Vienna Prelude Author:Bodie Thoene Nazi Darkness Was Descending Upon Europe -- Would THeir Lives Ever Be the Same? — Predating the events of the Zion Chronicles Series, Vienna Prelude opens in pre-WW2 Austria. Elisa Lindheim, a violinist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, is of Jewish heritage but has adopted an Aryan state name. Thus she is able to travel and lay in Germany even... more » though a 1935 law forbade Jewish musicians to do so. Her dear friend Leah, a cellist already introduced to Thoene readers in A Daughter of Zion, and her husband Shimon must escape Austria or perish in the coming Holocaust.
John Murphy, a reporter for the NY Times in Berlin & Austria, becomes linked with English politicians in a plan to overthrow Hitler. Elisa & John's mutual connections with the Jewish Underground entangle them in a web of intrigue, danger and conspiracy that neither could have known.« less