When Hadassah Morfawitz flees Nazi Germany with her siblings and arrives in New York, she is determined to turn the city into her own Mount Olympus at any cost. In choosing orphaned concentration camp survivor Zev Kretinberg as her husband and accomplice -- ensuring his loyalty with the promise of riches and the burial of a dark past -- she begins a ruthless journey toward the upper echelons of Park Avenue synagogue society. Their combined ambition knows no limits, and nothing will stand in the way of their realization of the American ideals of wealth and beauty, even if it means abandoning their son, Hezekial. Decades later, through machinations worthy of his parents, Hezekial becomes entrusted as the family's chronicler. As he sits with his aging father, transcribing a litany of Zev's sins from serving as a kapo at Gusen, to betraying the friends who helped him, to his blood-bound commitment to Hadassah despite numerous affairs and illegitimate children the younger Morfawitz is faced with a choice: whitewash a lifetime of cruelty, indifference, and lust, or repay his mother at last.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.