In his first novel, the author draws on thoughts and feelings that emerged during 20 years of teaching a course on the Holocaust. His story follows the German-Jewish Hartstein family from the 1920s through World War II and the Holocaust. Son Heinrich, a survivor of Treblinka, narrates the account, which personalizes the tragedy by making readers intimate with the Hartstein's and their hopes, dreams, and loves. It's painful to see them trying to decide whether to leave the country they love or wait out the insanity--all the more so because the reader knows how the story ends long before Heinrich even suspects such a thing could happen. Though Elie Wiesel's The Forgotten (LJ 4/15/92) covers the same ground, LoCicero's novel is equally compelling.

Author, Donald Locicero, taught a special Holocaust study course at Cedar Crest College for over 20 years.