Smaller than we think

Smaller than we think

I whizzed through the library last week looking for “escape” fiction. So much of what we deal with at the Standard is serious – Israel, the Holocaust, the economy, the schools – that a little light reading is often welcome. So I put my hand out and took, without much examination, a book by one S.J. Rozan called “The Shanghai Moon,’ a detective story featuring a female Chinese private investigator.

Lo and behold, the book is largely about the German Jewish refugees who spent the war years in Shanghai, a little-known byway of Holocaust history, told in (fictional) letters from the period. It also has many references to Jewish customs, funeral and otherwise, and a Teaneck (!) connection.

And its interlinked stories – Jewish, Chinese, and just plain human – are touching and well-rendered. The mystery holds up as well. I found my copy at the Hackensack library. For other sites, go to bccls.org. Highly recommended.

I wonder if the author has a local connection.

RKB

comments