Book excerpt: At the outbreak of World War II, thirteen-year old Miriam Feuer and her family found themselves at the mercy of the invading Red Army in Polish Galicia. But things would only get worse with the coming of the Nazis in 1941. Escaping the Nazi-built ghetto in her hometown of Kolomyia after the murder of her grandmother and seizure of other family members, young Miriam desperately flees into the countryside, struggling to hide herself amidst the local population. Finding a modicum of safety in the home of a Ukrainian priest, her relief proves short-lived when the German commandant of the town abruptly arrives as a dinner guest -- and something more. A RAFT ON THE RIVER is the true life coming-of-age story of a young girl who finds redemption and a chance for love in the shadow of one of the most horrific episodes of the twentieth century.