What I Would Tell You


 Praise for What I Would Tell You
 Once again Liz Tolsma has delivered a novel so carefully researched, so beautifully composed, that the reader can’t help but step into the shoes of the characters. What I Would Tell You is a book that could only be told by a storyteller with a high regard for history, a love for the reader, and a deep well of empathy. Tolsma is such a writer. You’ll want to hold this story close to your heart.
 –Susie Finkbeiner, author of The Nature of Small Birds and Stories That Bind Us
 Liz Tolsma’s stirring dual time novel, What I Would Tell You, sheds light on an unfamiliar and intriguing piece of World War II history combined with a vivid and immersive setting in Greece amid the terror the Third Reich brought to Jews in the city of Salonika. Three generations later in the same city now known as Thessaloniki, a young American woman has her ancestral identity shaken by the results of a DNA test, offering an unforgettable glimpse into how present-day technology can not only connect us to the past but also forever alter our future. A hope-filled, well-written story of two courageous women forging their places in the world, unafraid of confronting history and holding on to their faith.
 –Morgan Tarpley Smith, author and founder of A Split in Time Fiction Facebook Group for split time fiction readers and writers
 Table of Contents
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Chapter 37
 Chapter 38
 Chapter 39
 Chapter 40
 Chapter 41
 Chapter 42
 
 
 What I Would Tell You ©2022 by Liz Tolsma
 Print ISBN 978-1-63609-459-5Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-63609-460-1
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Reproduced text may not be used on the World Wide Web.
 All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
 Cover Model Photograph © Ildiko Neer / Trevillion Images
 Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1810 Barbour Drive, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com
 Our mission is to inspire the world with the life-changing message of the Bible.
 
 Printed in the United States of America.
 
 DEDICATION
 In memory of the 48,000 Salonikan Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Seeing where you lived, where you worked, where you loved touched me deeply. History remembers you. Now I hope the rest of the world will too.
 Far be it from You to erase our memory. Look towards us with mercy, for Yours, O Lord, are mercy and forgiveness. A man, whether he be a year old, or whether he lives a thousand years, what does it profit him? For is it not as if he has never been? Blessed be the True Judge, Who brings death and restores life.FROM THE TZIDUK HADIN, A JEWISH FUNERAL PRAYER
 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.PSALM 49:15 KJV
 AUTHOR’S NOTE
 Because Sephardic Jews were forced to leave Spain in 1492, they brought with them a form of the Spanish language mixed with Hebrew and even some Portuguese. This language is called Ladino. By the 1940s, after over twenty years of Greek rule, Greek was the official language of Thessaloniki and the language of the schools. Many of the younger generation began to lose Ladino. Mathilda and Asher would have been right on the edge and likely would have spoken both, though their parents would have used Ladino exclusively. To avoid having to use too much Greek, one of the hardest languages for native English speakers, I have chosen to have them speaking Ladino to each other and to their Jewish friends. After WWII, when so many of the Jews perished, Ladino almost died out. There is a movement underway to preserve the Ladino language. That is why you’ll see words that appear to be Spanish. Some of the spellings are different GLOSSARY
 LADINO WORDS
 Adyo – goodbye
 Avuela – grandmother
 Ayuda – help
 Buenos diyas – hello
 Denada – you’re welcome
 Dio – God
 Gracyas – thank you
 Mi alma – my soul
 Mi amiga – my friend
 Mi corasón – CHAPTER ONE
 Sunday, April 6, 1941Salonika, Greece
 This is the day I dreaded, the day I feared might come, the day I prayed never would. Greece will never be the same. Will the Nazis treat the Jews here the same