Theodore Odrach is author of the novel Wave of Terror, published by Academy Chicago Publishers: Stalin has just come to power, the world has turned up-side down, and there's tyranny at every corner.Wave of Terror provides a microcosmic examination of the new Soviet order at the start of WWII.
PRAISE FOR Wave of Terror
-"Theodore Odrach is that rare thing, a political novelist who is also an artist of the first rank." -Times Literary Supplement.
-"Odrach's delightfully sardonic novel about Stalinist occupation of Belarus that began in 1939 is rich with history, horror and comedy." -Publishers Weekly.
-"It calls to mind, afresh, nighmare images of Orwell's 1984 and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Odrach's work has a similar and in some ways even a greater power." -Winnipeg Free Press.
-"Wave of Terror is news that stays news and should be on the shelves of libraries where patrons care about the world beyond their immediate ambit." -Library Journal
-"He has almost a journalistic eye for the story he wants to tell. I felt he was in the same league as Alexander Solzhenitsyn ..." -Alberto Manguel, Globe and Mail.
-Compared to Solzhenitsyn and Orwell for his journalistic storytelling abilities, Odrach has a terse, compact style." - Russian Life
Born March 13, 1912 near Pinsk, Belarus (at that time a part of Czarist Russia), Odrach's family name was Sholomitsky. At age 9, after committing a petty offense, Odrach was sent by Polish authorities who then controlled the area to a reform school in Vilnius, Lithuania. After serving his time, doing odd jobs around town, he enrolled in the Stefan Batory University (now Vilnius University), where he earned a degree in ancient history and philosophy.
With the Soviet invasion of Vilnius in 1939, Odrach fled and returned to his native Belarus, landing a position as headmaster of a grammar school outside of Pinsk. Denounced by the Soviets, he then headed south to Ukraine, where he edited several underground newspapers. Still pursued by the Soviets and ultimately forced into hiding, Odrach managed to escape by way of the Carpathian Mountains. He traveled across Europe, and in 1953 settled in Toronto, Canada. There he authored several novels and books of short stories in the Ukrainian language, all of which were published in Buenos Aires, New York, Toronto, and Winnipeg. His daughter, Erma Odrach, is translating his works into English.
(For more information on Theodore Odrach see Erma Odrach's profile on Goodreads, www.theodoreodrach.com, or Wikipedia.)