The Survivor: A Novel Based on a True Holocaust Survivor Story
Brand: Newcastle Books
Categories: Books, History, World



Dimensions: 5 x 0.68 x 8 inches
Reading age: 13 - 17 years
ISBN-13: 978-1790896011
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1790896010
Publisher: Newcastle Books
Print length: 324 pages
Publication date: January 1, 2011
subtitle: Paperback – January 1, 2011
author: John W. O. Kiss Visit Amazon's Marcel Moring Page search results Marcel Moring
review: Editorial Reviews Review "As sweet and nourishing as milk and honey... the book begs to be read with a friend." −Miami Herald "A deeply moving account of courage and wisdom, exemplified by a character that you are bound to fall in love with. There is much to be learned from this journey." −The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Clear some space on your bookshelf for this book, a true story of survival and triumph that is bound to become a classic." −People "Don't be mistaken: while this story speaks of survival under the Nazis, it is not a bleak tale. Instead, it is a story about love, ingenuity, and the power of hope. I laughed and cried, and came out a better person." −PopSugar From the Author BOOK EXCERPT © All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission: CHAPTER ONE The bright light hurt his eyes. This was a different light than the one he had always known. Back home, the light was softer, cooler. As the train approached Paris he looked through the window and noticed how bright the sky was. He was no longer a boy. He was now a young man. His heart beat faster as the train approached Paris. He was far away from home. But then, 'home' was gone. Everything that used to be home was gone. The war had taken it all. In the past few weeks he finally understood that his mother, father and sister were never coming back. That his beloved grandmother was gone, and so was his grandfather, as well as each and every member of his extended family, dozens of them. Apart from one uncle, he had no family left. The train slowed down as it entered the station. He saw many people on the platform, excitedly waiting for their loved ones. No one was waiting for him. He picked up his valise. He was hoping to start anew here. He was hoping to forget all that his eyes had seen. To forget the darkness. He was hopeful. A new day was dawning. * * * Two years earlier he had run through the snowy forest at night. Finally, in the early morning he saw the house. He remembered this house well. In his childhood, before the war, the boy had spent many happy summer days in this small house and the cabins near it. His grandmother owned this place with all its cabins. She had entrusted its management to a woman who used to be, many years before, the family maid. He looked at the house through the trees. It was dawn. He decided he'd wait. Soon the maid's husband would set out for work. And their three teenage daughters would most likely go to school. Then he'd go and ask the maid to hide him. Just for the day. Then, at night, he'd run away. If she could only hide him for the day! The woods, where he was now, were not a safe place. Not if the soldiers came with their dogs. He waited in the woods, trying to be as invisible as he could. It was snowing. He was cold. Finally the house door opened. He recognized the maid's husband. A tall man. He walked outside. Soon the three daughters came out as well. Beautiful girls, especially the eldest. They walked toward the village together. He kept waiting in the woods. Then, glancing right and left, he quickly ran toward the house. He knocked on the door, looking constantly behind him. * * * Standing on the platform with his one valise, he breathed the air. The light was so bright he felt a little dizzy. This was Paris. He had dreamed of it. Throughout the time he had spent hiding, Paris was one of those dreamlike places in his mind. When he survived, he'd visit there. If he would survive. But he had. He really had. He longed to see the Eiffel Tower. He had seen so many pictures of it in his life. Once it had been the tallest building in the world. And it took an engineer to create it. He wanted to be an engineer himself. He walked out of the train station, with many people all around him. The language was different. He did not speak it. Yet he was determined to eventually know it. He would do whatever it took. Outside he saw people laughing, talking. So free. So careless... He blushed when he saw a couple kissing on a bench. Kissing. Out in the open. This was a strange place, he thought. He liked it already. He felt like a resurrected man, coming out of the grave. He stepped onto the street, determined to find it. The Tower that was in his dreams. * * * He knocked on the door again, still looking frantically behind him. The maid opened the door. "My God!" she gasped. She hugged him, pushed him inside the house, and scanned the road and woods carefully. Then she closed the door behind her and locked it. It was warm inside. The boy was relieved to be where it was warmer. The maid took his hands in hers. "My goodness," she exclaimed, "you're freezing!" "Thank you for letting me in," he mumbled. "Oh, forget it!" the maid said. "This is your home!" He gulped. This was indeed a house that belonged to his grandmother, who had entrusted the cabins to the maid, her husband, and their five children. The maid put a kettle on the gas. "We must get you warm!" The house was quiet. Her toddler son and her baby girl must still be sleeping. He glanced at the small room across the kitchen. They were. The boy shuddered at the thought of what might happen to them if their mother got caught for harboring him. He looked through the kitchen window. He hurried to close the thick curtain. "I promise," the boy whispered, "that I will stay for only a day, one day, and then, at night, I'll go." "Are you out of your mind?" the maid exclaimed. "You are family!" She opened the pantry, took out a piece of bread and handed it to the boy. He ate it as if he hadn't in days. He gulped it down quickly, and then shook his head. He realized that she was probably unaware of what danger she was putting her family in. "If the soldiers find out," he mumbled, "that you are hiding me... they will kill you, and your whole family!" She looked at him adamantly. "Whatever happens to you," she smiled, "will happen to us. You are a gift from heaven. I've been praying for your family." Her eyes became moist. "Now sit down!" The kettle whistled. She poured a cup of tea for the boy and placed it on the table. "Thank you," he muttered, "thank you." The maid sat down. "Now, your grandmother, how is she?" The boy shook his head. Did the maid not know? "They took her, them, everyone," he whispered, "to the trains." The maid gasped, "May God protect them all." The boy didn't know what to say. "Your grandmother," she said, "what an angel she is! Many years ago, when I was pregnant with my second daughter, she was..." she sighed. "You see, my husband, he's a good man..." The boy nodded, seeing how the maid struggled to find the right words. "But," she continued, "sometimes, when he drinks too much, he can forget... you see?" The boy nodded. "And so, he was drunk then, and I was nearly due... and he..." she searched for the words, "he threw me out in the street. We lived in the city back then. I didn't have anywhere to go. Then I thought, your grandmother! She was always so kind to me!" The boy nodded. "It had already been years since I worked for your family, but I hoped she would remember me." Her eyes became moist again. "It was midnight, and I knocked on her door. And your grandmother came and hugged me, you see?" The boy nodded. He drank the hot tea. It was so good. "She did not ask any questions," the maid said, her eyes watering. "She hugged me and said, 'Now now, everything will be all right, it is good that you came.'" * * * * END OF EXCERPT (To read further click on the book cover, where you can read more using the Look Inside Feature !) From the Inside Flap "Required reading for all of humanity. Period." −Publishers Weekly "Moring has taken a true story of survival and triumph and imaginatively metamorphosed it into art." −Daily Mirror "This true story about one man's struggle to leave his past behind while choosing hope and love is a moving masterpiece." −USA Today "Moring's book is a gift to mankind." −Washington Post "A wonderful true story, a tale of the heart told by a writer with soul." −Christian Science Monitor "An extraordinary contribution to the literature of loss and tragedy - with the healing power of love present in every page." −New York Post From the Back Cover "Moring has turned despondency into a message of approval and optimism... Few authors have possessed such capacity for succinctness and brevity with profound psychological insights." −The New Yorker "An absorbing, clear-eyed tale about the human capacity to choose love over fear. The author is a teacher, the kind which inspires." −The Augusta Chronicle "The reader...becomes a quiet observer of the boy's thoughts, which are plagued by fear and hopelessness. What seems like a quick and easy read actually delves deeply into the philosophical and makes you wonder how can a Holocaust survivor choose love over hatred again and again." −BookPage "Based on a true story of the life of PhD Felix Zandman, a Holocaust survivor and a Fortune 500 founder and CEO, this story will take your breath away. Written in a style resembling both Jose Saramago and J. D. Salinger, this book is a page turner." −Kirkus Reviews "Symphonic... [There is] a clear-eyed and compassionate acknowledgment of things as they were..." −Time Magazine About the Author Marcel Moring is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including the international blockbuster, ''The Survivor'', which won numerous awards and is currently in production into a Hollywood movie adaptation. Moring wishes to reach as many readers as possible with the messages of his books, and therefore simultaneously publishes under several pen-names, while proudly offering a full refund policy for readers at Books.Click/Returns Wishing to be available for all readers, the author provides his personal e-mail at the end of his books. Readers are welcome to contact Marcel at: AuthorMarcelMoring1@gmail.com Marcel Moring's books have been translated into over forty languages and read by more than 14 million people worldwide. Read more