Ten Green Bottles
The True Story of One Family's Journey from War-torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai
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4.4 • 68 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Survival Against All Odds: A Family's Journey from Vienna to Shanghai
Delve into the deeply moving story of Ten Green Bottles, a testament to the fierce human spirit to survive against all odds. Based on the raw and riveting life-stories shared by Nini Karpel to her daughter Vivian Jeanette Kaplan, the narrative explores the grim times when ordinary people became heroes.
Born amidst the romantic charm of Vienna in the 1920s, Nini cherished her idyllic life. However, as the 1930s saw Hitler rise to power, an undercurrent of hate swept the city, and antisemitism, an unimaginable horror in the socially advanced world of Vienna, became a reality.
In search of refuge, the Karpel family found themselves in Shanghai, China, about seven thousand miles away from home. The city was a bewildering mix of dramatic contrasts, with rampant diseases and poverty for many, and unbelievable wealth for a few.
For Nini's family, this incongruent place became their new home and sanctuary amidst the raging war. Immerse yourself in this heroic tale of survival that travels from the grandeur of Vienna to the chaos of Shanghai, resonating with the strength of human endurance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
For a brief period between 1938 and 1941, roughly 20,000 Jews found refuge from the Nazis in the one place not requiring visas, police certificates or proofs of financial independence: Shanghai. In this spellbinding memoir, Kaplan recounts her family's transition from the "delight" of Vienna to "a mysterious blob on the map, China." Writing in a fictional present tense, Kaplan narrates this evocative, moving saga in the voice of her mother, Nini. The halcyon early years of cafes and skiing end as the Nazis rise to power. Still, in 1936 when Nini meets her future husband, Poldi, a Polish refugee, she is "adamant that could never happen here." It does. By 1939, her family will make the month-long, 7,000-mile journey to Shanghai. Amid "pervasive poverty... overpowering heat... strange faces," Nini and Poldi find an anxious and precarious normality, but after Pearl Harbor, they struggle terribly. With the war's end comes the shock of learning what became of family and friends left behind in Europe. Although Vienna is rebuilt and a daughter (the author) is born, Communist troops arrive, and Nini and Poldi move again, this time to Canada. Kaplan's intimate knowledge of her parents' story makes it seem as if she experienced it herself, and her remarkable achievement will make readers feel that way, too.
