With the Gestapo pounding on every door,
no Jew in Athens is safe.



 In the opening of Odyssey of Chaos, Theo Kantos, a dress shop owner, has a desperate choice to make if he is to save his family. Does he trust the most despicable man he knows to hide them? Or does he place his life and the lives of those he loves in the hands of a communist? And what does he do about his obstinate brother who always has to have the last word?

Nearly ninety percent of Greece's Jews perished in the Holocaust, the highest percentage of Jews lost in any country. This novella, Odyssey of Chaos, was inspired by the true story of author Alan Fleishman's Greek cousins who survived hidden in a cellar by a shepherd, aided by their Christian friends. Other cousins joined the partisans to fight the Germans. And some died in Auschwitz.

Six contemporary short stories follow the title novella. In these stories, Fleishman explores new territory, both in style and in subject. All have one element in common: they are about singular unexpected events and choices which alter the course of lives and form who we are.

. . . . .

"The narrative is a testimony to the eternal survival of the Jewish people against all odds."

- The Baltimore Jewish Times -



Copyright © 2017 by Alan Fleishman
photos used under license from Shutterstock:
Parthenon © Anastasios71
Crow © Adam Fichna