In "Return of the Exiled," Max Buchdahl details the passage of his family throughout Germany in the years prior to their immigration to the United States. "Return of the Exiled" parallels the past, as Max's family attempts to get out of Nazi Germany, with the present, as Max travels with his family to Germany to re-trace his ancestors' steps. Through careful thought and observation, "Return of the Exiled" takes the reader into the mind of a 17 year-old as he reflects upon his family's past before he embarks on his own future.
"In gathering up the damaged threads of his family's gripping emergence from Hitler's Germany, teen author Max Buchdahl has woven an unforgettable narrative of what it's like to stare into the abyss and to return more alive for it. Part family memoir and part modern reckoning, "Return of the Exiled" goes well beyond the Holocaust accounts that remind us to never forget. With this searing opus, Buchdahl pays a debt to those who have made his life possible, while also urging his unborn heirs to live, live and live."
-Ramsey Flynn, author of "Cry From the Deep"
"Via a narrative that gracefully, sometimes exhaustively, spins between Nazi-era history, a family's grim-but-ennobling tale, and a young man's quest for his community's past, "Return of the Exiled" takes the reader on a compelling journey. Max Buchdahl's voice is earnest and genuine, his observations sharp and true."
-Michael Anft, journalist and critic