“[Gerson’s] impassioned tale spans decades, continents, languages, and coping mechanisms, and it provides a significant voice to a lesser known experience of Polish Jews. Gerson doesn’t shy away from the hard realities their families faced and the legacy and consequences that remain for current and future generations worldwide.”
"The Wanderers is a family memoir unlike any other, crafted by a writer who is equal parts detective, historian, and dutiful daughter. Epic in scope, it crosses three continents, from twenty-first century Los Angeles, to war-torn Polish shtetls, Ukrainian crossroads, and the windswept villages of Central Asia. This book is an unforgettable testament to the resolve and strength of a family, and a people."
“Gerson’s powerful, expert inquiry into her family’s Holocaust experience skillfully illuminates our responsibility to carry forth the stories of those who came before us.”
“Self-reflective, committed to truth telling, and painfully aware that victimhood does not imply innocence, Gerson takes the reader on an enthralling journey through multiple hells and layer upon layer of tragedy for more than one people.”
“The Wanderers is a fascinating tale told by a sleuth with the instincts of a bloodhound, uncovering long-lost mysteries that offer warnings for the future.”
“The Wanderers is a heavy-duty journalistic adventure told with novelistic verve. Along the way, you can’t help but be drawn in by the almost mystical romance that develops between two women, passing forward a shared inheritance of survival.”
“A uniquely vivid story of Holocaust wandering, told as a tale of modern self-discovery.”
“In crisp, unadorned prose, Gerson restores a neglected history; notes its contemporary resonances, as people are uprooted by violence across the globe; and tenderly chronicles the relationship that brought this history to light. It’s a profoundly moving account.”