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In Moon Path, author Steven Greenburg tells a story set during World War II. Brothers Aron and Samuel Katz live in Warsaw with their parents. Aron the elder boy has constantly bullied his younger brother who still sees him as a hero, and he feels abandoned when Aron leaves the family to follow other Jews who have fled from persecution to make a new home in Palestine. Part of his reason for this is his homosexuality which his parents have tied to ‘fix’. Samuel falls in love with Danuta a Catholic girl. Already the rules are changing for Jews in Warsaw, and first Samuel has to sit apart from the other students in lectures and then he is banned altogether. Interred in a Polish prisoner work camp, Samuel is then set free and decides to make for Eretz Israel to reconnect with his brother and his girlfriend, who converted to Judaism. It’s an arduous journey of over five thousand kilometres especially with no money and no resources. The novel spins between letters from Aron, Samuel and Danuta as each battle with their demons and physical hardships.
Steven Greenberg weaves a narrative in Moon Path with more twists and turns than an Alpine pass. It caught me completely by surprise, for each of the three characters. Jumping back to events that had taken place earlier in their lives, the narrative explains their present actions and feelings. Each have demons to face, and the brothers especially, carry terrible guilt about their actions when living in Warsaw. Both their parents are dead and the brothers, at different times, make the decision to run to Palestine and avoid the fate of the Holocaust. But it is not possible to run from yourself and the fears that break out, especially at night. Palestine too is not safe, for if the British withdraw to meet the German forces in North Africa, the Jews left behind are afraid the Arab population will attack them. This is a book that delves deep into the psyche of both brothers which reaches an explosive end. Written with beautiful imagery, I couldn’t put this book down.