History

  1. An exciting historical novel of shifting fates and fortunes.

    After discovering her uncle’s devious plan, fifteen-year-old Raizel Golden is forced to leave her loving family in civilized Boston and flee to her relatives in the rugged Colorado Territory. On the run with only a colorful carpetbag holding precious letters and simple art supplies, Raizel joins a wagon train of American settlers trekking out west. She crosses rivers and mountains, and faces buffalo hunts, hostile Indians, and miles and miles of prairie land.

    Will Raizel’s emunah and determination be strong enough for her to forge ahead—despite the threat to her Yiddishkeit?

    Trailblazer is an exciting historical novel filled with shifting fates and fortunes. Popular author Sukey Gross takes readers on a fascinating journey through America during the height of its pioneer days. Join Raizel as she blazes a trail through the western frontier—into the unknown. Learn More

  2. A relative calm descends upon Seville, Spain after the Riots of 1391, but life has changed for the Iberian Jews and the Herrera family.

    Eduardo meets his future wife at the wrong time. Or is it the right time? Hortensia wants her daughter to get married in a church.

    Esmeralda yearns to see her one surviving relative in Portugal. Carlos sees only one alternative. Somehow, he must extricate his family from the relentless clutches of the evolving Inquisition.

    Clinging desperately to their Jewish roots, the protagonists confront a destiny that forces them from one exile to another. Yet, a young, bright hope for the future shines through the pages. The story of the "wandering Jew" comes alive through a colorful array of fifteenth century characters that includes Castilians, rabbis, emirs, Moors, pirates, shaliachs, cartographers, sofers and pilgrims. Glimpses of Jewish life during the Middle Ages in Europe, North Africa and the Levant, and reflections on the connection between past and present, reveal the secret of Jewish continuity. Learn More

  3. Yerushalayim. A city that stands or is destroyed, because of one man's hatred of his brother.
    Or...one girl's hatred of her sister?

    Chava and Tirtza. Two sisters pushed hard and far away from each other. But even as they pull and tear themselves and each other apart, they realize that the bond between them is too strong to break...

     

    With battle cries in the air, and so many young soldiers falling all around her, Chava Warinsky becomes engaged to a wonderful chassan. But like the trajectory of so much of her life, her joy is shortlived-because of her sister Tirtza.

    Yechiel Eisenman is denied his desire to sit and learn, as he is dragged into defending the Old City. But with his brother Chatzkel calling the shots, he finds himself playing a role that is a whole lot more dangerous than he ever anticipated.

    Sisters under Siege unfolds against the backdrop of Israel's raging War of Independence. In this beautifully written, intricately woven historical novel, readers are given a taste of the throbbing feelings of the time, the emotions that ran deep within every Jew of this era. And as we follow the painful and triumphant twists and turns of both the characters of this novel and the residents of Yerushalayim at this time, we discover that beneath the differences of every Jew is a core of goodness, a deep sense of caring for the other.

    Sometimes that goodness can push one to make great sacrifices for a brother-or a sister.

    And in those sacrifices lies hope. For in them lies the road back to Yerushalayim. Learn More

  4. A True Story

    1939. A Jewish infant is plucked to safety from the terror of Nazi Berlin, just months before war breaks out. Surely in tranquil, pastoral Switzerland an idyllic refuge will be found? 

    But it was not to be.

    "I was four years old, and was told that the time had come for me to start helping around the house. Frau Steiger thrust a brush and dustpan into my hands and told me to sweep the stairs. I clutched the wooden brush in one hand and clumsily swept the dust into the dustpan held in my other hand, and then buffed the wood, feeling very proud of my accomplishments. But then Mutti came to inspect. 'That's no good! You didn't sweep the corners!'"

    ***

    Ruth Salomon was just two years old when she arrived in Switzerland together with dozens of other Jewish children, rescued from France shortly before it was conquered by Germany. And just two more years were left to her childhood before her life as unpaid drudge to the Steigers, the Christian family who took her in, began.

    How did a young, mistreated Swiss orphan who didn't even know she was Jewish emerge from the darkness to establish a large chassidish family in London?

    Survivor without a Number is an unforgettable story of the strength of the human spirit, and the grandeur of the Jewish soul. Learn More

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