The powerful, disturbing and finally transcendent story of a Jewish woman's descent into and eventual escape from the madness of WWII Europe. Sussel is a well-to-do young woman in Chernowitz, known as "little Vienna." She studies languages and pharmacy in several universities in Europe and is looking forward to a full and privileged life. But World War II completely overturns everyone's lives, as first the Russians and then the Germans overtake Chernowitz, roundingup all Jews for work camps and even execution. Sussel must resort to using her pharmaceutical skills, and even sex, to save her own life and those of her father and her childhood suitor, Max.The Walnut Tree sets the devastating power of historical events against the personal forces of reconciliation and enduring love. this powerful, disturbing and finally transcendent story is written with captivating detail and sensuous, often poetic, writing. The novel deals with vital social, politica, and ethical issues, and finally – and most importantly – with love.

Martha Blum was born in 1913 in Czernowitz, Austria, (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine). With the defeat of Germany and Austria in 1918, the city became part of Romania and remained so while Blum was growing up. Her studies included pharmaceutical chemistry, languages, and music at the Universities of Bucharest, Prague, Strasbourg, and Paris. World War II found her family at the crossroads of warring and occupying forces, persecuted in turns by Soviet Russia and Germany. She immigrated to Canada in 1951 by way of Israel, and moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1954.Her novel The Walnut Tree, set during World War II, won two Saskatchewan Book Awards and was nominated for the Canadian Booksellers Association's Ex Libris Award. Her short story collection, Children Of Paper, portrayed the vibrant and compelling world of a small Jewish stetl in Ukraine in the early 1900s. In the fall of 1998, Martha was one of 50 Holocaust survivors – both Jewish and non-Jewish – who received national citations from the Human Rights Commission for their contributions to Canadian society: hers was in the area of the arts. "That was an especially beautiful thing," she recalls. "To have these people, who have survived what they survived and then have given so freely of themselves to the arts, or to science, recognized in this way, is wonderful."A student of pharmacy, languages and music at universities in Prague, Strasbourg and Paris, Martha Blum has lived in Saskatoon since 1954, working as a pharmacist and teaching musical interpretation. In 1998, Martha received the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Award from Human Rights Canada, recognizing her contribution to the cultural life of Canada.

Martha Blum's profile page

• Short-listed, Libris Awards