Eli’s Promise is a masterful work of historical fiction spanning three eras: Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War. Award-winning author Ronald H. Balson explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the enduring strength of family bonds.
1939: Eli Rosen lives with his wife Esther and their young son in the Polish town of Lublin, where his family owns a construction company. As a consequence of the Nazi occupation, Eli’s company is Aryanized, appropriated and transferred to Maximilian Poleski, an unprincipled profiteer who peddles favors to Lublin’s subjugated residents. An uneasy alliance is formed; Poleski will keep the Rosen family safe if Eli will manage the business. Will Poleski honor his promise or will their relationship end in betrayal and tragedy?
1946: Eli resides with his son in a displaced persons camp in Allied-occupied Germany hoping for a visa to America. His wife has been missing since the war. One man is sneaking around the camps selling illegal visas; might he know what has happened to her?
1965: Eli rents a room in Albany Park, Chicago. He is on a mission. With patience, cunning, and relentless focus, he navigates unfamiliar streets and dangerous political backrooms, searching for the truth. Powerful and emotional, Ronald H. Balson's Eli’s Promise is a rich, rewarding novel of World War II and a husband’s quest for justice.
About the Author
Ronald H. Balson is an attorney, professor, and writer. His novel The Girl From Berlin won the National Jewish Book Award and was the Illinois Reading Council's adult fiction selection for the Illinois Reads program. He is also the author of Karolina's Twins. The Trust, Saving Sophie, and the international bestseller, Once we Were Brothers. He lives in Chicago.
Industry Reviews
National Jewish Book Award winter Ron Balson returns triumphantly with Eli's Promise, a captivating saga of the Holocaust and its aftermath spanning decades and continents. Readers will not be able to put this book down, but will turn the pages compulsively with heart in throat, eager to learn the fate of the Rosen family. Balson's meticulous historical detail, vivid prose and unforgettable characters further solidify his place among the most esteemed writers of historical fiction today.
Pam Jenoff, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lost Girls of Paris
Ron Balson's latest historical novel Eli's Promise is a powerful, superbly crafted tale. With meticulous historical detail, the novel is equal parts heartbreaking and life affirming, with themes that are as relevant today as ever. Eli's Promise is historical fiction at its finest, a riveting page turner that will hook readers from the start.
Jane Healey, Bestselling Author of The Beantown Girls
Ronald Balson skillfully weaves the novel's plot over twenty years while maintaining an engaging pace with a series of seamless flashbacks. Furthermore, he integrates the complexities and the scope of the systematic dehumanization of Jews before, during, and after World War II.
Melissa Warren, Historical Novel Society
Superb...Eli's Promise is a moving and suspenseful work of authoritative historical fiction. It is profoundly informative, entirely compelling and highly recommended.
Jack Kramer, BookReporter
Balson pulls no punches...His story is a five star version of a period of history that proved a horror for those living in it.
Stacy Alesi, BookBitch
Balson juggles between his three stories effectively, writing with great emotion but without overt melodrama, always aware of the tragic ways in which history repeats itself.
Bill Ott, Booklist
