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Flee to the Forest
A Saga Across War, Exile and Redemption
By Barry John Cohen
Survival, love and resilience carried across generations.
A sweeping saga of survival, love and resilience across generations, from the shtetls of Lithuania to a moshav in Israel.
Independently published16 October 2025200 pagesEnglish
The story
Inside Flee to the Forest.
- Historical fiction
- Family saga
- War and exile
Flee to the Forest is a sweeping saga of survival, love, and resilience across generations.
In the quiet shtetls of Lithuania during the 1930s, Jewish families lived simply, bound by faith and tradition. With the outbreak of World War II, their lives are shattered. Restrictions tighten, roundups begin, and those who can flee into the forests, where danger and hunger shadow every step. Hidden communities form, hunted by soldiers and collaborators, yet still finding the courage to resist.
Peter and Rifka each survive the execution of their families. Alone, they carry their grief through the war until fate brings them together on the Exodus, bound for Israel. On a moshav, love takes root as Peter transforms barren desert into fields of flowers, each bloom a living memorial to those who never made it out of the forest.
History's shadows reach into the present when Peter, now an old man, faces heartbreak again after his grandson is taken hostage.
Themes & reading experience
What the book is about, beneath the plot.
Drawn from the book itself, not from marketing copy.
01
Survival
Life in hidden forest communities, hunted by soldiers and collaborators.
02
Exile and return
From the Lithuanian shtetls to the Exodus and a new life in Israel.
03
Grief and memory
Fields of flowers planted as a living memorial to those who never got out.
04
Love after loss
Peter and Rifka, two survivors, meeting after everything else has been taken.
05
History reaching forward
The past returning when Peter's grandson is taken hostage.
The reading experience
The story spans generations rather than a single wartime episode, following one family line from the 1930s into the present.
The forest sections are written from inside a hidden community, where resistance and daily survival are the same task.
It ends where many wartime novels stop, asking what the survivors built afterwards, and what the past still asks of them.
Shelves this title sits on
- Historical fiction
- Family sagas
- Second World War narratives
- Jewish history
- Literary fiction
Book details
The publication record.
Only information supplied for this edition is listed. Fields we cannot verify are left out.
- Title
- Flee to the Forest
- Author
- Barry John Cohen
- Publisher
- Independently published
- Publication date
- 16 October 2025
- Language
- English
- Print length
- 200 pages
- ASIN
- B0FWJVSDTQ
- Genre
- Historical fiction, family saga
- Availability
- Available now as a Kindle edition
Formats
- Kindle edition200 pages
- Additional formatsFurther editions to be confirmed
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Read Flee to the Forest.
Available now as a Kindle edition. Further formats and territories are listed here as they are confirmed. For rights, translation, audiobook or distribution enquiries, our team will answer directly.