In Aftermath Boy, the son of Holocaust survivors battles a life of antisemitism and poor life decisions and is accused of interfering with the 2024 presidential election. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The story evolved over a number of years. I went to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. in 2019 to see the testimonies my two surviving aunts had provided to Spielberg’s SHOAH Foundation. I took pages of notes, and for the next months devoted time to filling in holes in their testimonies with research. Then I began to write a narrative that captured their stories. I didn’t see any point in writing another Holocaust book. But in my research, I uncovered a vein scholarship devoted to ‘transfer post-traumatic stress disorder.’ The notion of writing about how many parents’ experiences riding the waves of history might have influenced me germinated into a concept of how a family rides the waves of history from one generation to the next. So, I began to write a Roman clef that explored how the horrors of the Holocaust resulted in critical family dysfunction among survivors between survivors and their offspring. As I wrote and rewrote the narrative, the evident parallels between current events and the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 30s became poignantly evident. The cultish adoration for a leader, the use of propaganda, doublespeak, and lies, the undermining of the judiciary and the rule of law, the wedge politics dividing ‘us vs. them’ established a third element for a novel making it significant and relevant.

What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?

My mother and her younger sister could not have survived the concentration camps without each other. They’re liberation and continued survival depended upon the support and efforts of many others. The love and bonds the three sisters have for each other, however, unravel as they build their own separate lives and families after the war. I wanted to ensure that readers didn’t find one-dimensional heroes and villains, but discover the challenge of understanding how perspectives form, diverge, and clash despite the strength of family bonds. Rozsa is a workhorse, a force of nature, focused and determined, but she still relies on random chance that preserves or destroys human life. Billy, well-intentioned, and loving, has to outgrow the fantasy world he constructs protectively as a child. He tries to remain true to unattainable ideals but makes his family miserable in the process. As an elderly man, he finds himself ashore facing an historical tsunami.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

First, that we’re subject to waves of history, however unaware of it we are as it unfolds. And history does repeat itself as millions neglect to study and understand the past.

Second, that we draw our identities from our families in many ways, but as Jorge Luis Borges insisted, who we are changes as we progress through life and external circumstances take hold. Rozsa and Billy live in different spectrums of reality that sometimes overlap but fundamentally diverge.

Third, governments play a fundamental role in developing or destroying lives when people choose to be ruled by despots who become increasingly malevolent over time. With mass media in its infancy, fascists used this new technology to deceive, manipulate, and control. Contemporary technology enhances such misuse exponentially.

Fourth, however flawed we may be–and Billy certainly is a poster boy of flaws–and however frightened we may feel, standing up to bullies is the key to survival along with human connections that provide mutual support and make it possible to overcome overwhelming odds.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from Aftermath Boy?

The Aftermath Boy caught up in his mother’s Holocaust history shaping his own, faces the consequences of his mistakes as he finds himself in the crucible of history with democracy hanging in the balance in 2024.

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