Ralph Webster

One More Moon Ralph Webster

"Webster creatively mixes historical storytelling with a personal story... the first-person narration is original and compelling!" The BookLife Prize, June 2018

One More Moon is the extraordinary true story of a woman and her family's often harrowing experiences in the years before and during World War II. Written using her words, Goodreads Choice Nominee Ralph Webster recounts his grandmother's desperate journey from Naples, Italy to America - after Mussolini betrays Italy's Jews and joins with Hitler - and as countries across the world close their doors to Jewish refugees fleeing the spread of Nazi evil.

In 1934, at age fifty-one, Elsa's comfortable life in Mussolini's Fascist Italy changes remarkably when she and her reluctant husband Paul purchase the Pensione Alexandria, a rundown guesthouse overlooking the Mediterranean in Naples. Though German Jews, they are embraced by their Italian neighbors, and for the next several years, the pensione flourishes and becomes their perch to observe the world's events.

Travelers from across Europe and America come to the door, each with their own story, mystery, or surprise. Nearly all have been touched in some way by the ominous changes occurring to the north, in Nazi-controlled Germany. When war breaks out in Europe and Italy sides with Germany, Elsa and her family's fears become reality. The growing sense that the atrocities in German-occupied lands will soon occur in Italy forces them to give up their pensione and find their way to safety in America. The journey seems impossible and the obstacles are many.

"A superb memoir; a delight to read! One More Moon is a book of perseverance and persecution, joy and despair, trustworthy relationships and stunning betrayals. It's an epic book, yet deeply personal. Highly recommended!"
Denzil the BookOwl, January 2018