Monique Roy
Across Great Divides
Across Great Divides is a timeless, World War II story of the upheavals of war, the power of family, and the resiliency of human spirit. When Hitler comes to power in 1933, one Jewish family refuses to be destroyed and defies the Nazis only to come up against another struggle—confronting Apartheid in South Africa.
Sixteen-year-old Eva and her twin sister, Inge, witness their lives in Berlin change before their eyes. Their best friend, Trudy, betrays them when she becomes a member of the Hitler Youth. A valuable family heirloom, a beautiful emerald and diamond pendant necklace, is confiscated by the Nazis as they harass Jewish families and businesses.
Their younger brother, Max, a member of the underground resistance, sees even greater danger ahead. Their father, Oskar, refuses to leave his beloved Germany and believes Hitler will eventually fail.
They finally flee Nazi Germany with the help of the underground resistance — a young German man, a nun, a countess conspiring against the Nazis, and a winegrower secretly hiding Jewish children.
War continues to follow them until they arrive in Cape Town, South Africa. The family hires an impoverished colored woman, Zoe, as their maid and shields her and her daughter, Zola, from the dangers they face in the slums and from the horrors of Apartheid, which are all too reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
Across Great Divides illuminates a Jewish family in Germany in WWII caught in significant 20th century travesties: the Nazi occupation of Europe during World War Two and Apartheid in South Africa.
