Once We Were Brothers, Ronald H. Balson
Once We Were Brothers, Ronald H. Balson
29 Rating(s)
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Once We Were Brothers
A Novel

Author: Ronald H. Balson

Narrator: Fred Berman

Unabridged: 13 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2013

Synopsis

The gripping tale about two boys, once as close as brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Holocaust.

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, the Butcher of Zamosc. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser is convinced he is right and engages attorney Catherine Lockhart to bring Rosenzweig to justice. Solomon persuades attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's own family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has Solomon accused the right man?

Once We Were Brothers is Ronald H. Balson's compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland, and a young love that struggles to endure the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. Two lives, two worlds, and sixty years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for a moving and powerful tale of love, survival, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

About Ronald H. Balson

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 their Illinois Reads program. He is also the author of The Righteous, An Affair of Spies, Defending Britta Stein, Eli’s Promise, Karolina's Twins, The Trust, Saving Sophie, and the international bestseller Once We Were Brothers. He has appeared on many television and radio programs and has lectured nationally and internationally on his writing. He lives in Chicago.

About Fred Berman

Fred Berman is a five-time winner of the AudioFile Earphone Award for Audiobook Narration and the recipient of the 2013 Audie Award for narration in Spy the Lie. He has read a number of audiobooks for young listeners, including Judy Blume’s Soupy Saturdays with The Pain & The Great One and Andrew Clements’s The Last Holiday Concert. He has also narrated the audiobooks for Robert Kirkman’s popular series, The Walking Dead.Berman is an accomplished actor of both the stage and screen as well, performing on Broadway as Timon in The Lion King and off-Broadway in Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and King Lear. On television, Berman has had roles on NBC’s hit series Smash as well as All My Children and Law and Order. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tina on November 01, 2017

In reading the reviews for this well written first novel I am totally aghast at the low scores that people are giving this outstanding novel! I have written better reviews for books that are not even in the realm of this book. Well written and historically accurate, the book gets into to your soul a......more

Goodreads review by Joe on October 30, 2016

Say you just got back from the grocery store after witnessing a bickering couple argue to the point of near-violence. You want to tell someone, so you call up a friend. How would you tell the story? You might start by indicating how unnerved the incident left you and let them know the general shape......more

Goodreads review by Chelsea on August 24, 2013

Really this is only a 1 1/2 star book and the half star is only because the concept of the story is intriguing. Sadly the execution of telling the story is terrible. This book reads like a cheesy predictable soap opera. The characters are flat and under developed. In fact most of the characters seem......more

Goodreads review by Karen on January 06, 2016

5 STARS SENSATIONAL... it would make a fabulous movie. Took me a while to get into it, but after the midpoint, I couldn't put it down. Well done. And the narrator was fantastic.......more

Goodreads review by Peter on July 29, 2013

I’m not inclined to pan a book, but here goes... At a very public event Ben Solomon, an 83-year old Polish concentration camp survivor living in Chicago, attacks Elliot Rosenzweig, a Chicago philanthropist. Solomon claims that Rosenzweig is really Otto Piatek, a Nazi who stole Solomon’s family’s trea......more

Quotes

“This is as compelling a story as you would ever want to read...This book is different in its passion and its presentation. It is worth your time and you won't be disappointed. Once We Were Brothers is a new look at an old story, and it will stay with you long after you have finished it.” —Jackie K Cooper, Huffington Post

“The phenomenal triumph of lawyer-author John Grisham's legal thrillers has spawned surprisingly few successful emulators; however, Chicago attorney Balson's first novel, while featuring a young lawyer heroine, Catherine Lockhart, who sees her bar admission as a license to further justice, is no simple imitation of Grisham's entertaining potboilers..., this novel is uplifting and moving, intelligently written and featuring historically accurate context and an unusual insight into human character and motivations. Highly recommended for all readers.” —Starred Library Journal Review

“Balson does a number of things superbly: he crafts a highly readable plotline and makes great use of the Chicago backdrop…many will enjoy this gripping novel for its narrative drive and its emotional storytelling.” —Booklist Review

“The author describes the atrocities of wartime Poland and the beautiful, eternal romance between Ben Solomon and his wife, Hannah. Balson's first novel is hard to put down.” —The Jewish Book World

“A legal thriller...a reader knows he's writing from the inside. ” —Chicago Jewish Star

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