Readers of World War II history and stories of the “kitchen table” variety will enjoy Shanghai Losses: A Young Jewish Girl’s Time in Shanghai During World War II, a novel by local author Adrienne Tropp.
In this new self-published release, Rachel Weiser and her family have fled Nazi Germany for Shanghai, the only place in the world to offer refuge to Jews during the rise of the Nazi-state. But when the occupying Japanese Empire creates the Shanghai Ghetto to contain “stateless refugees” in a one-mile area of Hongkew, the Weiser family and community find themselves once more inevitably embroiled in the ongoing war.
Through Rachel’s eyes we see Shanghai, at once strange, bustling, and harboring abject poverty and exorbitant wealth side-by-side. We also see the losses of war and the ways the war marks families and communities.
Exhaustively researched—Tropp includes historical photos of Shanghai and draws from interviews she conducted, historical research, and world news—the book will occupy a well-earned place alongside other family stories of WWII and the holocaust.
Teachers will also be interested in the resources, activities, and writing prompts developed by the author to engage students in classroom settings. www.adriennetropp.com
