Historical fiction, inspired by true events, ​
Leonore’s Suite is an unexpected coming-of-age story.

"I went off to prison in a Cadillac."

With those words, thirteen-year-and-a-half-year-old Lee Iserson leads readers on an unexpected journey through thirty-seven months of captivity under the Japanese.  This coming-of-age story shines a light on a little known saga of World War II:  the imprisonment of more than 4000 Allied civilians--mostly American, largely families--in Manila's Santo Tomas Internment Camp.   Lee, her best friend Lulu, and their teen buddies journeyed to adulthood under dramatically adverse circumstances, enduring overcrowding, disease, cruelty, and starvation. But it wasn't your average concentration camp.  "Let's show them how democracy works!" was the camp slogan in 1942.  Internees organized a school, learned how to de-weevil rice, smuggled goods into camp, and rationed precious toilet paper squares, while figuring out which guards they could trust and how to stave off hunger.  By 1945, having lost her freedom, her father, and a third of her body weight, Lee wonders:  Where is God in the darkness?  Did music have the power to heal? 

Manila’s Santo Tomas Internment Camp became home, school, theater, but always jailhouse for Lee.  As captivity and starvation take their toll, the music Lee's father composed for her thirteenth birthday inspires and sustains her.  Leonore's Suite is a story of courage, friendship, faith, and the indomitable human spirit.

Available in:
Hardcover
Softcover
E-Book

Hardcover Book

Softcover Book

E-Book

Sample

Reviews

Liberation of Santo Tomas, February 1945; Lee is circled in white.