Author of THEY WERE LIKE FAMILY TO ME, a collection of linked stories illuminated with magical realism, following the inhabitants of a small town in 1942 Poland and tracing the troubling complex choices they are compelled to make. Finalist for The Story Prize and Honorable Mention in the 2017 ALA Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish Literature. Originally published as IN THE LAND OF ARMADILLOS. Columnist for the Jewish Standard.
Meet Dieter Schlüter. Dieter is the boy in the picture, the stepson of Bernhard Falkenberg, declared Righteous Among the Nations in 1969. In 1942, Dieter was twelve years old, the privileged child of a prominent German working on a massive civil engineering project around the town of Wlodawa, Poland. My uncle Philip was twelve too,... Continue Reading →
HELEN MARYLES SHANKMAN 