In the years leading up to World War II, two families who seemingly couldn’t be more different find that they have more in common than they could have imagined.  Simon is a bookish dreamer from a working-class family in rural Sweden; Isak is the son of wealthy Jewish immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Berlin. While Simon yearns for the music, literature and art that are part of Isak’s daily life, Isak finds comfort and security in Simon’s more rustic existence. When Isak’s family needs to find refuge from the anti-Semitism building in Sweden, the two families slowly merge, connecting in unexpected ways that threaten to both bring them closer together, and tear them apart.  Suspenseful, moving and inspiring, Simon and the Oaks is a “taut, absorbing tale of destiny and survival” (The Washington Post).