The Shiva Bandit: A Novel

Summary

During World War II, a Jewish mother and her two daughters flee from Nazi-occupied Poland to Uzbekistan, in this sweeping tale of resilience and connection despite impossible odds from the acclaimed author of The View from Stalin’s Head and Hotel Cuba.

At the dawn of World War II, Devora Chesnok’s husband joins the fight, leaving her to care for her two daughters and run the family pharmacy. But when Germany invades her village, Devora and her daughters are forced to make a desperate escape eastward through the Soviet Union to reach Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the so-called “City of Bread.” Under the watchful eye of the Communist regime, they compete to survive among nearly a million artists, soldiers, and refugees who’ve overwhelmed the city, seeking shelter.

As Devora struggles to support her family and search for her missing husband, she must decide whether to trust the connections she makes in this new land, including Shimon and Sonya Barofsky, influential Soviet literary elites, and Maryam-Otin, a female Muslim poet whose unlikely friendship challenges Devora to reconsider her faith and family. Threaded through the story is the mysterious Shiva Bandit folktale from Devora’s childhood, which plays an uncanny and decisive role in her family’s ultimate fate.

The Shiva Bandit is a sweeping historical novel inspired by true events that spans decades and continents, examining exile and resilience, the challenges of mother-daughter relationships and female friendships, and the power of storytelling to shape our lives.