Eliot Sefrin

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Officer Down Book Cover


















Blood in the Promised Land Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Death of Dahlgren Place Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under A Cloud Cover

A five-star book! I was reminded of James Lee Burke's writing as I read Sefrin's wonderful descriptions. Under A Cloud is a book to savor. - Marilyn Meredith, author of Wingbeat, a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery


 

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Book Synopses
Officers Down
Released: April, 2022
Category: General Fiction/Historical Fiction
Publisher: BookBaby
ISBN: 978-1-
6678-2237-2


Officers Down revolves around a pair of highly regarded police officers - one male, one female, both white - who accidentally kill an innocent Black teen in a poverty-stricken neighborhood and face the consequences of an enraged community, a racially divided city, and their own emotional unraveling.

The powerful and timely novel, based on a composite of real-life events, explores the sensitive and divisive issue of race relations in America within the context of tragic police shooting that becomes a lightening rod for racial tension and the focus of a landmark civil rights case, while profoundly reshaping the lives of those most closely impacted by the incident.

As the riveting drama unfolds amidst controversy, false charges, racial bias, and political maneuverings that threaten to overwhelm the facts of the case, both the officers and family of the slain teen become immersed in the intense inner crises as they struggle to come to terms with the tragedy. In the process, they come to experience the stereotypes, antipathy, and misunderstanding that often divide our communities - as well as the wisdom and emotions that can ultimately bind them and help them heal.


 



Blood in the Promised Land

Released: October, 2011
Category: General Fiction/Historical Fiction
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-4620-2610-4


It is 1943 and World War II is at its height, raging on battlefields across the globe. A bloody, divisive war is also raging on America’s home front, as stepped-up wartime production lures legions of poor blacks from the rural South to defense jobs in the North—a so-called ‘Promised Land’ of opportunity. The wartime migration has a profound impact, transforming America’s cities into both ‘Arsenals for Democracy’ and cauldrons of racial conflict.

Set against the backdrop of a troubled and tumultuous America in the throes of war, Blood in the Promised Land chronicles the separate journeys of two men—one a poor black migrant who flees the Jim Crow South to work in Pittsburgh’s bustling steel mills, the other a Jewish physician forced to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. Each has been scarred by harrowing pasts shaped largely by his racial or ethnic identity; each seeks to rebuild his life, searching for an America struggling to fulfill its own promise, home and abroad. When their paths unwittingly cross during a violent racial conflict, their fateful encounter instantly reshapes their lives and thrusts them into the crucible of the civil rights movement, as they courageously join forces in an attempt to battle a terrorist hate group and exorcise the ghosts of their pasts
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The Death of  Dahlgren Place
Released: August, 2009
Category: General Fiction/Historical Fiction
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-4401-2909-4

When the paperboy swings his shiny Schwinn bicycle onto Dahlgren Place in Brooklyn, New York, and delivers the weekly Bay Ridge Spectator, thirteen-year-old Nathan Wolf has no idea that his life is about to change forever.

It is 1959—a time of optimism and innocence, when Nathan’s days are normally filled with playful adventures in Brooklyn’s playgrounds and streets.
But this day is different. The Spectator delivers the crushing news that the city plans to build a bridge and expressway through the heart of Nathan’s beloved, close-knit neighborhood. Within hours, Bay Ridge is in an uproar, as desperate, uncertain residents undertake a bitter, hard-fought campaign to halt mass eviction and preserve their way of life.

As Bay Ridge undergoes a metamorphosis, readers witness both the trauma and triumph inspired by the building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge—symbolic of the rise of modern-day New York and the unsettling close to Brooklyn’s fabled postwar ‘Golden Era.’

A moving story of resiliency and hope, based on true events, The Death of Dahlgren Place depicts how an unwelcome end to childhood sparks an exciting journey of self-discovery, as the death of his street unexpectedly gives birth to a young boy’s dream.
 


Under A Cloud
Released: January, 2006
Category: Contemporary/Fiction/Suspense
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0-595-37214-7

Matt Holland and Rachel Cook, two of the most highly regarded of ‘New York’s Finest,’ are involved in a fateful shooting that ravages a city, becomes the focus of a landmark civil rights case, and powerfully reshapes the lives of those most closely touched by the incident.

The white officers’ accidental and tragic shooting of an innocent black teen in a poverty-stricken Brooklyn neighborhood triggers a bitter racial confrontation, along with lengthy investigations and political maneuverings that threaten to destroy a community, shatter lives and overwhelm the truth. 

As the riveting drama unfolds, both the officers and the family of the slain teen become immersed in intense inner crises, as they struggle to come to terms with the tragedy and its impact on their lives. In the process, they come to experience first-hand the stereotypes, hatred and fears that can divide us as a people – and the actions and emotions that can ultimately bond and help us heal.

 
An excerpt can be reviewed by visiting www.iuniverse.com