This is going to be a fantastic addition to the Holocaust unit my Honors students complete. It is such a different and necessary perspective with lessons everyone needs to learn. So excited to adopt this text!

I almost never quit reading a book without finishing it. I could not finish this one. I made it through 65% according to my app. I think the story itself of the authors yia-yia’s family’s heroic efforts to save the Jewish family in Greece was fascinating. I wish the book stayed more focused on that—I would have loved to have heard even more detail there. I found the author’s writing style to be very hard to follow, jumping from one timeframe to another, with no real sense of cohesion between them. I tried hard, but ultimately gave up when the book never found a rhythm to the writing. The amount of narrative that felt too far disconnected from the main story became wearisome and tedious. I really wish this had been better edited, the scope of the book narrowed, and that it had been presented more or less in chronological order.

A lot of the literature of WWII focuses on the Holocaust as it took place in Germany and France and Poland for the most part, so I found this book fascinating because it dealt with an aspect that I knew nothing about - the story of how some Jews in Greece were hidden and saved during the war by some good people who believed in the goodness of all people. This is a beautiful tribute to Yvette Manessis Corporon's grandparents and to the people of the small island of Erikousa.

After the war, lives go on and her grandparents eventually move to the US and they lose contact with the Savvas family who they saved. Corporon shares wonderful stories of her childhood growing up in a Greek family and her special bond with her grandparents. She is captivated by her grandmother's stories and makes it her mission to find out what happened to the Jewish family. While heartbreaking and gut wrenching as all Holocaust stories are, this is a beautiful story of the courage of the people who put their lives at risk. It reminded me of others who did the same as depicted in My Mother's Secret, and Schindler's List and Irena's Children. I loved how the author put so much time and effort into bringing the descendants of these two families together which brought them the joy and sadness of their shared past and created an everlasting bond.

As with other Holocaust stories, the message is so important and so clear - we can't forget and we can't let it happen again. The saddest thing is that the hate does still exist and it should be a wake up call to all of us that hate crimes still happen as they did to members of Corporan's family by a neo Nazi who thought they were Jewish. Yet , her cousin Mindy still found hope and the means to move forward. Amazingly strong people in the face of loss which is hard to imagine. However, I found it disheartening and scary as we recently saw the crowds of neo Nazis carrying torches and chanting Nazi slogans of old in the streets of Charlottesville. This makes it so imperative that the continued telling and reading of Holocaust stories continues because as the inscription on a Corfu Holocaust memorial statue reads "Never Again For Any Nation " .

It's not perfect in the telling as I found it a little repetitive in parts, but perfect in the caring and love and courage shown by these people. Highly recommended. It's an important story to read and remember.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Howard Books through NetGalley.

Yvette Manessis Corporon knew that her family made a brave choice during WWII when her grandparents and their neighbors hid a Jewish family. She has heard the stories of their time together on the island of Erikousa and knows that Savvas and his family survived the war. But no one seems to know where the family went after the war ended. Yvette sets out to discover what happened to them, in the hopes that her family and their family can be reunited. She is overjoyed when she finally finds them, but her joy quickly turns to grief when her relatives are murdered by a neo-Nazi. Yvette and her relatives struggle to make sense of the knowledge that the bravery and joy of the past do not keep them safe from the evil of the present.

Something Beautiful Happened is one of those books that is both universal and specific. Few of us can claim that our grandparents saved someone's life during World War II, but all of us will learn that there is evil in the world that can hurt those we love. What do we do with that grief and anger?

There are moments when the writing in this book veers a bit to the cliche but ultimately, we have two choices when tragedy strikes: either we fall apart or we find those small, beautiful moments that carry us through. Yvette travels around the world and encounters many people, but she finds that they are bound together by the power of story and the unexpected discovery of hope. As the generations who survived the Holocaust are getting older, we must seize our last opportunities to hear about their lives. Their stories of bravery and kindness in one of humanity's darkest moments can give us the strength to hope that good does come after evil.

Something Beautiful Happened
A Story of Courage and Survival in the Face of Evil
By Yvette Manessis Corporon
Howard Books September 2017
320 pages
Read via Netgalley

A moving story of a family and their experience with the Nazi's and how that hatred is still affecting Jews and others today. The author's family were residents of a Greek island that hid a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation. After hearing her Yia-Yia tell the stories the author decides that she must do what she can to track down the family members. At the same time, her family is rocked by an anti-Semitic attack in the United States that kills two of her family members. It is a must read for anyone who likes reading about the Holocaust. One that actually has somewhat of a happy ending.

Something Beautiful Happened

A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil
by Yvette Manessis Corporon

Howard Books

Biographies & Memoirs

Pub Date 12 Sep 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Something Beautiful Happened through Howard Books and Netgalley:

Seven decades after her Grandmother helped hide a Jewish Family on a Greek island during the Second World War a woman sets out to track their descendants. 1,795 Jewish peoplecweee transported to Corfu and of those only 121 survived. In October of 1944 British Soldiers arrived and freed the Island of German Occupation. But even the end of the Jewishoccupation did not mean it was safe for the Jews returning home. The once vibrant community was reduced to ash.

Yvette and her family wrestled with the tragedy in their own eyes, the stories of Holocaust survivors helped them to make sense of the present.

This book brings the past and present together in interweaving storylines. It reminds us of the power of Faith, the importance of kindness, and the courage and the courage to stand up for what's right in the face of evil.

I give Something Beautiful Happenened five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!

I have read a lot of books about the Holocaust but never anything from this area of Europe. I have mixed feelings about the book.

I appreciated the story of the Greek island of Erikousa and how they banded together to save a Jewish family. It’s so helpful and important to hear stories of bravery and courage in hard times. It was fascinating seeing how the author and so many others worked to piece together what happened to this family. The ending was largely satisfying except for one thing.

After all the meticulous research and searching, they find that one person may still be alive but they don’t pull that thread to see what unravels. It felt as if there was a gaping hole.

The other difficult thing about this book is the vast amount of people covered. It felt like each person mentioned had their story told regardless of if they were really connected to the Savvas family or not. Rather than being focused on the Savvas family, the book was more focused on the hunt for the Savvas family. The story jumps around from Greece to Israel to Kansas to Rwanda and the result is that it feels a little disjointed. It could have been a lot tighter and more focused, I felt. This book wasn’t a fast read but I felt I had to read it fast to keep all the people and connections straight.

For me, I find that when books jump around between stories, I find one story more compelling and interesting than the other. This affects the pace for me. Some parts lag while other parts don’t.

I would give a cautious recommendation of this book. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to those interested in genealogy research or to those who appreciate a slower paced, intricate, true story. If you’re more interested in mysteries and suspense or even historical fiction where the story is more fleshed out, this may not be the book for you.

Thank you to Howard Books for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. I was not required to leave a positive review. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars. What an incredible story - at times it was heartbreaking and at times it made you rejoice for humanity. Yvette Corporan was told a story by her grandmother - a story of Greeks on a small island hiding 5 Jews from the Nazis and protecting them during Nazi occupation of the island. This story stuck with her but after her grandmother passes away, Yvette wants to know more and starts to research the story. After months of meticulous research and many dead ends, she starts to piece together the story and finds surviving family members of the Jewish family.

However, during this time, two members of her own family are murdered by a Neo-Nazi at a Jewish community center, despite being devout Christians. Yvette has to reconcile how to deal with that tragedy while trying to reunite the families of the Greek survivors and the families that saved them.

I thought this book was really good. It was inspiring to read stories of such bravery during WWII, how people risked their own lives and safety to do what was right. The author's research and determination were astounding, when she reached one dead end, she just kept looking (with some help from genealogists) and is able to bring together such a beautiful of survivors.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book in exchange for a review.

What an incredible story. The book was meticulously and thoroughly researched and the narrative was superb. I was so engrossed in this book I couldn't put it down. Corporon sought to tell the story of how her grandmother and and entire island near Corfu hid a Jewish family from the Nazis. The author relentlessly searched for answers for many questions that remained, along with the assistance of others. Read this book, it will give you hope for the future.

<b>**I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**</b>

<b>Introduction</b>
Yvette Manessis Corporan immediately strikes the reader as being the type of person who is well-connected, well-educated, and well-spoken, all while remaining humble and welcoming. Her life is fascinating in many aspects, and yet in another way it's another beautiful example of the typical American story - descended from hard-working immigrants who are proud of their culture and yet thankful for the opportunities afforded them in the United States. As she sought to tell her family's version of this tale, she stumbled across so many wonderful details and life lessons. In very easily read, almost conversational (dare I say it felt like an interview?) prose, Corporan weaves a tale that when viewed from afar would resemble the beautiful intricately woven clothing of the Greek people of Erikousa.

<b>The story</b>
Yvette Manessis Corporan becomes obsessed with uncovering the details of a story told to her by her grandmother. It's a story of courage, loyalty, and friendship across dangerous and age-old cultural divides. Yvette's grandmother had been one of many villagers who daringly helped to conceal a Jewish family amidst their largely Christian (Greek Orthodox) community during WWII. There were knocks at the door almost every night, but they never knew who would be on the other side - Nazi soldiers out for blood, or the poor Jewish family they had befriended coming to teach sewing lessons while the children slept peacefully. As Corporan dug deeper, she found family members of the survivors and was able to orchestrate an elaborate but beautiful reunion between the Jewish descendants and the Greek islanders. Even as Corporan worked tirelessly on this reunion, her own extended family were brutally attacked, gunned down by a modern-day would-be Nazi who mistakenly thought they were Jewish. The stories flash back and forth as Corporan seeks to reconcile the two scenarios. This book is a beautiful journey through shared memories, beautiful cultures, and moving introspection.

<b>Literary analysis</b>
This book is very well-written. It does bounce around a bit, and there are times where the author switches names back and forth as well. As long as you can keep up and not get distracted (I had no problems), this novel is a pleasure to read. I found no grammatical errors in this first reading.

<b>Conclusion</b>
I recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy books on personal journeys (such as "Eat, Pray, Love") or historical reflection (such as books about Holocaust survivors).

Oh my goodness, my fellow readers, this is a beautiful piece of non- fiction that we (or at least I) needed tonight. The author's family were residents of a Greek island that hid a Jewish family during the Nazi occupation. The author decides that she must do what she can to track down the family members. At the same time, her family is rocked by a anti-Semitic attack in the United States that kills two of her family members. All I have to say, is grab the flipping KLEENEX! Thank you to author Yvette Manessis Corporon as I will certainly not forget this beautiful story.

I had a hard time getting into this book. I was interested in the story, but the writing style needs to heavy editing. Since I did not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

I am a huge reader of WWII and Holocaust fiction and non-fiction but this book was a miss for me. I did not think there was enough story to warrant such a long book first of all, and the writer jumped all over the place which made me confused at times. It is such a beautiful story, but this could have been written in half the amount of pages.

This book follows the story of the author's family, in both the past and the present. In the past, her family helped protect a Jewish family living on an island in Greece from the Nazis. In the present, 2 of her family members are shot by a white supremacist. I enjoyed getting to know the stories of all of the people in this book.