Synopsis "The Journeys of Brothers"
For twenty-year-old Meyer Stein, the word pogrom strikes fear into his heart. At the age of five, he witnessed one firsthand, bringing on destruction wrought by peasants, Cossacks, and the army. Hearing the word again as an adult, Meyer feels trapped. His whole world has centered on his small, isolated Russian village, where he and his wife, Rachel, are comfortable. But that is about to change. Meyer knows he must leave or suffer the same atrocities of others before him. He worries how his pregnant wife will cope, and he wonders how he will handle the harrowing journey with his rascal of a younger brother, Ephraim. As the two leave Russia in 1903, they experience perils both from nature and people bent on betraying them for a reward. A work of historical fiction, The Journeys of Brothers reflects a composite of the experiences of many Jewish immigrants from Russia at the turn of the twentieth century. It describes pioneering in Saskatchewan, spying for the British in World War I, and assisting Jews to flee the problems of Eastern Europe. A story of the personal courage and sacrifice of European immigrants, it narrates an engrossing saga of immigration and personal development.
