The return to Israel was a response to the Holocaust and a world-wide declaration of Never-Again. This series follows several families as they suffer through the build up to and fighting of Hitler's war of Genocide. Books are reading copies, with toned pages and other minor flaws. These are from the first trade paperback editions. They have been re-issued with new covers. Predating the events of The Zion Chronicles Series, Vienna Prelude opens in pre-World War II Austria. Elisa Lindheim, a violinist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, is of Jewish heritage but has adopted an Aryan stage name. Thus she is able to travel and play in Germany even though a 1935 law forbade Jewish musicians to do so. Her dear friend Leah, a cellist already introduced to Thoene readers in A Daughter of Zion, and her husband Shimon must escape Austria or perish in the coming Holocaust. John Murphy, a reporter for the New York Times in Berlin and Austria, becomes linked with English politicians in a plan to overthrow Hitler. Elisa and John's mutual connections with the Jewish Underground entangle them in a web of intrigue, danger, and conspiracy that neither could have known. *** In Prague Counterpoint, Elisa Murphy and Leah Feldstein risked everything to stand against the tide of Nazi terrorism and to buy a chance at life for two small boys. When Elisa is at last reunited with Murphy, the danger is past for the small Charles. Or is it? Munich Signature finds Leah and little Louis attempting to escape Austria over the treacherous foot paths of the Alps while Murphy and Elisa begin their trip toward New York and the promise of healing for Charles' disfigurement. But then Elisa is once more caught in the web of international intrigue. While Jewish refugees from Germany float homelessly on the open seas, she stands precariously between Hitler's domination of Europe and the possibility of destroying his power once and for all. *** For Jews in prewar Europe, the terrifying truth is uncovered: Truly they have no place to go. Escape or perish, but escape to where? As Central Europe is taken over by the Nazis under celebrated headlines of Peace in Our Times, hundreds of thousands pay the price for Hitler's international deception. In Jerusalem Interlude, Leah and Shimon Feldstein finally reach the Promised Land. They enter their new life under the shadow of the Western Wall, only to find that a longer, more sinister shadow is casting its darkness over the Holy Land. Will they ever find true peace, a resting place for their spirits? Or will their time in Jerusalem be only a brief interlude in the ongoing struggle for a homeland? *** The net of Hitler's Third Reich begins to close around the Jews in prewar Europe, and millions are trapped in his sinister web. Kristal Nacht, the Night of Broken Glass, shatters the last illusions for thousands who hoped to escape the Nazi terror. As the synagogues of Berlin burn and Jewish homes are plundered, two families face the grim reality of life in New Germany. Anna Lindheim's sister Helen and her pastor husband Karl Ibsen are arrested for helping the Jews. The Ibsen children, Lori and Jamie, must find a way to escape their Nazi pursuers and get past the iron gates that keep them imprisoned in the Reich. Young Peter Wallich, with his mother, sister and baby brother, faces the same dilemma. How can he, a Jew, get them out of Berlin to safety? How can they reach Danzig, the one place that offers hope, the promise of freedom? And then there is Lucy, in such desperate straits herself. How can she possibly help these children? *** Having overrun Czechoslovakia, the iron baton of Hitler's Third Reich is poised to orchestrate a requiem for Warsaw. Foreshadowing an international nightmare the world will never forget, millions are imperiled, destined to be caught and crushed in the Führer's grasp. Lori Ibsen and Jacob Kalner, along with Jamie, Mark and Alfie, take refuge in Danzig, hoping they will be safe there while awaiting a ship to England. Peter Wallich escapes to Warsaw, desperately seeking a place among the Jews in Muranow Square. Lucy Strasburg, about to deliver her "S.S. child," stays behind in Danzig, hoping to evade the clutches of Wolf von Fritschauer. But there is no safe place in prewar Europe. Hitler's bombers hover over Danzig and Warsaw, a dark shadow of terror and death. In London, Helen Ibsen and her sister Anna Lindheim wait and pray for the safe release of the Ibsen children. But as they wait, the sinister cloud of Hitler's wrath spreads across the Channel like poisonous gas, ready to annihilate all those who oppose the extension of the Führer's power.