If Only It Were Fiction
- Publisher
- Azrieli Foundation
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2013
- Category
- Jewish Studies, Historical, 20th Century
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781897470787
- Publish Date
- Sep 2013
- List Price
- $6.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Strong-willed and ambitious, sixteen-year-old Elsa Thon is working as a photographer’s apprentice when the Nazis occupy her town of Pruszków, Poland in 1939. Every ounce of her will and ingenuity is called into play as she moves from ghetto to ghetto, throws in her lot with a Zionist youth group and is recruited by the Jewish underground. Despite her deep belief that destiny is determining her fate, Elsa faces every fraught situation with self-possession and maturity. A vivid and beautifully written coming-of-age story, If Only It Were Fiction is enriched by Elsa’s family tradition of storytelling and her unerring eye for detail.
About the author
Elsa Thon was born on January 10, 1923, in Pruszków, Poland. After liberation, she married Mayer Thon, a Soviet tank commander, and moved to Israel in 1948. As war survivors, they were given special permission to immigrate to Argentina in 1955, where they lived until moving to Canada in 1980. Elsa Thon lives in Toronto.