The Girl on the Wall

by Preeva Adler Tramiel

Why wouldn't Preeva's parents tell her about the mysterious girl in the picture? Why had her brave and noble father--Adler Hershi, also known as Samuel, Harry, or Herman Adler--hung that girl's portrait above his bed instead of Preeva's? Preeva was raised in New York on her father's tales of adventure and heroism. But she needed more information about him and his clan of taxi-driving brothers from Mukacheve in Transcarpathia. No one living seemed to have the answers she sought.

Years later, using modern genealogy tools and old-fashioned deduction, researching on the Web, and journeying through Israel, Ukraine, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, she set out to discover the truth about her father's stories. Join Preeva on her exciting, interesting, funny, sad, and brutally honest journey as she learns the history of her ancestors and in the process becomes more sure of herself and her Jewish identity.

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2015

Reviews

[Randi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful memoir that sensitively examines a post-Holocaust family.

[Preeva Tramiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quick read giving a clear look into the feelings and thoughts of the child of a survivor who feels she was loved less than than the girl in the picture her father kept above his bed--until she goes to Europe to see what that child saw in her brief life.

[Scott Calhoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

A person of any religion will enjoy this book; one woman's journey to discover her very complex family history. A very interesting trek.

[Devora Weinapple · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the rare memoir that is as much of a gripping page turner as this one was. I am acquainted with the author and her friend Jess through Congregation Etz Chayim in Palo Alto. I had some idea of her background, and knew that we were first in Israel around the same time, but her research into her family's genealogy is exhaustive - and similar to my own only in the sense that my grandparents were also from towns in the Pale of Settlement, including Bessarabia in my moms case. My dad was the son of a generation of chicken farmers in Petaluma; but a good number of his people were also Labor Zionists who escaped the brutality of the white Russian army; as well as the Holocaust in Europe. Preeva, I can't wait to read more from you!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and researched... a lot of detail

Lots of detail which I'm sure is interesting to the Adler family. The writing is done so well you keep reading but at the end it dissolves into a series of incidents with no real outcome and no seeming connection, leaving you wondering why you stuck wth it. The author should have hit the Tarot cards 30 years earlier! But a good historical journal all the same with interesting insights into her family history.

[Preeva Tramiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging story of a person coming to grips with the Shoah, with lots of light cast on Labor Zionism, atheism, family therapy, and Liberal Judaism.