Eli’s Promise is not your typical WWII historical fiction novel. The book explores what happened to a Polish family during the Natzi invasion of Lublin, Poland, the events that occurred after Eli and other Jews were liberated from the concentration camp and then decades later as Eli tried to return to a normal life.
Eli Rosen is a husband and father who is desperate to protect his loving wife Esther and his young son Izaak. He makes a bargain with a man who is a Natzi collaborator who promises protection for his family. The story explores this horrific time as well as decades later. Eli has a promise to keep and he will not rest until he reaches his goal.
I felt totally engaged with Eli’s family while reading this novel. If you are a fan of this period of historical fiction, Elis Promise will be a story you want to read.

The only thing that would have made this book better would have been if it was a true story based upon the real Eli’s life, family and his experiences. This historical fiction is built upon the author’s imagination and his expertise in research. Based upon that, Mr. Balson certainly knows how to do his research because this is one of the best WWII books I’ve read. The book covers three different time frames, the starting of WWII in the late 1930’s, after the war was over in 1946-47 and then skips us into the mid 1960’s with the Vietnam war.
Of the three, I found the descriptions and experiences of Eli, Esther and Izaak in the late 1930’s as one of the most informative and well told WWII experiences I’ve read. I would highly recommend this story if you enjoy WWII and a great family saga.
My only small con on this book was that a couple of times I got confused when we switched between the years, otherwise, this is a well written, thoroughly enjoyable tale.
I want to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book for my honest unbiased opinion. This is a 5-star review.

I am an avid reader and have been since I was a young kid. I am now a senior and I find myself being much more selective about what i read and how i review books. With that in mind, I have to say that I found the writing of this book to be rather simplistic and uninteresting. I have read many books about the subject matter discussed in this book. This one does not meet my standards of interesting subject matter and believable story telling. I expected more.

A great story about a family during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The story takes place over several decades as Eli tries to make good his promise to find out what happened to his wife Esther who was sent to a work camp.

I just realized I never reviewed this book! It is another Ron Balson hit. If you enjoyed his other books you’ll love this one also. If you are having trouble getting engrossed into a story during these tough Covid times, try this one. You’ll get lost in the characters and story for hours. And as always it is based on historical facts and has plenty of intrigue.

A fictional story based on a lot of true facts.. Love and heartbreak of family in WWII. A man looking for his wife. After successfully hiding his son. The deceit of higher ups in business and government. Only to line their pockets, at the expense of human kind.

An outstanding book, The Author has written a page turner and couldn't put the book down. During wartime did Eli make a deal with the devil? Eli dedicated his life to finding his wife. This book shouldn't be overlooked!

I received this book "Eli's Promise" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I do enjoy reading historical fiction books. I was interested in the story of Eli's family. I didn't care for all the dialogue though. I would rather of had the story told through Eli's memory. I would have liked more of what happened to Esther when she was taken, not a whole lot of description but maybe at the end of the story we could have found out a bit more. Also the story line seems to jump around a bit more than I liked. Plus there are gaps of time that could have made the story better. How did Eli and his son get to where they are in the 1960s in the US for one.

Balson (Karolina’s Twins) deftly explores how one man survived captivity at a concentration camp to forge a future for himself and his son. Eli Rosen’s family operates a profitable brickyard in 1930s Lublin, Poland. When the Germans invade Poland, profiteer and opportunist Maximilian Poleski, an employee of the brickyard, offers to have the ownership of the business transferred to him while allowing the Rosens to continue working and running the business. Max promises to keep the Rosen family safe. Still, as the persecution of Jewish people in Lublin intensifies, and Eli’s wife Esther is forced to abandon her job as a nurse and work in a sewing factory, Eli becomes more mistrustful that Max will honor his promise. When Max makes Eli travel to Litzmannstadt, Poland, to oversee a new brickyard, Eli must leave Esther and his young son Izaak behind and fears for their safety.

Fast-forward to 1947 Germany, where Eli and Izaak live in a displaced persons camp in Germany, seeking to obtain visas to America and praying for a reunion with Esther in hopes that she survived the war. When Eli learns that Max is brokering American visas for a high price, he is determined to find him and make him answer questions about Esther’s whereabouts. Though Max seems to elude capture, Eli searches for him almost twenty years later when working for the U.S. government.

Balson effortlessly moves between decades, highlighting the systematic persecution of Jews by the Nazi party while focusing on the humanity of the people whose lives were destroyed. He capably explores the characters’ emotions while providing a gripping view of the concept of vengeance and how the quest to right a wrong can be cathartic without destroying the life of the person most impacted. Balson’s riveting historical novel is one of his best efforts to date.

"Eli's Promise" by Ronald H. Balson is one of those book that you will remember for a long time. I have read a lot of WWII books, both historical fiction and nonfiction, and this was one of the best. It tells the story of Eli and his young family at the beginning of the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. Eli owns a lumber yard and supplies the town and surrounding area with materials to build and repair structures. The town is hit by a blitz of bombing prior to the invasion and hour by hour, day by day the Jewish people lose more of their property, rights, and humanity to the ghoulish presence of the Nazi's. There is one man that seems to be the liaison between the Germans and the Jewish people. Is he their savior or there anti-Christ?
This novel extends spans approximately 30 years from 1939 until the 1960;s as Eli survives the invasion, imprisonment, waits for an American visa, and settles in America. It is an amazing story. The post war struggles of and amount of time spent awaiting places of acceptance is a part of the post World War II story rarely written about. Read this book, it is one of extreme tragedy and triumph of the human spirit over real evil. Well research and well written. Thanks to #NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read and review #NetGalley#Eli'sPromise.

This was a WWII fan fiction with a great storyline. This story begins just as Hitler is starting his reign of terror. The difference in this story is that the timeline goes from before the war, through the war, and after as certain criminals are being sought.

The story of Eli, Esther, and their son Izaak is one I had not read before and that was the way the concentration camps are mentioned in passing as survivors recount their stories will in the displaced persons camps set up by the United States. The story then does into the 1960s when Eli is helping the government look for a con man, who was a Nazi collaborator, he knew from the days of the war who betrayed him in the worst way possible.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and believe anyone with an interest in historical fiction would enjoy taking the journey of the Rosen's life to see how it all turns out.

I’ve read all of Ronald Balson’s books and loved them and Eli’s Promise was no exception. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reader’s copy of the book from NetGalley. The book is set primarily in three locations: Lublin, Poland, during World War II; in the aftermath of the Second World War in a Displaced Persons Camp in the American Zone in Central Germany in 1946; and in Chicago in 1965. It’s the story of a lengthy quest of a survivor to right wrongs done to him and his family during the war and to get justice. I found the story fascinating. I thought the characters were believable and it was fast-paced. Historical novels, especially set in WW II, are my favorite genre, so I enjoyed this book immensely. I would highly recommend it.

This was a wonderful, readable account of life in Poland during and after The Holocaust. While, it is fictional the events should resonate with adults and young adults as well. It is a story of people rather than the horrific life and treatment of inmates of a concentration camp. The hardships were real and the suffering great. Eli was able, after many years, to keep his promise. I recommend this novel. Loved the three stories in time and felt they all came together.

This is a WWII historical fiction. It tells of Eli and all he has lost at the hands of the Nazis. It also tells of how he seeks revenge. It was a different look at how a holocaust survivor handled things. This was an okay read. I felt that sometimes Eli's need for revenge took a bit from the story but it is completely understandable.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Ronald Balson for the ARC of Eli’s Promise.

Mr. Balson once again delivers a well researched historical novel. Eli’s Promise is a work of fiction written over and moving between the course of three different time periods and locations. The book portrays Eli’s life as a Jew and his promise to his wife Esther. It takes place during the war starting in 1939, in Lublin, Poland and the Nazi invasion. Moving then into the displaced persons camp in the American Zone of Fohrenwald, Germany in 1946. Finally, life in the USA in 1965. The book is a work of fiction. However, the book does follow some true historical events and people. Eli’s Promise is a well written story detailing family love, Jewish history, horrific injustices, corruption and a fight for justice. If you are a fan of WWII historical fiction, I highly recommend this book.

I received this as advance copy on my kindle. Eli's Promise, is just a great book! It tells the story in different perspective then other books of the WW2 time period! I would give this book a 5 star rating. This is the 1st book I've read by this author, I really liked how he guided us thru all the horrible things that went on in Germany, before the war, during the war, and after the war. He really thoughtfully, and at times painstakingly gave a thorough description of each character. I hope on Sept. 22, 2020, this book does well!

"Eli's Promise" was a pretty good book. The main character, Eli Rosen, is a Polish Jew who tries to keep his family safe when the Nazi's invade Poland by relying on the assistance of Maximilian Poleski, a profiteer and fixer who has wormed his way into the good graces of the Nazi officials in charge of Lublin and Lodz, Poland. The story alternates between the early years of the war and the increased persecution and oppression of the Jewish population in Poland, the liberation of the concentration camps and life in the resettlement camps as Jewish Holocaust survivors tried to find and reunite with loved ones and tried to obtain visas to the US, Britain, or other countries to rebuild their lives, and Chicago in the late 1960s with the Vietnam War and war profiteering.

The common thread is Maximilian's continued war profiteering -- selling Jewish ID cards to exempt people from being sent to concentration camps, selling visas to the US, arranging contracts for military supplies for US troops in Vietnam to go to specific contractors, with Maximilian skimming funds/taking kickbacks -- and Eli's efforts to hold Maximilian accountable for the numerous promises he made to Eli and did not fulfill, which had deadly consequences for Eli's family, and efforts to stop Maximilian's profiteering.

While I certainly cannot fault Eli's desire for revenge considering what he has endured, there are times that his quest for revenge feels like too much, which diminishes the story somewhat. However, overall, it is a story of perseverance against great odds, love of family and community, and the lengths people will go to in order to protect the ones they love. There are some very emotional moments in the book, with numerous references to the abusive (and ultimately genocidal) behavior of the Nazis towards the Jewish population in Poland and in Europe more generally. One of the powerful aspects of the story is how the some characters recognize the Nazis for what they are immediately and assume the worst, while others believe the abuse and indignities will only go so far, as the Nazis need the Jewish population, even if only as laborers, but these individuals realize over time that those who assumed the worst at the outset were correct.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Another Balson great read!!! I love your books and this one didn’t disappoint!! The characters always have so much life and the plot is compelling. A very fast read!

Eli's Promise started out a little slow, but don't let that stop you! Once he starts pulling together 3 different time lines you won't put it down. After reading each of Balson's books I found myself looking into the history of the time frame and the actual history of his stories. This was no exception. Every time I think I've read and learned all I could about WWII, Balson has shown me that I'm not even close. Are we sure the Chicago politicians are fictional?

Ronald Balson has written another excellent book. Balson shows great expertise in weaving together a detailed historical portrait of Nazi occupied Poland and post-war DP camps, with a story timeline that continues in Chicago during the 1960’s. Balson captures his main characters in an imaginative way that motivates the reader to want to fully understand their thoughts and feelings. The story focuses on the relationship between Eli Rosen, a Jewish man caught up in the horrors of Nazi occupied Poland and a Nazi collaborator, Maximilian Poleski. I strongly recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction, and in particular the World War II period. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC.