The Zion Covenant Series

The Zion Covenant Series by Bodie and Brock Thoene (pronounced  Tay-nee) is a nine book saga of life for Jewish people in the time leading up to World War II and throughout the war.

The titles are:
Vienna Prelude
Prague Counterpoint
Munich Signature
Jerusalem Interlude
Danzig Passage
Warsaw Requiem
London Refrain
Paris Encore
Dunkirk Crescendo

In the first novel, the main character of the story is Elisa Lindheim, a German violinist living and working in Vienna.  Elisa's father is of Jewish heritage but has become a Christian.  When Elisa comes to Germany to visit she discovers that her father has been targeted by the Nazis.  He has sent her mother and brothers away and plans to do the same with Elisa.  As they try to leave Germany her father is arrested.

Because Elisa has Aryan features she is safe from persecution for the time being.  She uses this to help her Jewish friends and becomes part of an underground plan to help Jewish children get to safety.  The next few books highlight Elisa, her friends Leah and Shimon, her husband John Murphy, and others who are a part of the underground.  Each book brings in new characters and they are included and featured as the series moves on.

This series does an exceptional job of painting the picture of the terror that followed the Jews and their helpers throughout Hitler's reign.  It also gives an inside look of how he planned to slowly take over Europe.  We read about the take over in Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, and others.  There are triumphs and tragedies as some are saved and some are not.

I had some knowledge of life in Europe during this time but very little of what was happening in Jerusalem and how Hitler was working with the Islamic leaders to persecute Jews there as well.  Parts of the series show the struggles there for both natives and those who have arrived hoping for refuge.

The first six books are the original series, and due to reader demand the authors re-worked some of their other novels with characters from these to complete 9 books.  I enjoyed all nine; however, the last three were certainly my least favorite.  They focused much less on the characters I had come to love in the first six.

One really unique thing about this series are the prologues.  These are actually flash-forwards and focus on what happened to the instruments (Elisa and many of her friends are part of the Vienna Orchestra) as they outlive their former players.  I love how music is a part of each novel.