Customer Reviews

Days of Atonement: A Novel

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Ellen Boneparth's "Days of Atonement" is an intriguing and fascinating story, which captured my attention from beginning to end. At my age (89) I have difficulties maintaining interest for a novel, but this one spurred my interest from the first page to the last. I wish Ellen Boneparth success with this novel and with others I hope she will soon publish. I am already a fan!

Ellen Boneparth's "Days of Atonement" tells the story of a young woman's search for spiritual identity through links with her ancestry. The path towards her past takes her back to Greece during and after World War II, back to the story of the Greeks Jews and those who saved them. The novel unveils the diverging versions of history left in the memory of her protagonists. Ellen Boneparth very cleverly interlaces their personal stories with the history of the Eastern part of Europe. It is a fascinating tale with an expected ending, beautifully written with intense dialogue. I strongly recommend his novel to both Jewish and non-Jewish readers as an insight into the trials of people who are often forgotten in traditional history books.

I read this in one sitting. It was a delightful trip from California to Greece and Israel; WWII to the present. The politics, romance, history, and family relationships give this story depth. Beka is a strong, intelligent, accomplished woman whose inquisitive mind leads her to uncover her history and realize her desires.

Review of Days of Atonement by Ellen Boneparth (2005)

This novel rang bells for me on every page. It's the story of Beka, an American Jewish woman who goes to Greece on a journey of discovery in search of her Greek Jewish roots. In the course of her trip, Beka uncovers some fascinating World War II history involving heroic Jewish partisans, scoundrels and women of courage. As I read, I became increasingly fascinated by the web of family relationships she's caught in, as she searches for her own spiritual identity and for romance. A particularly intriguing aspect of the book for me was the questions it explores about alternative strategies for Jewish survival - assimilation v. living in isolated communities in the diaspora v. going to Israel. I also loved the memorable characters, including an aging, idealistic but grumpy kibbutznik, a young bride trying to save her family from the Nazis, and a Hollywood agent with a guilty conscience. This is a book that works on many levels: as a historical novel, as a tale of return to roots in the old country, as a contemporary love story and as a chronicle of multiple generations of a complex and vibrant family.

I read this book cover to cover in one sitting, and I don't often do that! Ellen Boneparth writes a novel that spans decades, incorporates several different points of view, shares details of the Greek Jewish experiences in World War II, and makes us care about her finely drawn characters and their relationships to one another. Her sense of place (California, Greece, Israel), her detailed research, and her storytelling expertise combine to make this a great read. I learned from it, and was moved by the story. I'm still thinking about these characters several days later.

We (my partner, Dik Posey, and I) have come a little late to the reading of Ellen Bonaparth's excellent novel,"Days of Atonement".
However, when we sat down to read, we both stayed up late into the night.
Definitely a "page turner".
Dik valued the relationship that developed between Beka and Grigoris:
a mutual strength, mutual compassion, mutual support.
But it's only on the last page that one finds out whether or not it will continue to grow.
I particularly valued the aspect that the history of the Jewish Greeks at the time of WWII comes alive on the pages in a way that it never could in a dry history book.
This was a Story waiting, needing to be told, and now it is a Story waiting to be READ! We recommend that you all do that soon.

The Holocaust isn't so much the story of six-million, but the story of one person told six million times. Ellen Boneparth starts with one person in search of family in Greece, then the stories of the individual members of that family during the Nazi occupation and the years that followed. Every few pages I found myself saying, "I never knew that." I knew something of Thessaloniki, but nothing of Jewish life in Athens. Ellen Boneparth taps the pulse of Jewish life in that little known but well worth knowing Jewish community.

Sparkling dialogue and a compelling, intelligent love story set against the turmoil of Athens during WWII combine to make Days
of Atonement a thoroughly enjoyable and unforgettable read. I dearly love Greece and am enthralled by tales of heroism and intrique set during WWII. The author of this lovely novel delivers on both counts. I highly recommend Days of Atonement--it is a story that will linger long after the last page is turned.

I go through one to two novels a week and enjoyed this one immensely. The riveting, little-known story of the Jews of Greece during World War II--the choices they made and the consequence of those choices--is entertwined with a modern-day romance that also figures in the central character's search for her roots and her own place in the world. Days of Atonement kept me happily absorbed through a long and otherwise tedious crosscountry flight recently. I turned the last page about ten minutes before landing. Good thing, since I would not have wanted to put it down before the book's realistic and deeply satisfying ending. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a compelling story, well told.

Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. As a Jewish woman whose family barely escaped the holocaust in Germany I was especially interested in reading about the struggle of the Jews in Greece that Beka uncovered in her search for identity.
Lillian Cincone, author of NICOLAS, a mother's search for her son, a biography.