Trade Paperback
384 pages
Sep 2004
WaterBrook Press

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

King’s Ransom is a little known drama played out between the tiny country of Bulgaria and the rolling might of Hitler’s 3rd Reich. Caught between the Nazi’s and Stalin’s Russia, Tsar Boris of Bulgaria saved the lives of nearly the entire Bulgarian Jewish population, and kept the Bulgarian soldiers out of World War II.

King’s Ransom told a story I’d never heard before. I didn’t know that not a single Jew in Nazi occupied Bulgaria was sent to a concentration camp. While Jews from all the rest of Europe were being shipped by the millions to Auschwitz and other death camps, Tsar Boris used diplomacy, deceit and out right defiance to keep Bulgarian Jews alive.

It is a detailed historical record of an act of true nobility by a good king. Although fictionalized, nearly all the key character’s public acts are true. Within this life and death struggle, two star-crossed lovers, Daria the Jewish governess for the King’s children, and Dobri, a Royal body guard, fall in love against all odds.

The drama inherent in Tsar Boris’ many face-to-face meetings with Adolph Hitler, and the methodical reasoning used to explain away irrational hatred, made King’s Ransom a book to be lingered over.

One especially inspirational part of the book is the courage of Bulgarian’s Orthodox Church leaders and the sacrifices they were willing to make to stop an unspeakable evil. The Christian church leadership in Bulgaria was united in their rejection of the anti-Semitic fever that swept Europe. -- Mary Connealy, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

Set during the darkest days of World War II, King’s Ransom tells the heroic story of Tsar Boris III, King of Bulgaria, and his extraordinary efforts to save his country’s Jewish population from Hitler’s concentration camps. Aware of the price he might pay for his risks, Boris faced the Third Reich with courage and resolve, firm in his Christian convictions that would not permit him to abandon nearly 50,000 Jews. Boris, along with members of the Orthodox Church, Jewish religious leaders, and others, ultimately ensured that no Bulgarian Jews lost their lives to Hitler’s regime.

Based on a True Story

Historically accurate, Boris’s quest to save Bulgaria’s Jews is interwoven with the love story of Daria, the Jewish attendant to the Bulgarian royal family, and Dobri, a sergeant in the king’s guard. With courageous characters and passionate storytelling, King’s Ransom reveals how individuals acting on faith can change the course of history.