The Umbrella Maker's Son: A Novel of WWII [Paperback]

This powerful, heart-wrenching novel follows a young Polish Jew through his incredible journey to escape the Nazis. Reuvens story typifies that of millions of others experiencing the horrors and deprivations suffered by Jews in WWII and those who tried to help them.?And yet, it is also an ultimately uplifting and inspiring tale of one mans coming of age in horrific times. —Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of?The Tattooist of Auschwitz

For fans of Heather Morris and Lisa Barr, a powerful and unforgettable World War II historical fiction novel of survival against all odds and the remarkable power of love, in which a Jewish teenager in Poland fights to save his life and find the young woman who holds his heart.

Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the familys peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, igniting World War II. With terrifying brutality, the Nazis confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights, threatening the lives of the citys Jewish population, including Reuven and Zelda, the girl he loves.

Shortly after the Nazi occupation, Zelda and her family disappear, and Reuven and his father are forced into backbreaking physical labor that nearly kills them. For the young man and his family in this gripping survival story, the only chance to survive is escapeand some of them will die trying.

Fleeing a Nazi ambush through the surrounding forest, shot and wounded, Reuven is found by a local farmer who has never met a Jewand agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmers wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces a desperate Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Krak?w ghetto where he hopes to reunite with l£!