Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

Iysh by Greg Price begins with Leo Butlion, a medical student in 1940s Koblenz, when the German state turns its full attention to Jewish families. After a narrow escape from deportation, he survives by passing as a non-combatant inside the German military, using medical training to remain indispensable while concealing his identity. His life is bound to Ivy Jacobson, a Belgian dress designer who flees occupation and rebuilds her livelihood through skill and persistence. Together they form a family whose stability is repeatedly disrupted by war, displacement, and Leo’s decision to answer calls for medical service wherever violence erupts. Their marriage stretches across Europe, Israel, and Africa as Leo advances from improvised care to elite medicine, until a final call changes everything.

Greg Price’s Iysh is a massive, sweeping historical novel that covers decades and is a gorgeous tribute to resilience. It is also, although more subdued, one of the more realistic portrayals of generational trauma I have come across in the past few years. As intriguing a character as Leo is, for me, it is Ivy that is the most fascinating. There's a scene where she is frantically running through a forest, and I was nearly as out of breath just reading it as she was living it. We also see her among post-war Paris couture houses, spinning gold out of garbage with rationed materials. Price gives ancillary characters equal treatment, including Ari, whose wartime encounter with Leo has a giant, lasting presence. The settings and landscapes are cinematic, such as the Sinai Desert during the Yom Kippur War, and with elegant writing and a series of great arcs, this is a book worth the time investment.