These verses provide an amazing entrée into the history and fate of a community [Salonika] destroyed during the Holocaust.1/28/14
(Jerusalem Post) This fine volume provides indispensable insights into the lives of the Jews of Salonika in the years before and during the Holocaust, both in the words of Bouena Sarfatty herself and in the author's presentation.
(Sephardic Horizons) In small doses of verse, Sarfatty thoroughly, yet succinctly, explains, describes and preserves Salonikan and Sephardic life. In each section, Melammed provides a thorough historical background and perspective for the coplas. This is an excellent book for the student of Sephardic Jewry.
(AJL Reviews) Melammed's meticulous translation of Sarfatty's coplas, which express both the tonality and cultural distinctiveness of Sephardi Jewish life, is a genuine contribution to scholarship and deserves praise.September 2013
(H-Judaic) What a pleasure and joy for us, the Ladino speakers, to have gained another marvelous book where we read memories written in Ladino about Salonika . . . It is also a joy for those who know English and are interested in Sephardi culture and history . . . In whatever language, this is a book that will make you smile and cry, reminisce and think and learn a great deal.
(eSefarad) [T]hose wanting insight into the world of Greek Jews before, during, and after the Holocaust are likely to find this unique work well worth their time.
(Jewish Book Council) The appeal of Levine Melammed's work is not limited to a small group of specialists. The book is accessible to a much wider public, including laypersons and student readers who may not be familiar with the history of the period or its pertinent poetic genres. . . . Melammed's new book will certainly become a classic reference handbook to be cited by historians, philologists and social anthropologists.
(Nashim)
