Vienna Prelude

 

A few weekends ago, I went to the Auschwitz exhibit at the Reagan Library. It was heartbreaking and deeply moving, and reminded me of a series of books I read about 30 years ago (yikes!) when I was a teenager. 

Book one of the Zion Covenant series, "Vienna Prelude" introduces us to a large cast of characters whose lives all become intertwined over the rest of the series. Elisa Lindheim is a half-Jewish woman living in Vienna and playing the violin in the orchestra under the Aryan name Elisa Linder. It's 1936, and Germany is completely under Nazi rule. Elisa's parents, still living in Berlin, have decided to leave before it's too late. 

Elisa meets an American newspaper journalist named John Murphy.  The two of them fall for each other, but misunderstandings get in the way and they're both too proud to admit how they really feel about each other. 

Elisa's friends, Leah and Shimon, are excited to be immigrating to Palestine. They just hope they can get out in time, since Hitler is eyeing Austria and the rest of the world doesn't seem to care if he gobbles the ancient little country up. 

Elisa inadvertently gets involved in a dangerous plan to smuggle Jewish children out of Germany. Once she knows, she feels compelled to continue to try to rescue as many of the children as possible.