Acts of Resistance: A Novel

“Acts of Resistance is a tribute not only to those who lived through the Holocaust, and to young people brave enough to resist unjust regimes everywhere, but also to the power of fiction to combine research and imagination into work at once fiercely humane and important. 50,000 human lives were saved by Bulgarian citizens, and Dominic Carrillo lets us imagine—through his thoughtfully rendered teenage narrators—what an individual life means, and how much each one matters.”—Rachel DeWoskin, author of National Jewish Book Award and Sydney Taylor Award-Winning, Someday We Will Fly

“Acts of Resistance explores the timeless question we all ponder but are rarely able to answer: ‘Would I be willing to sacrifice my life to save another?’ With its masterful storytelling, sincerity, and suspense, any reader—young or old—will feel inspired to answer this question with a resounding ‘yes’ upon finishing the last page.”

“The diary entry format adds suspense, and the focus on young adult protagonists is effective.”

“The nov­el com­bines his­tor­i­cal char­ac­ters with fic­tion­al ones. Lily works for the noto­ri­ous Alexan­der Belev, an eager col­lab­o­ra­tor with Nazi ter­ror. She must bal­ance her instinct to sur­vive with her sense of oblig­a­tion to her own moral code. Carrillo’s devel­op­ment of her char­ac­ter is con­vinc­ing, allow­ing for nuance rather than a sweep­ing descrip­tion of hero­ism. . . . His­tor­i­cal excep­tions encour­age us to ask ques­tions. In this absorb­ing nov­el, young-adult read­ers have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to find some answers.”

“The novel is a page-turner, each day fraught with suspense and danger. The book is exciting, inspiring and smart.”

“Bulgaria, 1943. In the face of evil, the question is: What will you do? In this thrilling historical novel, Dominic Carrillo examines the action of a number of characters, ranging from an Archbishop to a secretary, from a young Jew to a young non-Jew. This novel is about the high-stakes of personal responsibility and trying to overcome fear. It is informed by a deep sense of Bulgarian history during the Second World War, but marked, too, by a keen eye toward our own time.”