europe, they waited for paperwork for a chance to come to America. Once they arrived in Brooklyn, they began to build a new life, but spoke little English. Ruth started at a new school and tried to make friends -- but continued to fight nightmares and flashbacks...

"In August 1938 Hitler’s Brownshirts conquer Czechoslovakia. German Jews are deported in cattle cars to Poland, the country of earlier pograms. Other Jews flee to Palestine, the Promised Land of their dreams . . . only to be imprisoned behind barbed wire upon their arrival. Musicians Shimon and Leah Feldstein, two of the “lucky ones,” are allowed to disembark from their rusting ship. Yet even in the Holy City, darkness lurks. The Muslim Grand...

Discusses Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews, life in the camps, resistance of the prisoners, and the topics of freedom, justice, and the remembrance of those who died.

A story ultimately without a time and ultimately without a place. It’s a memoir of families across generations of peace and of war, of homes that become lost and hopes that are kept, and a belief in a future that’s better than the present. The book is a compelling and exhilarating experience exploring the threads of times now long gone and the memories that arose from them to generate the stories that lived on. In each family, a fundamental life...

This novel is based on the true story of Fania and Zlatka, the story of the bond that helped them both to hope for the best in the face of the worst. --Provided by publisher.

The story begins with Yaffa Eliach, a spirited young girl who grows up in a vibrant, happy 800-year-old town in Poland, filled with family life and rich traditions. Yaffa's grandmother, who receives a gift of a camera from America, becomes the village photographer, and takes photos of all the family events: weddings, bar mitzvahs, and family gatherings. And on the Jewish New Year, the villagers send photos to their relatives overseas to wish them...