Best Selling Books by Eva Wiseman

Set against the backdrop of plague-ravaged Europe, this spellbinding new novel from one of Canada''s foremost writers of historical fiction for young people will have readers racing to the electrifying climax. Seventeen-year-old Natan has a safe and happy life in fourteenth-century Strasbourg, France. He works with his father in his rag trade, helps his mother around the house, and studies the Torah at night with his young brother, Shmuli. He''s even feeling the first stirrings of love with Elena, the daughter of the master draper who is his father''s best customer. But something is rotten in the streets of Strasbourg. There is tension between the Jewish community and the rest of the citizens, and there is fear as the deadly plague sweeps through towns and cities nearby. When rumors begin to circulate that Jewish residents are contaminating the town''s well water to try to hasten the plague''s arrival in their city, Natan knows that there are dangerous days ahead. When he sees who really poisoned Strasbourg''s water, he is determined to speak the truth and save his people from the false accusations being made against them. But a moment of violence threatens to derail his plans and change his life in ways he could never have imagined.

Chosen for inclusion in the reading list for the 2006 Manitoba Young Readers'' Choice Award It is 1957 and Alexandra’s immigrant family is living the North American dream. Her father is a respected doctor, and she has a warm circle of good friends from church, from girl guides, and from school. Perhaps her mother is nervous and a bit odd – she seems incapable of leaving the house alone – and there is never any talk of the life they left behind in Hungary, but every family has its quirks. Alexandra’s world is turned upside down when she discovers a secret that her parents have kept. They are not Catholic, as Alexandra believes. They are Jewish. Alexandra’s view of her parents, of her friends, and of the society in which she lives is turned upside down by her discovery. Who is she and where does she really belong?

The Second World War was a time of terrible injustices. It was also a time of incredible bravery. My Canary Yellow Star is the remarkable story of one of the last century’s greatest heroes, Raoul Wallenberg, who was responsible for saving as many as 100,000 lives. Young Marta’s life in Budapest has been shattered by the war. First, her school closes. Jews are prohibited from attending classes. Then her father, along with other able-bodied men, is arrested and sent to work digging ditches on the eastern front. The family’s apartment is confiscated, and Marta, her brother, and her mother must share cramped space with her aunt and cousin. Food, warm clothing, and any kind of personal freedom have all but vanished. Jewish life becomes more and more confined as the old people, women, and children are forced into the ghetto. From there, the next step is the waiting cattle cars and the concentration camps. But Marta’s family is lucky. They are numbered among those who could be saved by the efforts of Raoul Wallenberg. Among the few points of hope was this extraordinary Swedish diplomat. Raoul Wallenberg issued papers to thousands of Jews, declaring them to be Swedish citizens. Wallenberg was questioned by the Russians after the war and disappeared, possibly to die in Siberia. An international movement has been in place for decades to press Russia for news of his fate. Although details of his death remain a mystery, he has come to represent courage and justice in the face of great evil.

An informative and powerful novel, The World Outside explores the life of a teenage girl in a fundamentalist Hasidic community who dreams of a different future. Seventeen-year-old Chanie Altman lives the protected life of a Lubavitcher Hasidic girl in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, in 1991. Religion is the most important aspect of her life, and, like other Lubavitcher girls, she is expected to attend a seminary and to marry as soon as she graduates from high school. But Chanie has a beautiful voice and dreams of becoming an opera singer - a profession forbidden to a Hasidic girl. When she meets David, a non-Hasidic Jewish boy, he opens the portals to the world outside her fundamentalist community. The Crown Heights riots break out, and the Lubavitchers are put under siege by their African-American neighbors. A tragedy occurs. Will Chanie stay in the fundamentalist community she has always known in a life that has been prescribed for her, or will she leave it behind to follow her dreams?

Living in Toledo, Spain, and raised a devout Catholic, Isabel cannot know her privileged life is about to unravel. The tolerant society she is used to has been turned upside down by the Spanish Inquisition and the Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada. Now even the walls have ears, and no one is immune to rumor, suspicion, a resentful servant, or a neighbor bearing a grudge. Still, Isabel feels safe from the burnings and torture. After all, her father is a respected physician in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Then Isabel is betrothed to an abusive man she thoroughly dislikes, and for the first time, her doting parents are united against her. The reason becomes all too clear when they reveal to her their family''s Jewish roots. By marrying their only child into a respected old Catholic family, they hope to protect her and dispel any suspicion that they have not always been devout Christians. Despite their efforts, Isabel''s father is arrested and tortured by the Inquisition, and it''s up to Isabel to concoct a desperate plan to save his life - and her own.

A heartbreaking episode in history, explained through the story of a young servant girl in the late 1800s. The year is 1882. A young servant girl named Esther disappears from a small Hungarian village. Several Jewish men from the village of Tisza Eszvar face the ‘blood libel’ — the centuries-old calumny that Jews murder Christian children for their blood. A fourteen-year-old Jewish boy named Morris Scharf becomes the star witness of corrupt authorities who coerce him into testifying against his fellow Jews, including his own father, at the trial. This powerful fictionalized account of one of the last blood libel trial in Europe is told through the eyes of Julie, a friend of the murdered Esther, and a servant at the jail where Morris is imprisoned. Julie is no stranger to suffering herself. An abused child, when her mother dies her alcoholic father separates her from her beloved baby sister. Julie and Morris, bound by the tragedy of the times, become unlikely allies. Although Puppet is a novel, it is based upon a real court case that took place in Hungary in 1883. In Hungary today, the name Morris Scharf has become synonymous with “traitor.” Once again, Eva Wiseman illuminates a heartbreaking episode in history for young readers.

A young Jewish girl and her family are forced to flee Communist Hungary during a period of religious persecution after World War II.

Kanada. The name meant untold riches and promise to Jutka, a young Hungarian girl who was captivated by stories of a vast, majestic country where people were able to breathe free of hatred and prejudice. Freedom was in short supply, but hatred was everywhere in Hungary as hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps during the last year of WWII. Jutka, her friends, and her family are sent to Auschwitz. In that hellish place, there was another Kanada. It was the ironic name given to the storehouse at Auschwitz where the possessions — clothing and jewelry — stripped from the victims were deposited, and where Jutka was put to work. The war may have ended, but it did not end the suffering of many of the inmates of concentration camps. Many had no homes to go to, and if they did, they were not welcome. Hundreds went back to Poland and were murdered. Famished, diseased, and homeless, they lived in the hopelessness of camps, wondering if they could ever find a home in the world. Some went to Israel, but for Jutka there was only one dream left her — the dream of a country full of hope, where she would no longer have to live in fear. Eva Wiseman’s powerful novel describes the war and its long, difficult aftermath with compassion and tenderness.

Het onbezorgde leven van de Hongaarse Marta wordt ruw verstoord door de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Omdat zij joods is, moet zij verhuizen en met andere joodse families in een ''gele-sterhuis'' gaan wonen. Vanaf ca. 12 jaar.

Espagne, 1491. Isabel de Cardosa va avoir quinze ans. Fille d''un médecin très en vue à la cour royale, elle sera bientôt en âge de se marier, elle est promise à un avenir radieux. Ses parents ont d''ailleurs toujours voulu son bien. Or les voilà qui insistent soudain pour qu''elle se fiance avec Luis de Carrera, un jeune homme grossier, violent, voire cruel. Pour marquer cet engagement, ils commandent un bijou précieux : une alouette d''or dans une cage d''argent. Mais cette union suffirait-elle à protéger Isabel et à assurer sa situation ? En Espagne à cette époque, l''Inquisition traque les Juifs et les conversos, ceux qui se sont convertis récemment au christianisme. Sous la conduite de l''effroyable Torquemada, les officiers catholiques emprisonnent des gens, brûlent des livres, sèment la terreur. Isabel comprend que la cage risque de se refermer sur elle et sur sa famille. Comment y échapper ?

"Healing lives is the story of Manitoba''s many esteemed Jewish physicians--from Hiram N. Vineberg, who practised in Portage la Prairie in the 1880s, to the men and women who staff the province''s hospitals and clinics today. Topics covered include the pioneers; the province''s early women doctors; important institutions, such as the Mt. Carmel Clinic and the Mall Medical Group; anti-Semitism and the quota system at the faculty of medicine; and family dynasties."--

Imaginez que vous quittiez votre maison, votre chambre aux rideaux de dentelle, vos livres préférés, votre collection de coquillages, votre meilleure amie et même le garçon qui vient de vous donner votre premier rendez-vous... Imaginez que vous partiez comme ça, du jour au lendemain, sans prévenir, sans même dire au revoir. Nelly Adler vient de fêter ses treize ans quand ses parents lui imposent ce départ aussi précipité que vital. Une décision commandée par l''Histoire. En octobre 1965, la Hongrie sombre dans le chaos. Après l''insurrection populaire menée contre les Communistes au pouvoir, les chars soviétiques envahissent le pays, des cimetières juifs sont profanés, la croix gammée réapparaît. Menacés, les Adler décident de s''enfuir. Commence alors pour Nelly, sa sœur et ses parents la vie précaire et mouvementée d''une famille émigrante. Dans l''épreuve, Nelly se découvre. Il y a la Nelly d''avant, rieuse, insouciante, amoureuse. Et il y a la nouvelle Nelly, qui rêve de vivre au même endroit semaine après semaine, d''aller à l''école, de se faire des amis, de dormir dans un vrai lit... d''être à nouveau une personne comme les autres.

Julie a une amie, Esther. Elles vivent dans un village de Hongrie,Tizla-Eszlar, elles sont pauvres, et la vie est dure. Le père de Julie la terrorise et la bat. Mais il y a aussi de la douceur, les paroles tendres et sages et aimantes de sa mère, du soleil, des spectacles forains. Et les yeux bruns de Moric Scharf, un jeune garçon juif timide que Julie aime bien. Un jour de printemps Esther disparaît. Et la rumeur gronde, une rumeur venue du fond des âges, qui veut que les juifs soient responsables de tous les maux, le pogrom menace, les cris montent. On jette en prison les hommes juifs. Les villageois se rassemblent, et un simulacre de procès se prépare. Tout a l’air décidé d’avance. Rien ne se passera comme prévu. Eva Wiseman s’est souvenue de ce fait divers réel que sa mère évoquait quand elle était petite, elle a rassemblé des tonnes de documentation, elle a écrit un roman inoubliable, qui serre le coeur et tient en haleine, parce qu’il démonte les mécanismes de la peur, de la lâcheté, de la violence collective. On ne peut plus oublier Julie Vamosi, toute petite devant les juges, devant la haine raciste, mais fidèle à son amie, et forte de son amour pour les êtres.