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Friday, July 6, 2018

SPOTLIGHT: The Crate by Deborah Vadas Levison @DLevisonAuthor @wildbluepress

The Crate: 
A Story of War, a Murder, and Justice
by Deborah Vadas Levison

There's nothing more unsettling than true crime.
Read this debut, nonfiction, true account of her family's discovery.


After surviving the Holocaust – in ghettos, on death marches, and in concentration camps – a young couple seeks refuge in North America. They settle into a new life, certain that the terrors of their past are behind them. They build themselves a cozy little cottage on a lake, a cottage that becomes emblematic of their victory over the Nazis. The charming retreat is a safe haven, a refuge from haunted memories.

            That is, until a single act of appalling violence defiles their sanctuary. Poking around the dark crawl space beneath their cottage, they discover a wooden crate, nailed tightly shut and almost hidden from view.

            Nothing could have prepared them for the horror of the crate’s contents – or how the peace and tranquility of their existence would be shattered.

THE CRATE: A Story of War, a Murder, and Justice is the debut book by author Deborah Vadas Levison (WildBlue Press, 2018). It recounts the true story of her family’s discovery and its shocking aftermath.

Narrated by Levison in searing, lyrical prose, THE CRATE is the extraordinary true story of a gruesome crime and the family members it left reeling: the victim’s mother and sister, along with Levison’s elderly parents, her husband and young children, and her brother, a suspect. The book traces the effects of violence over generations, like a stone dropped into the middle of a pond that sends out ripples for years to come. It questions how violence can alter the texture of relationships and awaken long-buried traumas.



Deborah Levison is an award-winning journalist, publicist and storyteller, and also, a child of Holocaust survivors. Born and raised in Toronto, she now lives in Connecticut with one husband, one dog, and three children. You can find her every summer in Muskoka, watching the sun set from her rowboat.

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