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You Don't Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story
An unforgettable autobiography of Lily Isaac, the daughter of Holocaust survivors who rejected her Jewish heritage for a life with Jesus Christ and a music career. Throughout her music and that of her children, who together form the beloved and multi-award winning group The Isaacs, you hear the resonating inspirational legacy of this family’s faith. Fans struggle to put the book down and are captivated An autobiographical look at Lily’s life, from being a Jewish folk singer to serving as vocalist and matriarch of The Isaacs The powerful account of her struggle with a once unknown faith and how she finally “cried her way to God from the church’s back pew” The incredible insights behind heartbreaking moments which were her greatest opportunities of faith. Whether surviving breast cancer or a challenging career, Lily’s steady refrain has been one of God’s constant love, comfort, and strength. Her story of survival is raw and compelling. It will inspire your Christian faith and help to put your own personal struggles in perspective. “Regardless of the challenges you face in your life, you will never look at them the same after reading You Don’t Cry Out Loud.” — Andy Andrews, New York Times Best Selling Author
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
66 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Lily Isaacs
2 books9 followersLily is a founder and member of The Isaacs, who have been sharing their faith for over 35 years. They perform often at the Grand Ole Opry and in the Gaither Homecoming concerts and video series. Individually and as a group, they have won numerous Dove, Gospel Voice, NQC, AGM, SCGMA, SPBGMA, SGM, and SGN awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 9, 2014
For those who are familiar with the Gaither Homecoming concerts, and Bill & Gloria Gaither and their network of family and friends, the name “Isaacs” spells awe and inspiration. Lily Isaacs is the matriarch of the The Isaacs, a multi-award winning family group who began singing 35 years ago. A vocalist for the group, Lily was born in Germany after World War II to two Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors and migrated to the United States when she was only 2 years old.
Lily encountered a dramatic life-changing event in 1971. She became a Christian. The occasion was the death of a family member which took her and patriarch Joe Isaacs to church for the first time. Soon after, they began singing Christian music. It laid the foundation upon which the Isaacs ministry has been built. Lily is also a 30-year breast cancer survivor. Her grit and determination inspired the hit country song “I'm Gonna Love You Through It” which was co-written by Sonya and Jimmy Yeary, and recorded by Martina McBride.
Her life, her struggles and her testimony has inspired countless people across the globe, compelling her to write the story of her life. You Don't Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story by Lily Isaacs, and published by New Leaf Press (May 2014), is a moving, powerful and riveting memoir that takes a close look at her life, both personal and public. In it Lily narrates her experiences of growing up as the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors, how she overcame breast cancer and her struggle with marriage – eventually ending in divorce.
With foreword by Andy Andrews, New York Times best-selling author, Lily’s autobiography is both searing and honest in content, one of the most improbable real-life stories, almost stranger than fiction. It is indeed a long journey from Germany to United States, as a two-year-old Jewish to the globe-trotting vocalist of the The Isaacs is no mean achievement. Think of her struggle through breast cancer, and the emotional, physical and mental tool her disintegrating marriage might have caused, yet she survived them all.
You Don't Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story by Lily Isaacs is a story that will inspire you!
Lily encountered a dramatic life-changing event in 1971. She became a Christian. The occasion was the death of a family member which took her and patriarch Joe Isaacs to church for the first time. Soon after, they began singing Christian music. It laid the foundation upon which the Isaacs ministry has been built. Lily is also a 30-year breast cancer survivor. Her grit and determination inspired the hit country song “I'm Gonna Love You Through It” which was co-written by Sonya and Jimmy Yeary, and recorded by Martina McBride.
Her life, her struggles and her testimony has inspired countless people across the globe, compelling her to write the story of her life. You Don't Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story by Lily Isaacs, and published by New Leaf Press (May 2014), is a moving, powerful and riveting memoir that takes a close look at her life, both personal and public. In it Lily narrates her experiences of growing up as the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors, how she overcame breast cancer and her struggle with marriage – eventually ending in divorce.
With foreword by Andy Andrews, New York Times best-selling author, Lily’s autobiography is both searing and honest in content, one of the most improbable real-life stories, almost stranger than fiction. It is indeed a long journey from Germany to United States, as a two-year-old Jewish to the globe-trotting vocalist of the The Isaacs is no mean achievement. Think of her struggle through breast cancer, and the emotional, physical and mental tool her disintegrating marriage might have caused, yet she survived them all.
You Don't Cry Out Loud: The Lily Isaacs Story by Lily Isaacs is a story that will inspire you!
April 30, 2014
Given to me for an Honest Review
Lily Isaacs has written an excellent book in You Don't Cry Out Loud. She shares with the reader her family's story from their time during the Holocaust and her mother's close call of being in a wrong line but being taken by her friend into another line in time to save her life. After the liberation her parents come to America to begin a new life. She and her brother are born and she shares with the reader their life. The way that she writes you become a part of the story. Meeting her husband, her career in music, their marriage, children, her serious medical situation, her divorce, grandchildren and her Jewish and Christian life. It is fabulous read and I highly recommend it to any reader who wants to read something that has a good story with a great meaning. If I was able to give more than 5 stars I would because this book is worth more.
Lily Isaacs has written an excellent book in You Don't Cry Out Loud. She shares with the reader her family's story from their time during the Holocaust and her mother's close call of being in a wrong line but being taken by her friend into another line in time to save her life. After the liberation her parents come to America to begin a new life. She and her brother are born and she shares with the reader their life. The way that she writes you become a part of the story. Meeting her husband, her career in music, their marriage, children, her serious medical situation, her divorce, grandchildren and her Jewish and Christian life. It is fabulous read and I highly recommend it to any reader who wants to read something that has a good story with a great meaning. If I was able to give more than 5 stars I would because this book is worth more.
November 10, 2015
I was aware Lily Isaacs was Jewish and part of the gospel/blue grass group called "The Isaacs," but that's all I knew about her. This memoir has definitely expanded my knowledge and admiration of her, not just as a musician but as a daughter of parents who almost disowned her for embracing Jesus, and a person who has suffered physically from back problems much of her life. Would love to have rated the book higher but felt it needed better editing and proofreading.
June 3, 2014
Absolutely loved this book. I could relate to Lily so many ways. I have scoliosis too. I faced a breast cancer scare at a young age but thank God mine was not cancer but only High risk cells. I loved every page of this book. An amazing story of life!!! EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK!!!
January 28, 2015
This is a very moving book about a woman who is well-known and much loved by Southern Gospel/Bluegrass music fans. She opens her heart and shares many events that have brought her and her family, The Isaacs, to where they are today. I enjoyed reading her story.
October 2, 2017
Lily, together with Shawn Smucker, shares her story which reminds us how close we are in the 21st century to the mass murders of the 20th, especially the Holocaust, as her parents both survived it to marry and come to New York City to start a family together as well as a new life. She was born in 1947, and soon had a baby brother, Hy; and by the mid-sixties, she and her friend Maria were making folk music and cutting records. Being in the New York music scene caused her to meet Joe Isaacs, also gifted musically, and they married in 1970. He was from Kentucky, so they started their family close to his family (living in Ohio). It was during these difficult days in which Lily found her spiritual faith rooted and grounded in the Messiah, causing her Jewish family to attempt the separation between Orthodox Jews and Christians. However, little Ben, Sonya, and Becky softened the separation, as well as the health difficulties Lily's father developed. As the children grew, they picked up the various instruments their Dad laid around the home. Soon, the whole family spent weekends traveling to perform their music. In the eighties, Lily had very difficult surgery to help the scoliosis she had been born with and following that, breast cancer. Her Savior brought her through it and moved the hearts of just the right people to come alongside and help her and the family.
In about twenty years, Joe and she went their separate ways, but The Isaacs has only grown into a group of talented musicians not only writing and singing their music (and performing around the world), but close to the music scene in Nashville and involved in other musicians' projects.
In about twenty years, Joe and she went their separate ways, but The Isaacs has only grown into a group of talented musicians not only writing and singing their music (and performing around the world), but close to the music scene in Nashville and involved in other musicians' projects.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2025
"You Don't Cry Out Loud" tells the story of Lily Isaacs, the founding member of the popular bluegrass Southern gospel music group The Isaacs. Her story demonstrates how faithful God is, and that He can use a life filled with challenges, struggles, pain, and sickness and make something beautiful out of it. A very valuable read!
May 7, 2014
You Don't Cry Out Loud is an interesting auto biography of Lily Isaacs. She's one amazing and inspiring woman. She's has been dealt with so many obstacles in her life. A beautiful real life story of how to overcome just about anything. I really enjoyed this book. It's a fantastic short read. It's one of those books that still sticks with you awhile after finished reading it.
I highly recommend this book. 5 books.
I highly recommend this book. 5 books.
March 27, 2016
An incredible story of overcoming huge obstacles, change, faith, and family. I've read 100 books in the last 2 years. I'd rank this as a top 5 favorite. The love, forgiveness, grace, strength, and heart demonstrated by this woman and that of her family is palpable, beautiful, heart-wrenching, and lovely, all at the same time. Her story and that of her parent's is so inspiring, it will make you want to be a better person.
June 10, 2021
“It’s an amazing story of how a Jewish girl from the Bronx, New York, became the matriarch of a bluegrass gospel family from Tennessee,” Sonya Isaacs says as she introduces her mother Lily, along with Ben, her brother, and Becky, her sister--The Isaacs, before a performance.
Lily is an immigrant baby-boomer, a cancer survivor, a 60-something divorcee, a child of Holocaust survivors, and most astonishingly, a Jewish believer in Jesus, Yeshua, Messiah.
Lily begins her story in Europe during WWII in concentration camps and closes in Nashville, TN. It’s a story of pain and loss, but also joy and victory. Lily reminds me that it’s not what happens to us that makes the difference but how we choose to respond--and that simple choices often have huge consequences. A friend pulled her mother out of the line going to extermination; a German guard hit her father with a brick--and an incredibly talented musical family is the result.
Having just attended a concert with the Isaacs, I was especially eager to read Lily’s story. The narrative is straightforward, simple, but powerful.
Another round of editing and proofreading would have been helpful.
Lily is an immigrant baby-boomer, a cancer survivor, a 60-something divorcee, a child of Holocaust survivors, and most astonishingly, a Jewish believer in Jesus, Yeshua, Messiah.
Lily begins her story in Europe during WWII in concentration camps and closes in Nashville, TN. It’s a story of pain and loss, but also joy and victory. Lily reminds me that it’s not what happens to us that makes the difference but how we choose to respond--and that simple choices often have huge consequences. A friend pulled her mother out of the line going to extermination; a German guard hit her father with a brick--and an incredibly talented musical family is the result.
Having just attended a concert with the Isaacs, I was especially eager to read Lily’s story. The narrative is straightforward, simple, but powerful.
Another round of editing and proofreading would have been helpful.
February 20, 2020
LOVED,LOVED,LOVED!!! Must read for yourself! There were times I could relate to her on emotional levels and spiritual levels. What her parents endured during the Holocaust was just heart wrenching but I found it fascinating Anne Frank ended up at the same camp as her mother. Great read on real family, religious, marriage, health,etc. problems from someone’s personal view and how God got them through it!! Recommend it to others!!
February 25, 2020
Awesome Story
I’ve always loved to hear the Isaacs sing, however reading Lily’s book is so inspirational. Her story lets you really be a part of the family. The many struggles she faced would let anyone know through Christ all things are possible! Love the Isaacs, her perseverance and connection with the Father to do His will! ❤️ Keep on making this wonderful melody of life! 🎶🎵🎶❤️
I’ve always loved to hear the Isaacs sing, however reading Lily’s book is so inspirational. Her story lets you really be a part of the family. The many struggles she faced would let anyone know through Christ all things are possible! Love the Isaacs, her perseverance and connection with the Father to do His will! ❤️ Keep on making this wonderful melody of life! 🎶🎵🎶❤️
November 9, 2024
I had to read this and cannot explain why I hadn't earlier, but we heard the family in concert a month ago and I was reminded of the story. Lily came into our school to speak to classes about the Holocaust and her family story. This book was also about her own struggles with health and faith issues. It was a treat for me to remember her three children whom I taught in eighth grade. I have great memories and now a deeper understanding.
August 8, 2019
Love it
It was hard to put down. I was dead to by Lily herself. They are wonderful group to go see. Her daughter Sonja has written a song about her cancer. I'm gonna love you through it.
It was hard to put down. I was dead to by Lily herself. They are wonderful group to go see. Her daughter Sonja has written a song about her cancer. I'm gonna love you through it.
January 9, 2021
This book had me in tears at just a few pages in. Such a classy story teller! I don’t think I would have been able to have gone through so much and be able to write about it so elegantly. I’ve always liked listening to The Isaacs, but now even more love for them all.
January 3, 2022
Love of Issacs
I really love the Isaacs When I started reading this book I could nor put it down. What her Mother and Father went thru was horrible and I so admire them for perseverance. Lilly is a beautiful woman inside and out.
I really love the Isaacs When I started reading this book I could nor put it down. What her Mother and Father went thru was horrible and I so admire them for perseverance. Lilly is a beautiful woman inside and out.
May 27, 2022
An autobiography of an amazing woman. Lily Isaacs doesn’t just tell her story, she pulls you in and leaves you inspired. A daughter of two Holocaust survivors, this is her story of family, heartache, and overcoming the struggles of life after rejecting her Jewish heritage and choosing a life with Christ at the center. It’s a story of how God’s divine plan will continue on no matter what the world throws at you.
“Sometimes I wondered if my decision to follow Jesus was worth all of the family heartache. But every time, when I remembered the foundation of peace and hope that came along with it, I knew it was.”
I was not familiar with Lily Isaacs & her music career, but I am left in awe of her perseverance through life after reading her book. It was amazing to see how God used different people in her life - even protecting both of her parents during the Holocaust - to draw her to Him. It left me with the desire to know the details of my parents and ancestors lives and stories to see first hand how God has woven the story of me.
I received a free copy of the digital format of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
“Sometimes I wondered if my decision to follow Jesus was worth all of the family heartache. But every time, when I remembered the foundation of peace and hope that came along with it, I knew it was.”
I was not familiar with Lily Isaacs & her music career, but I am left in awe of her perseverance through life after reading her book. It was amazing to see how God used different people in her life - even protecting both of her parents during the Holocaust - to draw her to Him. It left me with the desire to know the details of my parents and ancestors lives and stories to see first hand how God has woven the story of me.
I received a free copy of the digital format of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
March 12, 2023
Fascinating memoir of Lily Fishman Isaacs, who was born to Jewish Holocaust survivors and who, along her life's journey, found Yeshua (Jesus) as her Messiah and Lord Isaac's. Went on to found and become the matriarch of the renowned Bluegrass Gospel group, The Isaacs.
November 8, 2024
This memoir had me in tears in several places. What a wonderful writer Lily is. What a life she has had. Parents who were Holocaust survivors, scoliosis, cancer, etc. but she is still alive & is loving every minute.
October 12, 2025
Audio. Perhaps you’ve heard of the gospel singers, The Isaacs. This is Lily Isaacs’ story. Her parents were Holocaust survivors, she’s a breast cancer survivor & her musical family have impacted their world & continue to reach out to the Jewish community too.
August 31, 2018
Lily tells her own story. Very moving, a story of overcoming, finding purpose and God.
July 25, 2019
Interesting story of Lily Issac. Both of her parents were Holocaust survivors. She and her three kids are the Southern Gospel Group - The Issacs.
December 15, 2020
Enjoyed
Really enjoyed this book, concise, easy to read, giving a bird’s eye view of the Isaac family. I had heard a small version of her life but not the whole story.
Really enjoyed this book, concise, easy to read, giving a bird’s eye view of the Isaac family. I had heard a small version of her life but not the whole story.
February 14, 2021
I really enjoy the Isaacs' music, so was eager to read Lily's book. I was glad to learn about her and her family.
January 12, 2022
A VERY INSPIRING READ OF STRUGGLE AND SURVIVAL.HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
July 9, 2022
Great auto biography. Enjoyed every page of the history of this singing gospel family and how it all started.
September 22, 2022
I really enjoyed reading this book. I've listened to the Isaacs since I was a small child. She's a really great author!
July 1, 2024
not bad but get this girl an editor
January 24, 2025
I so enjoyed this book. Lily was so honest about her struggles and her journey to becoming a Christian. So inspiring and encouraging.
August 18, 2025
This is one of the best memoirs I've read. Most tend to write about every single minute of their lives which I find boring, but that isn't so with this one. I found it interesting and well written.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews