Thursday, June 7, 2012

The Far Side of the Sky-Daniel Kalla

The Far Side of the Sky


Daniel Kalla

Forge, June 5 2012, $26.99

ISBN: 9780765332332



In 1938 the Nazis deploy Kristallnacht murdering many Jews in Germany and Austria. Those who did not die in the “Night of Broken Glass” live in fear of repeat terrorism.



Adolf Eichmann orders Dr. Franz Adler to leave with his family immediately or he will join his late brother who died on that night of terror. The only place accepting Jewish refuges is Japanese-occupied Shanghai so Franz, accompanied by his daughter Hannah; his widowed sister-in-law Esther; and his gay friend Ernst head to China by sea. In Shangri, Adler meets nurse Soon Yi “Sunny” Mah at the hospital for Jewish refugees. As they fall in love, Adler struggles between the Hippocratic Oath and his family’s safety while the Japanese are making the Jewish stay in Shanghai increasingly dangerous.



This is a great historical thriller that focuses on an extremely dark era as readers see first-hand the suffering of the Jews and the Chinese. The key to this engaging WWII drama is that the various ethnic groups are filled with the good, the bad and the ugly as even in its darkest ethnic cleansing there are rays of light by brave souls risking their lives for strangers.



Harriet Klausner



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