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Name: Something Beautiful Happened: A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil: Corporon, Yvette Manessis: 9781501161131: Amazon.com: Books
Price: 12.98 USD
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Rating: 4.4 (524 reviews)

Yvette Manessis Corporon

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Something Beautiful Happened: A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil Paperback – July 3, 2018

by Yvette Manessis Corporon (Author)

524 ratings

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In this “engrossing peek into a little-known chapter of World War II, and one family’s harrowing tale of finding the lost pieces of its own history” (Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Liar Temptress Solider Spy), a woman sets out to track down the descendants of the Jewish family her grandmother helped hide seventy years earlier.

Yvette Manessis Corporon grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories about how the people of the small Greek island Erikousa hid a Jewish family—a tailor named Savvas and his daughters—from the Nazis during World War II. Nearly 2,000 Jews from that area died in the concentration camps, but even though everyone on Erikousa knew Savvas and his family were hiding on the island, no one ever gave them up, and the family survived the war.

Years later, Yvette couldn’t get the story of the Jewish tailor out of her head. She decided to track down the man’s descendants—and eventually found them in Israel. Their tearful reunion was proof to her that evil doesn’t always win. But just days after she made the connection, her cousin’s child was gunned down in a parking lot in Kansas, a victim of a Neo-Nazi out to inflict as much harm as he could. Despite her best hopes, she was forced to confront the fact that seventy years after the Nazis were defeated, remainders of their hateful legacy still linger today.

As Yvette and her family wrestled with the tragedy in their own lives, the lessons she learned from the survivors of the Holocaust helped her confront and make sense of the present. In beautiful interweaving storylines, the past and present come together in a nuanced, heartfelt “story of compassion and collective resistance” with “undeniable emotional power” (Kirkus Reviews).

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“A story of compassion and collective resistance during World War II… there is undeniable emotional power in the connections her story helps forge between the living and the dead, some of whom might be otherwise forgotten.” ― Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Yvette Manessis Corporon is a three-time Emmy Award–winning writer, author, and producer. Her debut novel, When The Cypress Whispers (Harper, 2014), has been translated into fourteen languages and was an international bestseller. She has received the Silurian Award for Excellence in Journalism and the New York City Council and Comptroller’s Award for Greek Heritage and Culture. Yvette lives in New York with her husband and two children.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Something Beautiful Happened introduction THEY WEREN’T REALLY GONE AFTER ALL
New York

April 13, 2014

It was 1 a.m. when I walked into Nico’s room. His back was to me, but he was still awake. I knew he would be. We all were.

Earlier that day we had gotten a call that didn’t seem real. It still doesn’t, and I imagine it never will. My 14-year-old nephew, Reat, and his grandfather, Bill, were dead.

Bill and Reat had gone to the Jewish Community Campus in Overland Park, Kansas, so Reat could attend a singing audition. They were shot and killed by a white supremacist neo-Nazi as they exited their car. The man who killed them shouted “Heil Hitler!” when he was arrested and said he wanted to know what it felt like to kill Jews before he died. He murdered three beautiful people that day, none of whom were Jewish.

I sat on the edge of Nico’s bed and reached my hand out to stroke his hair. My sweet nine-year-old boy rolled over to face me, his big brown eyes brimming with tears. And then he spoke, breaking my heart for the second time that day.

“I’m so sad, Mom,” Nico said. “I don’t understand. When you told me about our family and what they did, you told me the Nazis were gone and that the people were saved. How could this happen?”

Nico was right. I did tell him that the Nazis were gone. And I did tell him that the family was safe. I’d thought they were. But then I was branded a liar that day, our family’s history rewritten by a hate-filled man on a mission to kill Jews.

Nico knew the story as well as I did. Again and again I’d told him how during World War II, my Greek grandmother, my yia-yia, was one of a group of islanders who helped hide a Jewish tailor named Savvas and his family from the Nazis. Despite the risk, despite the danger, and despite the fact that they were told that anyone found helping Jews would be killed along with their entire families, not one person on our tiny Greek island gave up the secret of Savvas. Not one. Savvas and his girls were saved and they all survived.

For the past several years, Nico had witnessed my personal journey, my search to find Savvas’s family, the girls my yia-yia had risked everything for. After countless dead ends and disappointments, I had finally found them. They were a beautiful family, including five people who are alive today because of what happened on our tiny island 70 years ago. We had celebrated with the descendants of Savvas’s family. We celebrated and cried, because they had survived; goodness had prevailed and the Nazis were gone. That was on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

Three days later, on Sunday, April 13, 2014, we cried again, because Bill and Reat were dead and we realized that the Nazis weren’t really gone after all.

“I don’t understand,” Nico asked. “How could this happen?”

How do you accept that tragic irony is a cruelty reserved not merely for Shakespearean plot twists?

How do you admit to your son that monsters exist outside of fairy tales?

How do you explain to a child something you can’t understand yourself?

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Howard Books; Reprint edition (July 3, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 150116113X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501161131
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #733,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,374 in Jewish Holocaust History
- #3,950 in Religious Leader Biographies
- #21,830 in Memoirs (Books)

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Yvette Manessis Corporon

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Yvette Manessis Corporon is a three-time Emmy Award–winning writer, author, and producer. Her debut novel, When The Cypress Whispers (Harper, 2014), has been translated into fourteen languages and was an international bestseller. She has received the Silurian Award for Excellence in Journalism and the New York City Council and Comptroller’s Award for Greek Heritage and Culture. Yvette lives in New York with her husband and two children.

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Customers find this book to be a powerful and well-written autobiographical novel, with one customer particularly moved by the dual stories of past and present atrocities. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer noting it's a quick read. Customers appreciate the family history research presented in the book.

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29 customers mention "Story quality"29 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's story powerful and well-written, describing it as a memoir of a family and a tale of courage, with one customer particularly moved by the dual narratives of past and present atrocities.

"...It is a beautiful story of resilience and bravery during the Holocaust...." Read more

"This author writes beautifully. This true story of the hollocaust and family history research will have you wanting to write your own families life..." Read more

"...These events anchor this memoir to provide optimistic life lessons by honoring the good that can grow out of evil events...." Read more

"...I was very moved by the duel stories of past and present atrocities and the resilience of the survivors. Great read." Read more

15 customers mention "Readability"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be an excellent and wonderful read, with one customer noting it's a quick read.

"...Great read." Read more

"...Absolutely worth the read." Read more

"...I had no idea this occurred on the Greek islands. An amazing, vivid account of courage, love, and family...." Read more

"...Sensational. A big thank you to the author for investing and sharing." Read more

7 customers mention "Writing quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book.

"This author writes beautifully...." Read more

"...And as I read it on audio, I'll say that the narrator did a fine job...." Read more

"This book is beautifully written. I finished it over a week ago and am still thinking about the people in this book and how their lives intertwined...." Read more

"...Recommend for all who like a nice well written story." Read more

6 customers mention "Family history"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's family history research, with one customer noting how it helps people reconnect with their heritage.

"...This true story of the hollocaust and family history research will have you wanting to write your own families life experiences and to start and..." Read more

"...An amazing, vivid account of courage, love, and family. I want to be a better person after reading this true story!..." Read more

"...the story’s main focus was on hope, faith, strength, love, support, family." Read more

"...that the author was able to piece together the past and give some folks back their history. I also found the modern events inspirational...." Read more

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Beth
Such a beautiful true and tragic story
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2024
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I had just read The Little Liar by Mitch Albom. I recommended this book to a friend who told me about Something Beautiful Happened which had been written by one of her other friends. It is a beautiful story of resilience and bravery during the Holocaust. I thought I knew so much about the genocide that occurred during World War II, but I had no idea that the Jewish people who lived in Greece were also persecuted. I recommend this book as well as The Little Liar.

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Kim
Wonderful read, if your into history and family history research, you will love this book
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
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This author writes beautifully. This true story of the hollocaust and family history research will have you wanting to write your own families life experiences and to start and delve further into family history research beyond names and dates. We all have family stories, let's keep them alive like Yvette has so our families are not forgotten. Thanks for writting this book, Yvette

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Clif Hostetler
A Holocaust Story and a Recent Hate Crime,
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2021
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A holocaust story and a recent hate crime, two events separated by seventy years and apparently unrelated to each other except for the fact that they involved members of the author’s extended family. These events anchor this memoir to provide optimistic life lessons by honoring the good that can grow out of evil events.

The author grew up hearing stories about her grandmother’s youthful years living on a small Greek island. Included with those stories was an account of a Jewish tailor and his daughters who were able to hide from the Nazis on the island during WWII. After her grandmother’s death the author became curious about this story and began efforts to locate descendants of this Jewish family. Just when this effort began to meet with some success the author received news that her nephew and his grandfather had been gunned down in a hate crime on April 13, 2014 in Overland Park, Kansas.

This recent tragic event becomes part of this memoir's story while asking the question, how does one go on with life after events like this. The book describes efforts made in response to both events that were made to honor the good in life and spread better understanding in the battle against hate. As the author recounts these events we also learn about the history of removal of Jews from Greece by the Nazis as well as a description of the author's childhood as part of the Greek immigrant community in America.

The book tells the story of the founding of the Faith Always Wins Foundation to promote "dialogue for the betterment of our world through kindness, faith and healing." It was founded by the mother and daughter of the nephew and grandfather who were slain in Overland Park. Also, the book's narrative climaxes with an account of a reunion of descendants of the WWII era story on the small Greek island to honor and memorialize the bravery of those involved with that incident. All these events are described with words saturated in emotion.

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Lynda
Powerful true story
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2021
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I think what made this story so powerful is that it becomes very apparent that society has not changed. Sadly there are still a lot of haters among us. I am reading this a month after the storming of the Capitol. I was very moved by the duel stories of past and present atrocities and the resilience of the survivors. Great read.

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2 people found this helpful

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Thol M. Le
Temperance
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2019
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I don't want to be overly cynical in my review. In short, this book tells a useful narrative. I am simply giving three stars because:

1. That's about what it is, imo.
2. When I saw that this book was 85 percent five stars, I had heightened expectations. And after reading it, I can see why it's that high.

A. There is a certain group of purveyors who over-rate anything holocaust related in their zeal.
B. This author's own circle of TV network associates probably rated this high and helped to artificially inflate the numbers.

As for the work, it tells a good core story; but like a true TV exec, she knows how to fluff it all up with dramatic sequences, likely embellished accounts, and other tricks of the trade. If you're a serious history seeker, you'll find this to be but a morsel (to perhaps use a not very sensitive metaphor). If you are looking for humanistic flare, then this could be the story for you, all the same. And as I read it on audio, I'll say that the narrator did a fine job. And if the price is right, then maybe you roll the dice on this one if something piques your interest.

I'll end on a blunt note. I put a lot of stock in ratings (4 and 5 stars) when choosing a book (relative to price). For me, this is probably a book that would be more on par with something in the forty to fifty percent five star range. And in some quality, it is maybe even comparable to books hitting the sixties. But eight-five percent is a farce, and that is why I am tempering the ratings that are out there. Otherwise, I probably would've just left this one alone. I usually just tend to rate stuff at either extreme and leave the middle stuff be.

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9 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer
Wonderful true story of mankind's care for mankind
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2018
Verified Purchase
Wonderful true story of mankind's care for mankind. Several surprises also appear in the author's life in her search for the verification of her grandmother's oft-told story. Occasionally it is soporific. The story touches the heart and opens the mind. Mrs. Corporon gives us much information about life as it was and as it is on the tiny island from whence her ancestors hail. Absolutely worth the read.

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J Sereque
Wow
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2018
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My father is an avid WWII buff. I know more than most my age about the Holocaust. I had no idea this occurred on the Greek islands. An amazing, vivid account of courage, love, and family. I want to be a better person after reading this true story! Thank you, Yvette, for sharing this!

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Top reviews from other countries

Aris
Amazing True Story
Reviewed in Germany on October 7, 2019
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Congrats on a wonderful book.
A story that had to be told

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lynda robinson
Excellent service
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2020
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Excellent product and really good delivery

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ginbas
Great read
Reviewed in Australia on November 21, 2021
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My mother thoroughly enjoyed this book

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Miss Aviva Kassel
Loved it
Reviewed in Australia on September 6, 2021
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Lovely read

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5.0 out of 5 stars Such a beautiful true and tragic story

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful read, if your into history and family history research, you will love this book

4.0 out of 5 stars A Holocaust Story and a Recent Hate Crime,

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful true story

3.0 out of 5 stars Temperance

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful true story of mankind's care for mankind

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing True Story

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent service

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it

Such a beautiful true and tragic story

Wonderful read, if your into history and family history research, you will love this book

A Holocaust Story and a Recent Hate Crime,

Powerful true story

Temperance

Wonderful true story of mankind's care for mankind

Wow

Amazing True Story

Excellent service

Great read

Loved it