Acts of Resistance: a Novel by Dominic Carrillo

Acts of Resistance: a Novel

Dominic Carrillo

Santa Monica Press · Paperback · March 31, 2023

Between 1943 and 1944, nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews were rescued from the Holocaust, including thousands who had already been rounded up and put on trains bound for death camps in Poland.

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Who it’s for
A sustained, immersive read shaped by history, resistance, and the pressure of wartime choices.
Genres
Holocaust Stories for Teens, War & Military YA, Historical YA - Europe
Published
Santa Monica Press, March 31, 2023

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About this book

Between 1943 and 1944, nearly 50,000 Bulgarian Jews were rescued from the Holocaust, including thousands who had already been rounded up and put on trains bound for death camps in Poland. Dominic Carrillo’s suspenseful novel Acts of Resistance is based on the true story of this incredibly heroic effort by the citizens of Bulgaria. In Carrillo’s powerful account, he skillfully weaves together a thrilling tale told by three alternating teenage narrators: Misho, Peter, and Lily.

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Misho, an 18-year-old Jewish boy, is a prominent archbishop’s driver, hiding his identity while helping his boss directly challenge the Bulgarian government’s pro-Nazi policies. Peter, 17, is determined to save his Jewish neighbors by confronting parliament members in the capital, then taking up arms to fight with a partisan rebel communist group. Lily, 19, works for the collaborationist government office in charge of evicting and deporting Jews to concentration camps. When she witnesses the evil results of her desk job, Lily becomes a spy who leaks information to Jewish community leaders in order to prevent further atrocities. As the characters’ lives become more endangered and their unsung roles in saving Jewish citizens are revealed, the reader is treated to a tension-filled adventure surrounding one of the greatest unknown acts of heroism associated with the Holocaust. Acts of Resistance will have you on the edge of your seat as Misho, Peter, and Lily face and overcome extremely perilous situations, ultimately triumphing as they each help to lead the people of Bulgaria to rise up against the Nazis and save their nearly 50,000-strong Jewish population from extinction.

Under Pressure

A sustained, immersive read shaped by history, resistance, and the pressure of wartime choices.

Come here for

  • historical intensity
  • Jewish wartime fiction

Expect

  • serious emotional register
  • clean historical framing

Where it sits

Holocaust Stories for Teens98%
War & Military YA34%
Historical YA - Europe27%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Holocaust Stories for Teens
  • War & Military YA
  • Jewish YA
Authors
Dominic Carrillo
Publisher
Santa Monica Press
Published
March 31, 2023
Format
Paperback
Reading lane
Holocaust Stories for Teens