“Abba! We have seen prophecy fulfilled before our eyes,” Avraham said as they laughed and wept and hugged each other. “Remember what Isaiah wrote? ‘Who has ever seen such a thing? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.’ That’s what just happened before our eyes. A nation – our own Jewish nation – born today.”
“Out of the ashes,” Jacob murmured.
It was what the prophet Ezekiel had written, as well: “The Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.”
Hashem had shown Ezekiel a valley filled with dry bones. “Son of man, can these bones live?” Hashem had asked. The prophet’s reply would be Jacob’s reply from now on, whenever he had difficult questions for Hashem, questions that seemed to have no answers: “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
RAOUL WALLENBERG, A THIRTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD Swedish businessman, volunteered to go to Nazi-controlled Hungary during World War II as a diplomat in order to help rescue Jews. When he arrived in Budapest in June of 1944 he learned that the Nazis had already deported four hundred thousand Jewish men, women, and children to the death camps. With daring, courage, and ingenuity, Wallenberg tirelessly dogged the Nazis, pressuring them to accept the Swedish identification papers he created, snatching Jews from deportation trains and death marches, and providing food and shelter in “safe houses” under the protection of the Swedish flag. He is thought to have saved as many as one hundred thousand Jews who remained in Budapest.
When the Soviet army arrived to liberate Hungary, Wallenberg and his driver left Budapest on January 17, 1945, to visit the Soviet military headquarters, telling friends he planned to return in about a week. He and his driver have been missing ever since.
According to the Russians, Raoul Wallenberg died of a heart attack in a Soviet prison on July 17, 1947. But to his family and to the thousands of Jews who consider him a hero, a satisfactory explanation for his arrest and disappearance has never been given. The government of Israel designated Raoul Wallenberg as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
WHILE WE’RE FAR APART
1) Which character did you identify with the most? Why?
2) How were the concerns for family different for each of the characters: Penny Goodrich? Esther and Peter Shaffer? Jacob Mendel? Avraham and Sarah Rivkah?
3) In what ways did various characters find their family or become part of a new “family”?
4) What similarities were portrayed between the Jewish and Christian faiths? What differences were obvious? Did your view of Judaism change in any way?
5) How did Penny’s view of love change throughout the story? What contributed to that change?
6) Compare the way Penny’s parents raised her with the way that the Shaffers raised Esther and Peter.
7) Why do you think Esther was drawn to the neighbor boy, Jacky Hoffman? What drew Penny to Eddie Shaffer? Why do you think Penny and Roy Fuller became such good friends?
8) How was the theme of silence developed throughout the story? How was the theme of waiting developed? The dilemma of unanswered prayer?
9) What importance did letter-writing play in the story?
10) Did you pick up on any clues that Rachel Shaffer was Jewish? Any clues about the identity of Penny’s real mother?
For additional book club resources, visit www.bethanyhouse.com/anopenbook.
LYNN AUSTIN is a six-time Christy Award winner for her historical novels Hidden Places, Candle in the Darkness, Fire by Night, A Proper Pursuit, Until We Reach Home, and Though Waters Roar. In addition to writing, Lynn is a popular speaker at conferences, retreats, and various church and school events. She and her husband have three children and make their home in Illinois.
Books by
Lynn Austin
FROM BETHANY HOUSE PUBLISHERS
All She Ever Wanted
Eve’s Daughters
Hidden Places
A Proper Pursuit
Until We Reach Home
While We’re Far Apart
Wings of Refuge
A Woman’s Place
REFINER’S FIRE
Candle in the Darkness
Fire by Night
Light to My Path
CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS
Gods & Kings
Song of Redemption
Strength of His Hand
Faith of My Father
Among the Gods
© 2010 by Lynn Austin
Published by Bethany House Publishers
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287.
E-book edition created 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1297-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
COPYRIGHT PAGE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
EPILOGUE
AUTHOR’S NOTE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Books by Lynn Austin