Something Beautiful Happened

A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil

By: Yvette Manessis Corporon

Narrated by: Pam Turlow

Seventy years after her grandmother helped hide a Jewish family on a Greek island during World War II, a woman sets out to track down their descendants - and discovers a new way to understand tragedy, forgiveness, and the power of kindness.

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 70 years after the Nazis were defeated, it was still happening 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 beautifully told interweaving storylines, the past and present come together in a nuanced, heartfelt story about the power of faith, the importance of kindness, and the courage to stand up for what's right in the face of great evil.

©2017 Howard Books (P)2017 Oasis Audio

Couldn’t connect

I know the story was written so the author’s family wouldn’t forget but maybe it should remain with that audience! There is a lot of sadness and religion in this book - I didn’t connect with it, I stuck it out til near the end. Normally I am a bit sad when a book is finished, the loss of the story - this book wasn’t that experience.

Can't wait to travel to Greeece

I had the great opportunity to travel to Israel which helped make this book come to life. I love doing genealogy and research. Thank you for making the life stories and history a real thing for all to read.

Amazing story and 100% relateable

I am the daughter of a Corfiot (maltese descendants to the island) whose grandfather was killed in 1944 on Corfu, by the nazis.
This book resonates with me in so many ways (right down to longing for typical American dishes as a young girl to an immigrant mother in the US).

The narrator lacked proper pronunciations. This was easy to ignore and likely not noticed by non Greeks.

I plan to read the remaining published books by Yvette.
Simply amazing! Thank you for capturing our island’s history. Well done.

Absolutely wonderful! Thank you, Yvette.

This is a moving and inspirational story. My family is here. I am grateful for the beautiful way Yvette wove her story lines back and forth between the Nazi occupation of Corfu and Erikoussa and the tragedy of white supremacy and neo-nazi ideology today.

Narrator abysmal

The story was interesting, but the narration was so distracting. The names of people and places were butchered, even basic things like Yiayia and Pappou were mispronounced. I’m surprised the author was okay with this reading.