ISAAC'S BEACON

Robbins presents a historical novel about the formation of Israel.

During World War II, Vincenz “Vince” Haas is a reporter from Brooklyn embedded with the U.S. 3rd Army in Europe in 1945. As American forces liberate Germany’s Buchenwald concentration camp, Vince meets prisoner Hugo Ungar, who once worked as a plumber in Leipzig. As Hugo regains his strength and comes to terms with his situation, he decides to head to Palestine and encourages Vince to go with him. The decision is easy for Vince, as there will be plenty to report on in the Middle East, but the journey is anything but simple. Robbins also relates the story of a young woman named Éva,who will later take the name Rivkah Gellerman, who made the trip to Palestine from Vienna in 1940. As her boat, which had been stopped by the British, waited in Haifa’s harbor, a ship called the Patria exploded nearby—the first of many explosions to come. Paramilitary groups, such as the Irgun, will stop at nothing to create a Jewish state; Arab fighters in the region will do anything to stop them; and many rank-and-file British soldiers just want to return to their own homes. The British eventually give up control of Palestine, but it’s only the beginning of the region’s story. Robbins’ telling makes effective use of real events, such as the bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel in 1946 and the execution of Zionist activist Dov Gruner by the British in 1947. The narrative not only incorporates detailed accounts of these happenings, but also deeply explores the motivations of the many people involved in them. Indeed, the book manages to fit in a great deal of history in fewer than 600 pages, although some repetition could have been excised. For instance, Hugo explains to multiple people, multiple times, that he was once a plumber—a detail that has little relevance to the plot. Still, as the main players fight, bleed, and try to make sense of the world, the narrative successfully carries readers right along with them.

A lively work that explores a transformative time in a tumultuous place.