Jewish History Fiction

Even though he escaped the gas chambers, he was never truly free. In occupied Poland, there are whispers of a terrifying darkness in the northern forests. When a young Lodzi Ashstein learns the horrifying truth about the Treblinka extermination camp, he is kidnapped and tormented by a senior SS officer, Janich Heiss. After a prisoner uprising, Heiss disappears into the woods and Lodzi is left with nothing but his nightmares and the eternal scars of a survivor. More than 70 years later, Heiss has been mysteriously murdered, and Lodzi is accused of a crime of revenge. When attorney Thaddeus ...

Nicole Krauss' first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and her short fiction has been collected in Best American Short Stories. Now The History of Love proves Krauss is among our finest and freshest literary voices.

WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD A USA TODAY BESTSELLER "A gifted writer, astonishingly adept at nuance, narration, and the politics of passion."—Toni Morrison Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of...

From the New York Times-bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones, a propulsive and heart-wrenching story of a young woman entrusted with a boy’s life as WWII rages in Italy 1940, Italy. Lili and Esti have been best friends since they first met at university. When Esti’s son Theo is born...

In AD 66, nationalist and religious revolutionaries in Judaea led a ferocious revolt of the Jewish people against the authority of mighty Rome, culminating in the greatest upheaval and savagery the world had known up to that time. By the end of the conflict seven years later, over one million Jews had perished and tens of thousands were sold into slavery. Until the Holocaust, it remained the greatest tragedy ever endured by a people. How had this once prosperous region been laid low, and by what process did its fratricidal feuds take it down a slippery slope to utter annihilation? Fortunately for us, there was an eyewitness.

A rediscovered classic and international bestseller that recounts the gripping tale of a friendship destroyed at the hands of Nazi Germany In this searing epistolary novel, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor brings vividly to life the insidious spread of Nazism through a series of letters between Max, a...

The Lives of Rachel is a prequel to The Books of Rachel. This richly detailed novel of family, of tradition, and of faith, sweeps across a thousand years to chronicle the lives of five women -- each named Rachel and each a rare human spirit. In every generation of this proud and ancient Jewish family there is only one Rachel, the firstborn daughter. But the name is only part of Rachel's legacy. Each bearer of the name adds, in her own way, to the legend of strength and courage that is her birthright. There is Rachel of Judea, who defies a half-mad and lustful king to save her husband's life...

As a young man growing up in early twentieth- century Germany, Arthur Waldmann is introduced to the mysteries of the Jewish Kabbalah by his eccentric grandmother, and dreams of traveling to a Heavenly Academy of ancient sages in a distant galaxy. When he discovers that he cannot achieve this goal by spiritual means, he decides he will reach for the stars through the emerging technology of rocket propulsion. Waldmann comes to believe that he is the chosen one to lead mankind's conquest of space, but soon discovers he must confront brilliant rivals with equal claim to the title, one of whom ...

Eastern Europe, August 1942. The Khazar kaganate, an isolated nation of Turkic warrior Jews, lies between the Pontus Euxinus (the Black Sea) and the Khazar Sea (the Caspian). It also happens to lie between a belligerent nation to the west that the Khazars call Germania - and a city the rest of the world calls Stalingrad. After years of Jewish refugees streaming across the border from Europa, fleeing the war, Germania launches its siege of Khazaria. Only Esther, the daughter of the nation's chief policy adviser, sees the ominous implications of Germania's disregard for Jewish lives.

From the bestselling author of Born Survivors, a novel inspired by the powerful true story of a man who risked everything to protect children in Auschwitz. Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts . . . Amid the brutality of the Holocaust, one bright spot shone inside the Nazi death...

The Jewish War is an extraordinary historical document in that it details a calamitous period of four years during which the Jews pitted themselves against the might of the Roman empire. It is partly a remarkable account in that its author, Flavius Josephus (c.37–c.100 CE) was himself a Jew and yet, during the course of the conflict, found himself playing a prominent role for both sides. It is further underpinned by the fact that Josephus himself was not only a participant, but also an historian and a scholar of standing.

A tour de force historical mystery from Monica Hesse, the bestselling and award-winning author of Girl in the Blue Coat. Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has...

A USA TODAY and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY bestseller—for fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz! “I read well into the night, unable to stop. The book is unputdownable.”—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author “Heart-breaking, validating, exciting...

Look for Pam Jenoff’s new novel, The Woman with the Blue Star, an unforgettable story of courage and friendship during wartime. A New York Times bestseller! “Readers who enjoyed Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants will embrace this novel. “ —Library...

Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman in Vienna when the Gestapo forced her into a ghetto and then into a slave labor camp. When she returned home months later, she knew she would become a hunted woman, so she went underground.

An historical novel inspired by the experiences of the author’s own family after the Holocaust, a sweeping saga about survival, loss, love, and the reverberating effects of war In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes...

#1 Bestseller in Brazil — Now in English for the First Time What if everything you knew about Jesus was both true and incomplete? In this powerful work of historical fiction, Brazilian author Henry Bugalho reimagines the Gospels as a human drama—raw, intimate, and unforgettable. Narrated in the first person by Yeshua himself, The King of the Jews strips away two thousand years of theology to reveal the man beneath the myth: a carpenter's son, a passionate husband, a rebel prophet who dared to challenge both the Temple and Rome. This is not the distant, divine figure of stained glass ...

WINNER OF THE COLORADO BOOK AWARD FOR HISTORICAL FICTION NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST A heartrending novel based on a true story of love, loyalty, and the limits we confront when our deepest values are tested, by award-winning writer Buzzy Jackson How far would you go to protect the...

THE JEWESS By Joel Gross Rebecca’s mother was murdered by Crusaders on their drunken trek to the Holy Land. Now all Rebecca wants is to escape from the bigoted countries where her father does business – France, Germany, and especially England. Rebecca longs to join her extended family in Zaragoza, in the warmer, more tolerant climate of Spain. But her father won’t leave England, not until his plan to bring Richard Lion-heart back to the throne succeeds. That plan brings Rebecca face to face with Ivanhoe, a Crusader knight, and his aristocratic bride-to-be, Rowena – creating a love ...

"A remarkable novel: chilling, compelling, contained..." The Times "...warrants a permanent place in the growing canon of World War Two literature." Clare McHugh, BBC Culture It is Christmas Eve 1932, and the Kluger family are celebrating at home. Their only daughter Lexa is excited about her...