With the cloud of the Holocaust still looming over them, twin sisters Bronka and Johanna Lubinski and their parents arrive in the US from a Displaced Persons Camp, hoping to build a new life. Soon after their arrival, however, a neighbor is arrested by the FBI for suspected involvement in the Rosenberg spy case―and they find themselves in the midst of one of the most notorious court cases of the Red Scare. In the years after WWII, they experience the difficulties of adjusting to American culture, as well as the burgeoning fear of the Cold War.
Years later, the discovery of a former Nazi hiding in their community brings the Holocaust out of the shadows. As the girls get older, they start to wonder about their parents’ pasts, and they begin to demand answers. But it soon becomes clear that those memories will be more difficult and painful to uncover than they could have anticipated.
Poignant and haunting, The Takeaway Men explores the impact of immigration, identity, prejudice, secrets, and lies on parents and children in mid-twentieth-century America.
Please consider purchasing the book in advance via Amazon or your favorite independent book seller.
Monday, January 11
Noon EST | 11am CST | 9am PST
Register in advance for this meeting.
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Dr. Meryl Ain is a writer, author, and career educator. Her articles and essays have appeared in Huffington Post, The New York Jewish Week, Kveller, The New York Times, Newsday and other publications. In 2014, she co-authored the award-winning book, The Living Memories Project: Legacies That Last, and in 2016, wrote a companion workbook, My Living Memories Project Journal.
The Takeaway Men, her debut novel, is the result of her life-long quest to learn more about the Holocaust, a thirst that was first triggered by reading The Diary of Anne Frank in the sixth grade. She has been reading and writing, researching, and teaching about the Holocaust ever since — as a history teacher, author, school administrator and life-long learner.
Meryl holds degrees from Queens College, Columbia University, and Hofstra University. She lives in New York with her husband, Stewart Ain, an award-winning journalist.
