By
– August 31, 2011
The long pursuit of a father for his daughter during and after World War II is the theme of this novel about Leo Hoffman, a chameleon who holds various passports, speaks many languages, and spies for the Allies. After his wife is killed in an explosion in Shanghai, he sends their daughter Maddy to live in New York in order to keep her out of harm’s way. Maddy is raised by a Catholic Irish surrogate family with little knowledge about her father and mother and her Jewish identity until a long lost aunt takes over her care. Despite all the difficult circumstances which conspire to keep Maddy’s father out of her life until she’s an adult, he persists in trying to reach her. Leo ultimately makes his way back to Maddy at a critical time of her life, when she is finally ready to embrace him.
Miriam Bradman Abrahams, mom, grandmom, avid reader, sometime writer, born in Havana, raised in Brooklyn, residing in Long Beach on Long Island. Longtime former One Region One Book chair and JBC liaison for Nassau Hadassah, currently presenting Incident at San Miguel with author AJ Sidransky who wrote the historical fiction based on her Cuban Jewish refugee family’s experiences during the revolution. Fluent in Spanish and Hebrew, certified hatha yoga instructor.
