Publication Date: February 11, 2025
“This powerful, heart-wrenching novel follows a young Polish Jew through his incredible journey to escape the Nazis. Reuven’s story typifies that of millions of others experiencing the horrors and deprivations suffered by Jews in WWII and those who tried to help them. And yet, it is also an ultimately uplifting and inspiring tale of one man’s coming of age in horrific times.”—Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
For fans of Heather Morris and Lisa Barr, a powerful and unforgettable novel of survival against all odds and the remarkable power of love, in which a Jewish teenager in World War II Poland fights to save his life and find the young woman who holds his heart.
Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the family’s peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, igniting World War II. With terrifying brutality, the Nazis confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights, threatening the lives of the city’s Jewish population, including Reuven and Zelda, the girl he loves.
Shortly after the Nazi occupation, Zelda and her family disappear, and Reuven and his father are forced into backbreaking physical labor that nearly kills them. For the young man and his family, the only chance to survive is escape—and some of them will die trying.
Fleeing a Nazi ambush through the surrounding forest, shot and wounded, Reuven is found by a local farmer who has never met a Jew—and agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmer’s wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces a desperate Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Kraków ghetto where he hopes to reunite with Zelda, whose life has also been forever changed by the horrors of occupation and war.
A love story and a story of family, The Umbrella Maker’s Son is a riveting, heartfelt, and beautiful tale of survival and unexpected hope in the face of terror and violence. A chronicle of triumph, it joins the ranks of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and other memorable works of modern Holocaust literature.
A teen Jewish boy finds his life upended by the Nazi invasion of Poland.
Author Tod Lending delivers a heartbreaking story featuring Reuven in The Umbrella Maker’s Son. Regardless of his father’s talent for creating handmade umbrellas, the Nazis confiscate the business and force Reuven and his father to perform hard labor.
What ensues is a storyline full of heartbreak. The only way to survive is to escape, but the path to safety is fraught with danger. Reuben’s determination to find his girlfriend, Zelda, serves as a key motivator, even after he’s wounded.
Nothing in his life prepares him for the angst of love and loss at the hands of the Nazis. The author does a phenomenal job with the male main character by bringing his suffering to life. This is the first World War II story I’ve read with a male protagonist.
The Umbrella Maker’s Son underscores the resilience of a Jewish teen to survive amid the horrors of the Nazi occupation.
Tod Lending is an Academy Award–nominated and national Emmy-winning producer, director, writer, and cinematographer. His work has aired nationally on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and HBO; has been screened theatrically and received awards at national and international festivals, including the Sundance Film Fest.; and has been televised internationally in Europe and Asia. He is the president and founder of Nomadic Pictures, a documentary film production company based in Chicago. The Umbrella Maker’s Son is his debut novel.
