Synopsis "Precious Jewels"
Prague is being torn apart by Hitler's army. The Jewish community is being shipped off to concentration and extermination camps. One young woman, Katarina, wants to help them. She has a position in the government social work office and forms an alliance with her superior, Mademoiselle Zelinsky. Meanwhile, Jewish underground members have secretly connected with the naïve Katarina. Zelinsky, however, has an agenda of her own-and she may lead the entire operation to ruin. Decades later, another young woman, Delilah, visits Tuscany, Italy. As she is touring the countryside with her friends and fiancé, she gets into a horrific car accident. Delilah is lucky there happens to be a doctor among the crowd of onlookers. He takes her to the convent of La Certosa di Pontignano to recover, where she meets Sister Katarina. Sister Katarina tells Delilah the story of the other Katarina and makes an unexpected connection with the young woman. Dale Martellino blends history, suspense, and romance in this intricate tale. She addresses the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim European communities and modern issues of identity and devotion. The horrors of the Holocaust have left scars that will never be forgotten, but we should also celebrate the heroes who stood up to genocide and tyranny.
