In the Wake of Madness

A cache of poignant letters

A narrow escape from Nazi-occupied Europe

A family scattered and forever changed by war

In 1940, thousands of Jewish refugees descended upon sunny Lisbon, desperately scrambling to acquire visas to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. Among them were Elsa and Saly Levi, a young German-Jewish couple who thought they had found safety in neutral Belgium-until Nazi bombs began to fall. Their eyes were fixed on America, but anywhere would do, as long they were far from the Nazis' reach. But there were others to consider: Saly's parents were trapped in Vichy France, and Elsa's mother in Berlin.

In the Wake of Madness captures heartache and hope as history unfolds, from the prewar period in Germany to 1950 New York. Armed with a wealth of long-neglected personal documents, the author pieces together the nail-biting details of her family's escape. Her journey takes the reader to Germany, Belgium, Portugal, New York, Japan, Chile, Britain and Palestine as WWII scattered loved ones across the globe.

A powerful true story that is both intimate and universal.