“National Jewish Book Award winner Ron Balson returns triumphantly with Eli’s Promise, a captivating saga of the Holocaust and its aftermath spanning decades and continents. Readers will not be able to put this book down, but will turn the pages compulsively with heart in throat, eager to learn the fate of the Rosen family. Balson’s meticulous historical detail, vivid prose and unforgettable … unforgettable characters further solidify his place among the most esteemed writers of historical fiction today.”
—Pam Jenoff, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lost Girls of Paris
A “fixer” in a Polish town during World War II, his betrayal of a Jewish family, and a search for justice 25 years later–by the winner of the National Jewish Book Award.
Eli’s Promise is a masterful work of historical fiction spanning three eras–Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War. Award-winning author Ronald H. Balson explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the enduring strength of family bonds.
1939: Eli Rosen lives with his wife Esther and their young son in the Polish town of Lublin, where his family owns a construction company. As a consequence of the Nazi occupation, Eli’s company is Aryanized, appropriated and transferred to Maximilian Poleski–an unprincipled profiteer who peddles favors to Lublin’s subjugated residents. An uneasy alliance is formed; Poleski will keep the Rosen family safe if Eli will manage the business. Will Poleski honor his promise or will their relationship end in betrayal and tragedy?
1946: Eli resides with his son in a displaced persons camp in Allied-occupied Germany hoping for a visa to America. His wife has been missing since the war. One man is sneaking around the camps selling illegal visas; might he know what has happened to her?
1965: Eli rents a room in Albany Park, Chicago. He is on a mission. With patience, cunning, and relentless focus, he navigates unfamiliar streets and dangerous political backrooms, searching for the truth. Powerful and emotional, Ronald H. Balson’s Eli’s Promise is a rich, rewarding novel of World War II and a husband’s quest for justice.
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# Eli’s Promise# by Ronald H. Balson is an outstanding historical fiction book. Ron has written several historical fiction books. He received the National Jewish Book award. He is an attorney practicing at Stone, Progrund and Korey in Chicago. He has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Chicago for twenty- five years. He has traveled internationally for his law practice. His traveling has given him the inspiration for his novels. In 2000 He went to Warsaw and Southern Poland for with a telecommunications lawsuit. While He was on that trip He was very moved by the statues from World War II and got the inspiration to write these historical fiction books. This book is a masterpiece and hard to put down. It spans three decades Nazi occupied Poland, the American zone of post war Germany and Chicago during the height of the Vietnam War. The characters are beautifully described. Eli Rosen’s family owns a construction company in Lubin . His family are allowed to continue the construction company but He must follow his orders from the Nazi’s . He is thrown in the difficulties of seeing how the Jews around him are being treated. Eli is a kind , caring man and very devoted to his family. The reader will be moved by the characters. It is hard to put the book down. The trauma of World War II continues to move forward quickly and Eli’s family are so affected . The themes of loss, injustice are all through the book. The reader will feel as if they have stepped into the each of the decades of the story. I felt moved by what the readers were going through. Thank you to the publisher, the author and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. It is outstanding. The opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed previous books by the author that involved Taggert and Lockhart. However, Eli’s Promise did not appeal to me as much. I enjoy historical fiction, especially about WWII. And the author does a good job telling the story of Eli Rosen who suffers through the horrors of the Nazi invasion. I wasn’t as happy with this book. I felt like the story was a little stilted and the characters were not as well developed. I just could not get invested in the book.
While I enjoyed the mystery portion of the book and the multiple time lines, I felt like I needed more from the characters beyond Eli and Max.
I look forward to reading additional books from the Taggert and Lockhart series and hope the author will spend some time taking us back to the adventures we experience with them.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Since listening to Karolina’s Twins by Ronald Balson in May 2020, the audiobook that got me out of my reading/audiobook slump during this quarantine, I knew I wanted to read more of his books. And since May, I have listened to Once We Were Brothers and am now listening to Saving Sophie. Mr. Balson has now become a favorite author and I will continue reading his other books. They are actually waiting in the wings to be read. So when I saw he had a new book coming out, I knew I’d be reading it and was very excited when I received an early copy of Eli’s Promise. As in Mr. Balson’s previous books, this one had me captivated from the start. It was different from other WWII historical fiction novels I’ve read as it mostly dealt with corruption and war profiteering, something I was not aware of and found very informative. The story is told in three timelines, from 1939 in German-occupied Poland, 1945-46 post WWII mostly in a displaced persons camp, and 1965-66 in Chicago. I love reading books with different timelines especially when they are well done as it was in this book. Eli was my favorite character but there were many likable characters and they will stay with me for a long time. This was truly an emotional and beautiful story. Historical fiction fans will love it. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the review copy.
Will Eli ever get the satisfaction of revenge?
We are dealing with three time periods. Within the book we are going back and forth but it is nicely put together so that it doesn’t feel confusing. Each chapter brings to light an event or clarifies something that has been puzzling the reader. The time periods are the start and first couple of years of World War II in Poland. At the time of rescue from the concentration camp by the American military followed by a stay in a displaced person camp. The third period is 20 years later in Chicago. All through we see there is always somebody taking advantage of the more desperate people. This book is friction but it feels very real and I have no doubt that similar situations occurred during and after World War II.
This books follows Eli and his family during the beginning occupation until liberation. The book talks about a man Max, who claimed to help the Jews but he was working for enemies. He’s supposed to help Eli’s family but does he really?
I received a free electronic ARC of this excellent historical novel from Netgalley, Ronald Balson, and St. Martin’s Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am always pleased with the work of Ronald H. Balson. His novels remain favorites that I visit often. Eli’s Promise is no exception – traveling from time to time and moving from country to country are handled with remarkable clarity, the true events he shares with us during the times we visit are things we all are familiar with and add to our sense of presence in the story and he knows just how to wring out your heart.
This novel covers the life of Eli Rosen, his wife, and his son, Izaak. We spend time in three different phases of those lives – 1939 in German-occupied Lublin, Poland; 1946 Eli and Izaak are in a displaced persons’ camp in the American Zone in allied-occupied Germany as they wait for visa’s to immigrate; and in Chicago, 1965, where Eli and Izaak seek justice and a new life for themselves. This is a story that will demand your attention and empathy. It is a book I will want to read again, one that I would like to explore at leisure.
First time reading this author, and I’ll be checking out his other’s. A wonderful historical fiction novel, about a family living in Poland during WWII, and the main character Eli’s, dealings with a Nazi sympathizer Max. He’s has a history with Max, after taking his money for his families protection and the deception that results in his quest to find Max, taking him through post war Germany and to 1965 Chicago.
This is a well written and researched historical novel, with strong interesting characters. It is filled with sadness, struggle, pain and loss, with one man’s journey for retribution against a despicable human.
My thanks to the author, #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for an ARC. My opinions are my own, it’s definitely a
It is 1939 – We meet Eli Rosen and his wife Esther who were hard workers, but then the German occupation happened and changed everything.
Maximilian who was supposedly their friend betrayed them by joining the Nazi party and thought nothing of his betrayal of Eli and his family.
We follow what happens to Eli and his family – of course it is heartbreaking.
It’s 1946 – We move to post WWII and what Eli’s life is at this time as he lives in an American Zone camp for displaced persons with his son.
He thinks Maximilian is selling visas on the black market, but isn’t sure. If he finds out it is Maximilian, who knows what Eli will do.
Maximilian was paid by Eli to protect his wife, but she still hasn’t been found.
Eli’s focus is to find Maximilian, find out what he knows about Esther, and to have Maximilian prosecuted for his war and post-war crimes.
It is 1965 – We see Eli in Chicago still trying to find the person who betrayed him during the war – Maximilian – and get to the bottom of the political underworld. Could Max be involved?
ELI’S PROMISE is another heartbreaking and marvelously written book by master author Ronald Balson.
I thoroughly enjoyed ELI’S PROMISE, even though the time in Chicago was a bit confusing until we saw the true reason Eli was there.
Another well written book you won’t want to miss if you are a fan of Mr. Balson and historical fiction. 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A Promise Kept.
A family in Poland, Eli, Esther, and their son Izaak were living a happy life until the Nazis invaded Poland. The story that will be told within the pages of this book should never have happened, but it did. The story, although fiction, has actually been based on actual places , happenings, and military personnel. Sadly people like those described on the book actually existed.
As things steadily worsened for the Jewish people after the Nazis took over Poland they still had hope that if they waited it out things would get better and the Nazis would leave. Unfortunately for most of them they did not survive to see this come about.
The story is about one family and one man in particular, Eli. He made a promise to his son that someday he would take him to America. He waited too long by trusting an untrustworthy man named Maximilian who promised to keep his family safe and failed to do so. By the time Eli decided to flee with his family it was too late, his wife Esther had been sent to a prison camp.
The story begins with the liberation by the Americans of the prison camp where Eli and Izaak were sent and their rescue. It goes back and tells the story of their life before the Nazis and living under occupation. They lived everyday with these horrors by their love and will to survive. You will be taken to the displaced persons camp after they were liberated without Esther because he did not know where she was sent. Finally these pages will take you to Chicago and an investigation to finally catch Maximilian and make him pay for his crimes.
I did not write the story here, you must read it for yourself. It is tragic but at the same time there is love between the family, the father and son and so many others before and after the occupation.
It is a horrible story about an equally horrible time in history. Even amongst the atrocities against the Jewish people by the Nazis there is such a beautiful story of a closeness that only love can bind in a family.
This story will stay with you for a long time and you will remember from reading it that even amongst the darkest times the light of hope and love still shines through.
It was a beautiful story and I will remember it. I think you should read it, I highly recommend it.
Thanks to Ronald H. Balson, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for granting my wish and allowing me to read an advance copy of the book in return for an honest review.
5 stars
I have just spent the last two days totally absorbed in Ron Balson’s new book, Eli’s Promise. I read a lot of WWII historical fiction and this book is one of the best that I have read. While most of the characters are fictional, the places and events are true to the three time periods of this story. My sister-in-law’s parents were poor Roman Catholic farmers who met in a labor camp in Poland where they spent most of the war. The book alternates between three time periods. The first time period takes place during the war in Lublin and I definitely thought of some of the stories I have heard from my sister-in-law. The second time period is after the war which finds the main character in a resettlement area Föhrenwald and describes how hard it was to get a visa and the character, Maximillian, who sells visas on the black market to displaced Jewish war survivors. Max appears in Lublin during the war too and took so much away from Eli and his family. Eli works with the U,S, Army at the displaced camp in Föhrenwald and tries to get some information from Max. I know my sister-in-law’s parents had to wait several years to get a visa to the U.S. The third setting in Chicago in 1965 finds Eli living there and has something to do with Vietnam Nam corruption.
I don’t want to spoil any of the story that is masterfully told by Balson.. I will say that in the epilogue he explains what is fictional and who were real people. This is a book that I will read a second time, and I recommend it to people who are in bookclubs as there is lots to discuss. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Eli’s Promise is set during WWII and the 1960’s. It’s a story of one man’s journey to get revenge on a Nazi Collaborator. It’s well researched, so much so that sometimes I felt I was reading a history textbook. To me, that was not a bad thing, because I enjoy history and learned some interesting facts, but others may not feel the same way.
Eli Rossen is the main character of the book. He is disillusioned about what the Germans actually have planned for the Jews of Poland. He puts is trust into Maximilian instead of listening to his family. By the time, he realizes his mistake it is to late. He makes a promise that he will find Maximilian and do whatever it takes to get revenge.
You can tell from reading the book, that Balson took his time with the research. He developed all the characters well and they grew throughout the book. Balson wrote in a way that made you feel for Eli and it didn’t take much to imagine yourself right along with him. If you like historical fiction or WWII, I don’t think you would be disappointed with this book. I recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley for a Kindle version of the book for my honest opinion and thoughts.
Eli’s Promise by Ronald H Balson is filled with facts and dates and emotion, just not the blatantly manipulating emotion that is a part of so many books about the Holocaust. It’s there . . . in spades: the pain of manipulation, of not knowing, of death. Balson is a masterful writer, one who knows his subject and tells his story. His story is about A man named Eli Rosen and is told by skipping through three time periods: during World War II in Poland, after the end of the war in a repatriation camp and during the Viet Nam war in Chicago. Eli during the war, Eli lost his entire family except for his son who he and his wife placed with a Catholic woman who had volunteered to help. Izaak was with her for two years and Eli finally retrieved him only to end up in a concentration camp. Fortunately the war was over and they both survived. In the camp Eli was a leader, his natural place in life and lived with Izaak as they awaited a visa to come to America. In the third time period, Eli is an investigator, for whom remains nebulous, following a congressman and his staff; one who has gotten rich off the misery in Viet Nam. All this time he is tracking one man: Maximilian Poleski, who has been a part of his life forever, it seems. A criminal man to whom nothing ever seems to stick. He is always able to move on to his next enterprise.
Eli’s Promise is a story of perseverance and of love. Max had promised to protect Eli’s loved ones during the war, but one by one they were carted off to their deaths, with immediate or down the road. Eli, being a good man, kept believing. He really had not choice, being a Jew in Poland in the early 40s. He never forgot but never took the law into his own hands. In Chicago he met a young woman named Mimi who showed strength of character far beyond her years and became Eli’s good friend. Elis’ Promise is a powerful, moving book, so full of the agony of war that is it hard to believe that one can ever move past the tragedy. Yet, like millions of others, Eli did. Hats off to Balson, a writer for his time. I recommend it.
I was invited to read a free ARC of Eli’s Promise by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #elispromise
Ronald H. Balson continues to turn out enthralling historical fiction books that bring the eras he writes about into sharp, clear focus for his readers. With Eli’s Promise, the story spans three eras: that of Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II; that of the American Zone and displaced persons camps of Post-War (1946) Germany; and that of Chicago in 1965 at the height of the Vietnam War.
Throughout the book, we follow the family of Eli Rosen, his wife Esther and son Isaak, and also a man named Maximilian Poleski, who was a ‘fixer’ during the war, promising to help people get what they needed by working for a fee and collaborating with the Nazis.
Balson writes the scenes of capricious cruelty, inhumanity and humiliation experienced during the war and of the reactions of the American soldiers as they came to free the camps with an acid that burns the scenes into the brains of his readers. Shock and horror are appropriate reactions to this dark, devastating time in the history of humanity, so difficult to read about let alone fathom. But Balson doesn’t just beat you over the head with the horrors. He also writes about life’s daily routines, the love within families, the mutual respect between people of faith. He writes about how life begins to change insidiously day-to-day, how the pride in a homeland turns to dust when you realize you suddenly aren’t welcome there anymore, and there is nowhere else to go to be safe. Hopes are dashed, the future you planned isn’t possible, you realize you are helpless to save those you love or even yourself. Yet still, in these darkest of times, there are good people who strive to do the right thing, who try to help others, who focus on surviving so that their fellow countrymen won’t be forgotten, who seek justice so that evil won’t triumph. Balson takes you there. Let me repeat that. Balson takes you there… It is an experience you won’t soon forget.
My favorite book by Balson remains When We Were Brothers, the first book of his that I read. That book is so excellently done that on finishing it, I vowed to read everything else he wrote. I have. Eli’s Promise earns 3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
A fictional story based on a lot of true facts.. Love and heartbreak of family in WWII. A man looking for his wife, After successfully hiding his son. The deceit of higher ups in business and government. Only to line their pockets, at the expense of human kind.
This book started out so good but then it fell flat for me. The story alternates between 1939 Poland, 1946 DP Camp in Germany and 1965 Chicago. It seemed to be somewhat repetitious when it switched time frames and the constant change of time frames was somewhat confusing. I love World War II stories but this one disappointed me. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eli’s Promise follows Eli through 3 different time periods. In 1939, Eli, his wife , and son live in Poland. When the Nazi’s take over his construction company the man they give the company to has zero idea what he is doing. Max offers to try and keep Eli’s family safe if Eli helps him run the company. In 1946, Eli and his son are in a camp in Germany and Eli hasn’t seen his wife Esther since the war started. In 1965, Eli is in Chicago trying to get evidence to convict Max for all his crimes. This tells an absolutely heartbreaking tale of one family’s life. The characters are believable and you feel what they feel. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
Eli’s Promise was a great read. I loved how it told the story over three different time periods and how it all comes together in the end. You get the perspective before and during the war in Poland, after the war, and the 20 years later in America. The story of Eli and his family is a sad one, but not an uncommon one for Jews during the war. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
Eli’s Promise by Ronald H. Balson is an excellent historical fiction novel that is unique in that it expertly weaves the story of Eli Rosen and his family (wife Esther and son Isaac) through three different time periods: Lublin, Poland during war,
Fohrenwald displacement camp 1940s post war
and Albany Park, Chicago 1965. It is interesting that the majority of the book focuses on post-war challenges and occurrences vs mainly during the German occupation. I think that bringing light to significant struggles that the Holocaust victims faced after in the war in regards to anti-Semitism, Displacement Camps, trying to find hope and life afterwards in a country that was willing to help and accept Jewish individuals is not discussed enough. For many, one war ended, while another began.
It was very hard to see what Eli and his family went through in regards to having their entire lives altered and, for many, lost and all that they had to endure afterwards as well (as if they hadn’t been through enough). Eli Rosen is a fictional character, yet the author does an amazing job at creating a person that personifies and represents many that suffered through such horrific tragedies and subsequent treatment thereafter. To lose your business, your way of life, your family members, and all that you know is nothing short of devastating.
I cried several times reading about the loss of life, and the unspeakable events that happened not only to Eli, but to so many people through no fault of their own. I will not go any further into the synopsis, as this book is too good to risk spilling any further plot details.
To be able to elicit such strong emotions, create a platform for learning and awareness, and to also create a story that is enthralling from beginning to end, is nothing short of impressive. This is what historical fiction is all about.
Excellent book and I look forward to reading more from Mr. Balson in the future.
5/5 stars
Thank you St. Martin’s Press for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.