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An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
by Nina Willner
An epic story of the triumph of good over evil.
The soldiers of D Company could not believe their eyes as they came face-to-face with the human cost of Hitler's evil: two teenage boys—survivors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald—who had escaped.
The Boys in the Light follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author's father, as they are caught up on two sides of World War II.
At sixteen, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler's Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike, and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps, including Auschwitz. Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. Once farmers, factory workers, and coal miners, they were suddenly untested soldiers, thrust into the brutal conflicts of WWII.
A company of 3rd Armored Division tankers, led by 23-year-old Elmer Hovland, quickly became battle-hardened and weary, constantly questioning whether the war was worth it. They got their answer when two emaciated boys stepped out of the woods with their tattooed arms raised.
The Boys in the Light is a testament to survival against all odds, the strength of the bonds forged during war and the resilience of the human spirit. This extraordinary true story is a must-read for fans of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, and Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile.
"A powerful and eminently readable story of a concentration camp survivor and his American rescuers." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The incredible, true story of her father, Eddie Willner, a German Jew who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. This gripping narrative intertwines a deeply human tale of resilience, unity, and moral strength with a timeless reflection on the fight against hatred…A powerful testament to humanity and perseverance, The Boys in the Light is an unmissable story for WWII–history enthusiasts." —Booklist
"In this beautifully braided story of heroic World War II tank crews and two remarkable Holocaust survivors, Nina Willner reveals the best and worst of humanity – and the best triumphs. The Boys in the Light is a magnificent work of narrative nonfiction, true to the past and essential for the present." —Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Shangri-La and 13 Hours
"In The Boys in the Light Nina Willner tells the extraordinary story of her father's journey from scion of a middle-class German-Jewish family to teenage Auschwitz escapee to "little brother" of American tankers in the last year of World War II. Deeply researched and wonderfully written, it is a story of love, loss, courage and wartime friendships that ultimately spanned decades. It is also that all-too-rare literary accomplishment—history that is both engrossing and inspirational. Highly recommended." —Stephen Harding, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Battle
This information about The Boys in the Light was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nina Willner is the author of Forty Autumns, which Publishers Weekly called "a thrilling and relevant read," and which is still being feverishly read by book clubs eight years post-publication. Prior to her writing career, Nina was a U.S. Army intelligence officer who served in Berlin during the Cold War. Following her career in intelligence, Nina worked in Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Ottawa, and Istanbul promoting human rights, children's causes, and the rule of law for the U.S. government, nonprofits, and a variety of charities. She is married, has three grown children, and after a life living abroad, has settled in Washington, DC. Her father, Eddie Willner, survived the Holocaust, and this is his story.
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