Six Thousand Miles to Home

In 1939, the Kohns flee the advancing Nazis. They evade Nazi capture, only to be arrested by the Soviets, who have invaded Poland from the east. Deported to northern Russia, they endure the savage conditions in a forced-labor camp. The Nazis invade the USSR, and the release of Polish prisoners in the Soviet Gulag is negotiated. The Kohns’ journey continues through Russia, Central Asia, across the Caspian Sea to Iran. Now in a foreign land as impoverished refugees, their hometown occupied by Nazis, and their relations and friends displaced across the world, can they discover generosity, hope, and even love in Tehran?


Hard to put down, difficult to forget. — Gina Nahai


Here are the wages of authenticity: both the pervasive horror of a murderous era and the threatened yet valiant current of humanity. — Baron Wormser


Tender and terrifying. — Eugenia Kim


Conjures a world of man-made horror, where, every so often, cracks of exquisite light are made to shine through. — Rachel Basch