Surviving WWII in Shanghai--the one place Jews without visas could escape the Nazis--a German girl chronicles her ordeal in a diary. Later, her estranged American-born daughter finds it, discovering suprises about her deceased mother, and rediscovering herself. ...a deeply affecting novel of mother-daughter love, the tolls it takes and the gifts it bestows...in pitch-perfect prose. -- Ellen Feldman, author of The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank ...a fascinating journey...[to the] Jewish Settlement in Shanghai during World War II...beautifully rendered... -- Joanne Greenberg, author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden ...a finely engrossing read--particularly Cuba's true-to-life depiction of misery endured by the Jewish refugees who...sought...safety -- Mary Swartz, co-author of The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of The Japanese and The Jews During World War II Cuba's engrossing novel provides the reader with a fascinating account of Jews living in Shanghai during the Nazi era. -- Jewish Book World, Spring, 2006 There is a good story here...the author shows a great deal of promise...the novel certainly deserves a read. -- Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com During the Nazi era, nearly 20,000 Jews sought safety in the unlikely haven of Shanghai-the one place that would have them without a visa. SHANGHAI LEGACY by Marion Cuba, a novel of historical fiction, chronicles this pocket of time-1938-1945. The book weaves actual events with an imagined mother-daughter drama of dark secrets, generational conflict, and the search for love and fulfillment. The fictional Hannah, like many Jews at the time, is forced to flee an affluent life in Berlin to the squalor of Shanghai. She endures a harrowing adolescence, marries young, and finally makes it to America. There she starts her own family. At Hannah's death, her adult daughter, Maya, now a New York suburban empty-nester, perceives her mother as distant and severe, even cruel-until a German diary shows up. It reveals the courageous choices and sacrifices the young Hannah had to make in the Jewish settlement of Shanghai. Thus begins an emotional odyssey that forces Maya to re-examine her own complacent life-her marriage to an often-absent husband, her neglected career as a sculptor, her outworn child-centered existence, and, most significantly, her harsh view of her mother. She has choices Hannah never had, Maya realizes after twenty-five years as a dutiful wife and mother. Is she daring enough to reach for them? Based on years of research, Shanghai Legacy dramatizes how a survivor's secret hardships affect-and afflict-the next generation. The novel crosscuts between the Shanghai ghetto with its filthy alleys, constant hunger, and struggle to survive.to contemporary Manhattan with its vibrant culture, unique glamour, and endless possibility. A Reading Guide at the back of the book provides discussion questions for this lesser-known, provocative chapter of the Holocaust. Learning of the Jewish refuge in Shanghai, I knew I had to entwine this little-known chapter of the Nazi era with my fiction. After much research, SHANGHAI LEGACY was born. Sweeping between the squalor and struggle in World War II Shanghai to the glamour and opportunity of present-day Manhattan, this mother-daughter story allowed me to probe themes that haunt me--and so many of us. Namely, the crucible of the Holocaust: how those who were saved were also scathed. How their experience affects--and afflicts--the next generation. Crowds of beggars in their rags were our only greeters. The air is so damp and cold, it bit at our faces and through our clothes like whips. I wept bitterly in Mother's arms. "Hush, meine Hannah." We should be grateful, she told me. Shanghai is the only place in the world that will have us without a visa. Right there, at the reeking filthy shore, she made Papa and me recite a blessing. My lips repeated Shehechayanu, but I was not thankful to God for allowing us to reach this day. Inside, I was cursing our luck. November 30, 1938 Marion Cuba has worked as a writer in advertising, promotion, and nonprofit fundraising. She served as editor of the New York Chapter of Hadassah Newsletter and, for many years, as an Adult Literacy Tutor. She attended Brandeis University and the University of Michigan, earning a B.A. in English. Like Maya, in SHANGHAI LEGACY, she sculpts and, in addition to writing fiction and poetry, designs jewelry.