The Year of the Tsunami

A fearless yet reverent story of a young Hebrew scribe's promises to his late grandparents, who had escaped the Holocaust.

"A vacation for the mind and soul."
ーBrad W. Cox, author of Children of the Program Trilogy

"A novel of discovery, told from a unique voice at a unique time."
ーMichael Chin, author of My Grandfather's an Immigrant, and So is Yours

In 2004, when world-traveling Wes Levine arrives in New Zealand by way of Bangkok, he forms two life changing relationships. First, Wes meets Harry, a gay British heir with ties to a progressive Dutch synagogue that needs a new Torah scroll. Then, along comes mysterious and free-spirited Kayla, who offers Wes room in an Amsterdam canal house she shares with an eccentric painter.

With Harry as a sponsor, Wes scribes a Torah to commemorate his grandparents, doing so in the same city they'd fled during World War II. After work, Wes navigates Amsterdam's alluring Red Light District, where sex sells and anything goes. When Wes and Kayla fall in love, they also fall on the radar of a ruthless sex trafficker with a score to settle.

An ambitious first novel, The Year of the Tsunami is about how far someone is willing to go in order to keep a promise, even in the face of devastating consequences.