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    The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Survival in War-Torn Shanghai
    Unavailable
    The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Survival in War-Torn Shanghai
    Unavailable
    The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Survival in War-Torn Shanghai
    Ebook543 pages8 hours

    The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Survival in War-Torn Shanghai

    By Daniel Kalla

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    November 9, 1938—Kristallnacht—the Nazis unleash a night of terror for Jews all across Germany. Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Army rampages through China and tightens its stranglehold on Shanghai, a city that becomes the last haven for thousands of desperate European Jews.

    Dr. Franz Adler, a renowned surgeon, is swept up in the wave of anti-Semitic violence and flees to Shanghai with his daughter. At a refugee hospital, Franz meets an enigmatic nurse, Soon Yi "Sunny" Mah. The chemistry between them is intense and immediate, but Sunny's life is shattered when a drunken Japanese sailor murders her father.

    The danger escalates for Shanghai's Jews as the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Facing starvation and disease, Franz struggles to keep the refugee hospital open and protect his family from a terrible fate.

    The Far Side of the Sky focuses on a short but extraordinary period of Chinese, Japanese, and Jewish history when cultures converged and heroic sacrifices were part of the everyday quest for survival.



    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 5, 2012
    ISBN9781429960519
    Unavailable
    The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Survival in War-Torn Shanghai
    Author

    Daniel Kalla

    Daniel Kalla is an internationally bestselling author of many novels, including Fit to Die, The Darkness in the Light, Lost Immunity, The Last High, and We All Fall Down. Kalla practices emergency medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia. Visit him at DanielKalla.com or follow him on Twitter @DanielKalla.

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    Reviews for The Far Side of the Sky

    3.5/5

    7 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Enjoyable read. Not great literature but above average. I knew nothing about German Jews emmigrating to Shanghai so I really enjoyed the historical elements of this novel and novel was filled with history.na"The Far side of the sky "tells the story of war torn Shanghai through the eyes of Dr. Franz Adler, an Austrian Jew who fled Vienna with his daughter Hannah and sister in law Esther and artist friend Ernst. Also telling the story is Soon Yi Mah ( Sunny) a native Chinese nurse who navigates the dangerous streets to volunteer at the Jewish refugee hospital.What is so terribly interesting is how the Japanese have taken over Shanghai, this period of history and how the European Jews fit into this alien culture. Although the Japanese and Chinese are not anti-semetic, they do not all treat the jews very well.
    • 4/5
      The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla opens on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938 in Vienna. When the mob hang his brother from a lamp post, Dr. Franz Adler comes to the decision that he must get his remaining family away from the Nazi’s. His sister-in-law, his daughter and he embark on a ship with their final destination being Shanghai, China. Shanghai is under the control of the Japanese, but German Jews are still being allowed in. The Adler family manage to start a new life in Shanghai, but then on December 7, 1941 comes the attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing the Americans into the war and solidifying the bonds between Germany and Japan. It isn’t long before the Nazi’s are requesting that the Jewish refugees be placed under their control, and Franz Adler is once again wondering how to keep his family safe in such a crazy world. To make matters even more complicated he has fallen in love with an Eurasian nurse, Sunny Mah and he fears that she will suffer by being associated with him. The Far Side of the Sky has captured a time in history when Chinese, Japanese and Jewish cultures came together and this is a story that blends love, terror, hope and despair in equal measure. The author places his story on a wide canvas but generally manages to keep his main characters in the forefront. I did unfortunately find that these characters were a little one dimensional, but this little known time in history was interesting to read of.
    • 4/5
      This book was a very pleasant surprise. I loved the careful attention to detail the author had, the great research, and the engrossing story. It’s a very promising start to this trilogy.The story of the Shanghai ghetto is not a commonly explored area of historical fiction. The author explored its early years and formation through the story of Franz Adler and his family as they escaped Nazi controlled Austria and a local Euroasian (half Chinese-half American) woman caught in the fires of war. The book has great atmospheric details; I could feel the heat of a muggy, Chinese summer and hear the calls of street vendors in the many languages of Shanghai. I liked how the author paid attention to his setting as much as his story.And what a story! From the very beginning with the author opening up with Kristallnacht and Adler family tragedy, the reader is kept engaged throughout the entire work with alternate scenes of harrowing escape, learning to live in a new place, dealing with the many tragedies of war, and growing connections as families are formed. There wasn’t one moment when I was bored or felt like skipping a paragraph.I loved the characters, for the most part. There were moments where Franz and Sunny read as too perfect or lucky. Yet, for the most part, they were very human and engaging. I enjoyed their journeys and coming together in a relationship.Yet, for me, the real characterization stars were the secondary ones. I loved Kubota and Tanaka. They humanized the Japanese in fantastic ways. They showed that while they were brutal, there were shines of empathy and mercy there. They also were their own people when it came to giving up the Jews of Shanghai to the Germans or not. They wouldn’t be dictated to by anyone, even allies.This was a worthy opening to the trilogy. It set the stage of war-torn Shanghai and the various parties that play a part in its story very well. I’m engaged enough in the characters that when I get around to finding and reading book two, it’ll be done eagerly. Highly recommended for historical fiction lovers of the WWII genre.
    • 4/5
      Very good story about WWII and the Jews who managed to escape to Shanghai. Shanghai was the last haven availiable to thousands of Jews trying to escape from the Nazi's. After the attack on Pearl Harbor both the Japanese and the Nazi's were still real threats to the Jews. Intrigue, medical drama and romance. I highly recommend and look forward to part 2 that comes out this month.
    • 2/5
      Jewish surgeon escapes to Shanghai with his child and sister-in-law, who was just hanged from a light pole in the first sentence. Also, half-Chinese woman who wants to be a doctor. Oh, how they love.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book. I had no idea that there were Jews that fled to China to escape Hitler! Daniel Kalla tells a wonderful story revealing such tragedy and heartbreak, but also introduces acts of bravery and tiny glimmers of hope. If you love stories about WWII, you must read-you will be surprised!
    • 4/5
      Originally posted here.

      Yet again, I find myself seriously impressed with the breadth and variety of WWII historical fiction. I honestly feel like whenever I read a WWII novel, whether I like it or not, I learn something new and fascinating. The Far Side of the Sky is no exception. I never previously knew that thousands of German and Austrian Jews escaped to Shanghai.

      The story of these refugees has a double impact, since it allows Kalla to draw connections between the German's treatment of conquered territories and the Japanese treatment. I think this is seriously important for people in America to know. I have witnessed that here in the U.S., our schooling and basic mood towards Germany remains largely negative because of everything that happened in WWII. However, that same stigma definitely does not exist towards Japan or the Soviet Union. While, certainly, there were times where hatred or distrust for those countries eclipsed everything else, I don't think that their crimes have really caught in our consciousness the same way, largely because so much has been written and popularized about Hitler and the Holocaust.

      The Far Side of the Sky begins in Austria on Kristallnacht. Franz's brother is brutally murdered by the SS, as are some of his family's neighbors. His brother's wife, Esther, has a huge gash on her arm. Thankfully, Franz is a doctor and can help. The opening is dramatic and makes its point. Franz Adler must get his family (himself, his daughter Hannah, Esther, and, hopefully, his aging father) out of Austria. Practically the only country accepting Jews at this point, fairly early in the war though it was, was China. The only reason China was open was because China really didn't have much of a say in anything at this point.

      Through sheer luck and connections, Franz and his family escape to Shanghai. Though better, tensions in Shanghai are also running very high. Shanghai is inundated with foreigners, all in an uneasy truce and all ruling over the Chinese. The Japanese, however, are the ones really calling the shots, in their bid to take over the world from the east as Hitler moved from the west. Atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking are covered, although not in detail, quite clearly.

      I found the writing style a bit awkward in the beginning, although I suspect that some of that will be fixed in the final version. Kalla seemed a bit unsure whether he should have his characters use German at all or whether he should just write in English. While I see the temptation to use the actual language, switching to English for the bulk of the conversation is more awkward. The reader can figure out that they would probably be speaking in German.

      The characters are just great, which, as you all know, is the most important aspect of a book to me pretty much every time. I especially loved Sunny, a half-white, half-Chinese nurse in Shanghai. She's so incredibly intelligent and brave. Powerful women ftw! I was so caught up in their story by the end, and so desperate for things to turn out well for them.

      If, like me, you can't get enough WWII fiction, I would definitely recommend searching out The Far Side of the Sky.
    • 4/5
      This book is written from the point of view of two different characters. Franz is a gifted surgeon, but he is a German Jew. After Kristallnacht he is forced to leave Germany with his widowed sister-in-law and disabled daughter. He chooses to go to Shanghai, hoping that he will be able to build a new life for himself and his family. Sunny, a Shanghai nurse, begins to work in the Jewish refugee hospital, where she meets Franz. The two immediately feel a sense of chemistry, but both deny their feelings for a variety of reasons.This was a very well written book. The characters were dynamic and engaging. The plot moved a bit slow at times, but overall maintained a nice pace. I have never read about German Jews moving to Shanghai, and thought it was an interesting piece of history. Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to those interested in historical novels.