One Hundred Saturdays

Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World

By: Michael Frank

Narrated by: Michael Frank

A 2022 Audible Editor's Selection

One of Wall Street Journal’s Ten Best Books of the Year * Winner of the National Jewish Book Awards for Holocaust Memoir and Sephardic Culture * Recipient of the Jewish Book Council’s Natan Notable Book Award * Winner of the Sophie Brody Medal

The remarkable story of ninety-nine-year-old Stella Levi whose conversations with the author over the course of six years bring to life the vibrant world of Jewish Rhodes, the deportation to Auschwitz that extinguished ninety percent of her community, and the resilience and wisdom of the woman who lived to tell the tale.

With nearly a century of life behind her, Stella Levi had never before spoken in detail about her past. Then she met Michael Frank. He came to her Greenwich Village apartment one Saturday afternoon to ask her a question about the Juderia, the neighborhood on the Greek island of Rhodes where she’d grown up in a Jewish community that had thrived there for half a millennium.

Neither of them could know this was the first of one hundred Saturdays over the course of six years that they would spend in each other’s company. During these meetings Stella traveled back in time to conjure what it felt like to come of age on this luminous, legendary island in the eastern Aegean, which the Italians conquered in 1912, began governing as an official colonial possession in 1923, and continued to administer even after the Germans seized control in September 1943. The following July, the Germans rounded up all 1,700-plus residents of the Juderia and sent them first by boat and then by train to Auschwitz on what was the longest journey—measured by both time and distance—of any of the deportations. Ninety percent of them were murdered upon arrival.

Probing and courageous, candid and sly, Stella is a magical modern-day Scheherazade whose stories reveal what it was like to grow up in an extraordinary place in an extraordinary time—and to construct a life after that place has vanished. One Hundred Saturdays is a portrait of one of the last survivors drawn at nearly the last possible moment, as well as an account of a tender and transformative friendship between storyteller and listener, offering a powerful “reminder that the ability to listen thoughtfully is a rare and significant gift” (The Wall Street Journal).

Critic reviews

"Occasional recordings of Stella’s voice make this even more an audiobook treasure. Frank remains an objective storyteller offering a clear-eyed look at one woman whose strong will helped her to survive."

Breathtaking!

After a recent trip to Rhodes, this book was even more meaningful images of that beautiful island in my mind as I read it.

Wow. I had no idea about the Rhodesli.

As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor I consume oral histories hoping to find sense of what happened like all others who have come before me. I also hope to hear voices that might let me know my relatives better. This book brings the listener to Rhodes; to the imperfectly perfect and complete life there before the racial laws then deportation and then murder of the the Jews. Thank you Michael Frank and Stella Levy

Another Story that MUST be heard

Holocaust survivor stories should always be told and listened to. This one offers more than just a story of survival, but also life lessons, a tribute to a community, and an insightfulness that can be treasured. The reader is ok…. But could have and should have been read with a bit more emotion. Just a little too monotone for a passionate novel. Otherwise a very good “read.”

Made history more real to me in the now and here.

Loved it. For someone who is totally different in race, language and lifestyle. I really enjoyed this book. Author did a great job narrating.

Powerful story!

This story is touching and beautiful. I fell in love with Stella Levi and her family. One day, we will no longer have those who survived the Holocaust. Each of these people are so much more than what happened to them. They have a story before and after the horrific tragedy. Michael Frank does a beautiful job telling us Stella’s story.