By Ronald Balson
From the New York Times bestselling and National Jewish Book Award–winning author: a gripping novel of foreboding, betrayal, heroism, and hope set in World War II Budapest.
By the end of 1943, nearly all of Europe’s Jewish population had fled, been deported, captured, or killed by Hitler. Only Hungary and its almost 900,000 Jews remained free from Hitler’s subjugation. They lived under government edicts and restrictions but without fear of harm. That changed in March 1944.
After the Nazi defeat at Stalingrad, an avaricious Hitler conquered Hungary. He declared his plan for the mass extermination of the Jewish people. With the notorious Adolf Eichmann supervising the process, the Nazis began rounding up Hungary’s Jewish population.
Introducing The Righteous
In this dramatic new novel, The Righteous, Theresa Weissbach, a professor at the University of Michigan, hasn’t heard from her parents in Budapest for over a year. Her best friend, Julia Powers, recently awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for her OSS service in occupied Holland, joins her to locate and rescue Theresa’s family. While there, they become involved in a much larger cause. They try to save as many people as they can.
Theresa’s father, a leader of the Budapest Jewish community, accompanies them in a desperate effort to rescue their people.
Working alongside the newly formed US War Refugee Board, diplomats from neutral nations, and leaders of underground rescue organisations, Julia and Theresa forge relationships with Swiss Vice Consul Carl Lutz and Swedish businessman Raoul Wallenberg. Their skills and connections in the complex networks of public and secret diplomacy enable Julia, Theresa, and others to take enormous risks. Their goal is to save thousands of innocent lives.
Authentic, suspenseful and deeply moving, The Righteous continues Ronald H. Balson’s fictional exploration of World War II. It focuses on the heroic actions of those who resisted Hitler’s Master Plan. Balson examines courage, morality and the risks taken to save lives.
The Righteous highlights how ordinary individuals became extraordinary in the face of grave danger.
About the author
Ronald H. Balson is an attorney, professor and writer. His novel The Girl From Berlin won the National Jewish Book Award. It was also the Illinois Reading Council’s adult fiction selection for their Illinois Reads program.
He is the author of A Place to Hide, An Affair of Spies, Defending Britta Stein, Eli’s Promise, Karolina’s Twins, The Trust, Saving Sophie and the international bestseller Once We Were Brothers. Balson has appeared on many television and radio programs. He has lectured nationally and internationally on his writing.
- Publisher | Pan Macmillan South Africa |
- ISBN | 978-1250373083 |
- Recommended Retail Price | $30.00 |
- CLASSIFICATION | Novel |
