A Tale of Zabokretch

About the Book

This is the story, based upon real people, who once lived in a Ukrainian shtetl (small town) called Zabokretch. The time is 1919, and for the Jewish inhabitants it is a time of uneasy relations with their gentile neighbors. After a brief period of independence, following the overthrow of the tsar, the Ukrainians saw their centuries-old dream shattered when the Bolsheviks came to power. The new rulers immediately re-absorbed the Ukraine into what came to be known as the Soviet Union. Among the Ukrainians there were those who blamed the Jews. The age-old fear of a pogrom spread among the Jews. This, the,. Is their story, as seen through the eyes of a family called Taitelman, who lived, and died, through an act of genocide forgotten by all but those who are descended from – a family called Taitelman.

"I am unreservedly excited about this magnificent novel. It stirs, it is palpable, it lives! My only complaint is that I lost a night's sleep, for once I started reading, I could not stop till its end."

David Lifson
Jewish Telegraph Service

About the Author

Ben Finn lives in the Bellerose section of Queens with his wife, Bernice, while his two children and three grandchildren live in California. The rest is in these pages.