Fic­tion

My Own Vine­yard: A Jew­ish Fam­i­ly in Krakow Between the Wars

Miri­am Akavia
  • Review
By – March 30, 2012

Krakow, Poland, from the begin­ning of the 20th cen­tu­ry to the eve of the Ger­man occu­pa­tion in Sep­tem­ber 1939 is the set­ting for this grip­ping nov­el by Miri­am Akavia. The author, her­self a Holo­caust sur­vivor, weaves an intrigu­ing tale of three gen­er­a­tions of a Jew­ish fam­i­ly and their tribu­la­tions as they strug­gle to keep their dig­ni­ty dur­ing those dif­fi­cult times. 

Mil­i­tary ser­vice, assim­i­la­tion, eco­nom­ic suc­cess and fail­ure, and immi­gra­tion to Eretz Israel are just a few of the com­plex chal­lenges that this moth­er­less fam­i­ly of eight chil­dren face. What makes My Own Vine­yard unusu­al is that it is set in Krakow rather than War­saw, Poland.

Bar­bara S. Cohen is a tri­al attor­ney in Los Ange­les who spe­cial­izes in child abuse cas­es. She is a mem­ber of NAMI and a sup­port­er of NARSAD, and is an advo­cate for those who suf­fer from men­tal illness.

Discussion Questions