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The Lemon Tree
"The Lemon Tree" is the true story of a Siberian pioneer family's extraordinary year-long journey as they transport their late son's tiny lemon tree to Israel. Ten-year-old Sasha has one dying wish: he asks his family to take his lemon tree--the tree he raised from a seed floating in his tea--and plant it in an orchard in Israel.
Nothing deters Sasha's family from fulfilling his dream. The Wissotzskys travel on cattle trains through the Trans-Siberian line, become stranded in Shanghai, are shot at by Manchurian officials, and face the constant threat of typhoid fever, as they overcome these and other harrowing obstacles on their 1918 journey.
Against all odds, this real-life pioneer family perseveres in their quest to fulfill a child's dying wish. Can the little tropical tree survive the cold, harsh journey?
87 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 17, 2012
The Lemon Tree is a Sweet Family Memoir,
February 17, 2012
Recently I have been drawn into several books, only to find that they are all from the same general time period and so, I've just relaxed and enjoyed the books that seem to be coming my way about the turn of the last century. The Lemon Tree is told in the voice of one girl, and we join her family for a frightening journey to a place where they hope to built a new life and a new country, where even having paper money on your person could earn you a bullet to the back of the head. We see a life of tragedy and sorrow and richness melted away into poverty and yet, we see humor and love and a joy in life. There are a lot of old family pictures, and the book itself is short. I wished for more, but enjoyed every word of this well written, fascinating glimpse into the life of a family moving forward in terror toward a Hope that they can only half believe in. The Lemon Tree itself becomes one of the most compelling elements of the story, as you really care what happens to tis young, green seedling which encompasses something so much bigger than itself.
There is a tone to this story that reminds me of another novel, strangely enough, one with a tree in its title as well, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. There is a gritty, poverty and a real world feel, faced with darkness though, there is life, family, love and hope. Read it and like me, you'll wish it were a longer book, but you will be glad you read it.
October 22, 2012
You HAVE to Know What Happens To "The Lemon Tree"
This book was a gift from the author but don't wait until she offers you one! Buy it, get it, read it somehow. You have to know this family, the Wissotzkys. You have to get your frostbitten nose rubbed with snow and fat in Siberia. That's how immediate and real Ida's experiences are. You have to experience how a childhood disease, one my own brother had, can devastate and yet produce a symbol of hope that will cost you some tears.
The book has beautiful old snapshots and that's how the child Ida captures life, even terrifying, degrading, hopeless moments, in her mental camera that fills your mind with her childish wonder. Clearly her strong, loving family made the journey from Russia to China to Egypt more than bearable.
Drink in their strength and share tea from their Samovar, both the old one and the new one. Ride a different kind of ship with Ida and see "coincidences" that to me, even as a Christian reader, affirm that God still loves and looks out for His people. And don't forget, you have to know what happens to the Lemon Tree.
This book was a gift from the author but don't wait until she offers you one! Buy it, get it, read it somehow. You have to know this family, the Wissotzkys. You have to get your frostbitten nose rubbed with snow and fat in Siberia. That's how immediate and real Ida's experiences are. You have to experience how a childhood disease, one my own brother had, can devastate and yet produce a symbol of hope that will cost you some tears.
The book has beautiful old snapshots and that's how the child Ida captures life, even terrifying, degrading, hopeless moments, in her mental camera that fills your mind with her childish wonder. Clearly her strong, loving family made the journey from Russia to China to Egypt more than bearable.
Drink in their strength and share tea from their Samovar, both the old one and the new one. Ride a different kind of ship with Ida and see "coincidences" that to me, even as a Christian reader, affirm that God still loves and looks out for His people. And don't forget, you have to know what happens to the Lemon Tree.
January 21, 2015
I understand that this is a true story, and the author was staying true to it. However, the book felt less like a book and more like a small story you share at a dinner table. Not much happened. A girl was traveling to Israel with her family to deliver her brother's favorite possession to a place where it could survive. As adorable of a story that is, it seemed like something should have happened to the family or they should have changed something or saw what was going on in the Middle East in order to be published in a book.
October 13, 2021
A very sweet read about a intense and profound family journey. Drops you into another time and place, partly through the eyes of a young girl in the family and takes you from their home in Siberia to their leave everything behind journey to Israel.
Great look into a period of history through a remarkable, but not famous, family.
Ended looking for more.
Great look into a period of history through a remarkable, but not famous, family.
Ended looking for more.
Read
November 5, 2025''
January 10, 2012
The Lemon Tree is many books rolled into a mere eighty-seven pages: true-life thrilling adventure; saga of a family’s love and courage; window into a time and culture now largely lost; engrossing first-person historical account. All is told from the perspective of an innocent child, letting the reader imagine the staggering fears and dreams of the parents.
The Wissotzky’s, a Jewish family living in semi-exile in Siberia shortly after the Russian Revolution, suffer the loss of their oldest child – and then find themselves once more a political target. They undertake a desperate journey full of danger and great hardship to reach Palestine, their longed-for promised land. Through the poignantly simple observations of seven-year-old Ida, we experience months in a vermin-infested cattle car, the terrors of police inspections that might well lead to being summarily shot, the fairy-tale enchantment of Shanghai and the cruel dashing of hope by an Egyptian bureaucracy.
Finally arriving in Tel Aviv, the Wissotzky’s join a Jewish settlement of refugees who have lost everything in a material sense, but are amazingly rich in education, culture and the joys of family and community. It must have seemed like Paradise to them, and indeed, it sounds so to me as well.
This little book can be read very quickly, but its story will stay with the reader as a testament to the worth of family, community, and of daring to follow a dream.
The Wissotzky’s, a Jewish family living in semi-exile in Siberia shortly after the Russian Revolution, suffer the loss of their oldest child – and then find themselves once more a political target. They undertake a desperate journey full of danger and great hardship to reach Palestine, their longed-for promised land. Through the poignantly simple observations of seven-year-old Ida, we experience months in a vermin-infested cattle car, the terrors of police inspections that might well lead to being summarily shot, the fairy-tale enchantment of Shanghai and the cruel dashing of hope by an Egyptian bureaucracy.
Finally arriving in Tel Aviv, the Wissotzky’s join a Jewish settlement of refugees who have lost everything in a material sense, but are amazingly rich in education, culture and the joys of family and community. It must have seemed like Paradise to them, and indeed, it sounds so to me as well.
This little book can be read very quickly, but its story will stay with the reader as a testament to the worth of family, community, and of daring to follow a dream.
September 6, 2016
A Whole World in A Few Pages
It's the lemon tree that holds the story, and the lives of the characters, together. It is rooted and carried while the people must leave "home" and travel a full year, risking their lives, to find home. This is just a stunning little book, a story beautifully told.
It's the lemon tree that holds the story, and the lives of the characters, together. It is rooted and carried while the people must leave "home" and travel a full year, risking their lives, to find home. This is just a stunning little book, a story beautifully told.
July 13, 2016
This book is incredible! It gives a great history of the situation in Israel and Palestine and you can't help but be drawn into the story of Dahlia and Bashir. And if you ever get that chance to meet Dahlia (she tours the U.S.) she is an amazing woman!
November 24, 2012
Great story but this was such a short story, it felt like a summary. I wanted to know more. Also, the kindle version could use some editing.
March 26, 2014
good but upsetting
July 11, 2014
A quick, lovely read
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews