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Title: Farewell, Aleppo

Subtitle: My Father, My People, and Their Long Journey Home

Author: Claudette E. Sutton

Narrator: Claudette E. Sutton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-14-17

Publisher: Claudette E. Sutton

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The Jews of Aleppo, Syria, had been part of the city's fabric for more than two thousand years, in good times and bad, through conquerors and kings. But in the middle years of the twentieth century, all that changed. To Selim Sutton, a merchant with centuries of roots in the Syrian soil, the dangers of rising anti-Semitism made clear that his family must find a new home. With several young children and no prospect of securing visas to the United States, he devised a savvy plan for getting his family out: "exporting" his sons. In January, he sent two oldest, Meir and Saleh, just 19 and 17 years old, to Shanghai to work in an uncle's export business, with hopes that China would provide a steppingstone to America. All this changed in December 1941 when Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor and seized Shanghai the next day. From then until the end of the war, Mike endured Japanese occupation in Shanghai alone, across the world from his family, with only his mettle to rely on as he strived to survive personally and economically in the face of increasing deprivation. Told with a journalist's eye and a daughter's love, Farewell, Aleppo is the poignant story, written and narrated by Mike's daughter, of the journey that would ultimately take him from the insular Jewish community of Aleppo to the solitary task of building a new life in America.

Members Reviews:

Great book! Impressive and eye opening

Thank you for such a wonderful book. I share some similar history and appreciated what you wrote and the style of it. Honest and refreshing!

Four Stars

Gave me a new perspective on Syrian Jews and their life style. Well-written and memorable.

Four Stars

I have not read it completely, but I do find it interesting and very well written.

A gem of a story that is truly a labor of love

Claudette Sutton received the honor of a lifetime when her father asked her to help him write his story. What resulted is a treasure trove of family memories and a fascinating window into the history of the Syrian-Jewish culture.

I was interested in reading this story because my only knowledge of Aleppo is as a battleground in Syriaâs civil war. The iconic photo of the dazed little Aleppo boy covered in blood and dust symbolizes the current suffering of the civilians and put Aleppo forefront in our minds.

This engaging story which is part memoir, part history and part personal journey reads like a love story between a daughter and her father. A daughter searches for her roots, a father yearns to make meaning of his past against the backdrop of World War II. The rich culture of her people is brought alive on the pages as are the characters in the story, complete with many photos of the family. We meet all her family, including her beloved and respected paternal grandfather Selim Sutton who, sensing instability in the Syrian government, had the foresight to protect his children from future ties to Syria. Selim sends her father, Meir, or Mike Sutton and his younger brother, Sal to work in his uncleâs textile business when they are teenagers. We get the inside view of what that was like through her fatherâs introspection and her own reflections. The themes of being an insider and an outsider are explored.