Customer Reviews

Hiding in the Spotlight: A Musical Prodigy's Story of Survival, 1941-1946

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Hiding in the Spotlight tells the true story of two young Jewish sisters from the Ukraine. When their family is removed from its home and sent on a Nazi death march in the winter of 1941, piano prodigies Zhanna and Frina Arshankaya are spared through an exchange brokered by their father and a Ukrainian guard: the two girls are allowed to escape for their father's pocket watch. Left without family, Zhanna and Frina reinvented themselves as orphans of a Red Army soldier and joined a troupe of entertainers. The sisters survived the war by performing for German soldiers and officers and living in constant fear of discovery of their Jewish ancestry.

After the war, Zhanna and Frina were liberated but homeless. They were sent to a displaced persons camp near Munich where they avoided boredom by staging shows on a "bare stage" and a "creaky piano." The camp's American director, recognizing the sister's prodigious musical talent, committed to adopt the sisters. He sent them to safety in America, where Zhanna and Frina struggled to adapt to a new language, culture, and family on a farm in Virginia.

Perhaps due to his forty years as a journalist, Dawson writes this story with a keen eye for historical accuracy and describes the horrors inflicted by the Nazis in vivid detail. But the narrative is not without a personal connection. Dawson is Zhanna's son, and this link gives him great access to the emotional side of the story. My only wish is that Dawson had continued the story beyond 1946 to cover the sisters' new life in America. I may be a bit biased, however, because the camp director who adopted the sisters, Larry Dawson, was my grandfather. And the grand piano I learned to play during summers spent with my grandmother on her farm in Virginia is the same piano that greeted Zhanna and Frina on their first night in America.

I've enjoyed reading Greg Dawson's columns in the Orlando Sentinel for years, so I was delighted to hear that he'd written a book. But when I learned the topic, I wondered: How would a writer whose trademark is irreverent humor and puns that make you groan handle telling the story of a Holocaust survivor? Now that I've read the book, I can tell you that he did it with skill, grace, and love.

Hiding in the Spotlight is the story of Dawson's mother, Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson, who was born in Berdyansk, Ukraine, and was able to escape the Holocaust death camps thanks to the sacrificial love of her father and the amazing heart of many people along the way who were willing to risk their own lives to save others.

Zhanna and her younger sister assumed false identities to hide the fact that they were Jewish and, because they were talented musicians, spent much of the war entertaining the Nazis. At the end of the war, they were able to reclaim their own identities and eventually came to the United States as teenagers, where Zhanna attended the Julliard School.

Greg Dawson writes that he grew up blissfully unaware of his mother's traumatic youth. He quotes his mother: "How can you tell children about such things? It would be too cruel."

But Zhanna's is a story that needs to be told and her son is the perfect person to tell it. We cannot afford to forget the horrors, the unspeakable cruelty and misery of that time, and Dawson's writing skills puts the reader right in the middle of it.

Zhanna's father's last words to her were: "I don't care what you do--just live!" She did that well, with strength, determination, and dignity.

And if the book itself doesn't move you to tears more than once, be sure to read the acknowledgements.

Wow.

Zhanna and Frina Arkashyna's story was by turns fascinating, horrifying, and ultimately inspiring. Not only did I learn a lot about the fate of Russian Jews in World War II, but also how determination, love, and just plain good fortune shape our paths in life.

Greg Dawson did an excellent job: the book is straightforward and compelling, never sliding off into glurge nor getting lost in too much background information.

After keeping it to herself most of her life, I'm so glad Zhanna was willing to share her story. Holocaust survivors' experiences need to be recorded and told. This one was done beautifully.

This book was a wonderful read. I found the story extremely compelling and still am thinking about how crazy it was and how it could be true. I could not put the book down. Anyone interested in WWII will find this book fascinating.

Greg Dawson has done a fabulous job detailing the amazing story of his mother's survival of the Holocaust. This true story is a page turner and one that every young adult and adult should read.

I loved the book, truly, but someone at the proofreader's desk was asleep on the job. Many misspellings or confusing sentences. I was mesmerized by the story of these two girls so I forgave the editor.

The author's superb writing skills, combined with his mother's recollections and the large amount of research he had to have done, make this one of those rare narratives that is so clearly and crisply written, I can see the action in my mind as I read and reread this remarkable story.
My hope is that someone who has equal visual storytelling skills will discover this work and make it into a film as wonderful and dramatic as the book. The book, in my mind, is a classic. A similarly crafted movie also would be a classic.

This is an unbelievable true story of survival, heroism and the power of the human spirit to triumph over evil. It has all the components of that make for a best seller-- Little girls growing up in an exotic long vanished world, brutal war, girls hiding from the Nazis while entertaining them, mass murder, great music, close escapes and best of all-a happy ending. It is very well written by a professional journalist who has done his research and had access to the main participants. I would recommend it for anyone.

Excellent book, but why no photos? They would complete the story. There must have been photos available, because the author mentions a photo of his mother and his grandfather, and how much they looked alike.

Having read several books about this time in history, I was fascinated by this book. Greg Dawson writes a consumer column for the Orlando Sentinel, and I love his writing. This book was recommended by a friend who heard Greg speak, and I was enthralled from the beginning.

As I read their story, I felt as if I knew these two girls so well, and I was pulling for them all through the book. Congratulations to Greg Dawson on his wonderful book. I hope there are many more.