A fascinating, well researched, and very ambitious effort. The story captures the immense wealth, of Babylon a long with world building grounded in history.

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. However, I could not shake the feeling that the author was writing for the screen, and not for a book

The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz by Ellie Midwood is an engrossing book, shining a light on brave heroes we should never forget

After finishing the book, the first thing that stood up in my mind is the quality of the writing. In these short stories, sometimes a whole world was discovered

The strength of this book is the fantastic research that went into the story, Jewish culture, as well as life in Salerno, the medicine Rebecca used for healing

The Israel/Palestine conflict, of course, can fill hundreds of books, but it goes to show the gray moral ambiguity of all the characters.

The research the author did shine, and I’ve learned several things about Latvia, the region, the way Latvian Jews viewed the Soviets, and a bit of history

While the subject is, indeed, very serious, there’s also playfulness within the narrative. I have no idea how Mr. Uris managed to do that

Nine Tenth of the Law by Claudia Hagadus Long, while certainly dealing with serious issues, comes across as light hearted, with poignant and clever observations

I enjoyed the interaction between Ingrid and David. I thought that plot device worked well to personalize the events, & also to highlight the history