The Righteous, Ronald H. Balson
The Righteous, Ronald H. Balson
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The Righteous
A Novel

Author: Ronald H. Balson

Narrator: Fred Berman

Unabridged: 10 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/09/2025


Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling and National Jewish Book Award–winning author: a gripping novel of foreboding, betrayal, heroism, and hope set in World War II Budapest

By the end of 1943, nearly all of Europe’s Jewish population had fled, been deported, captured, or killed by Hitler. Only Hungary, and its almost 900,000 Jews, remained free from Hitler’s subjugation. They lived under government edicts and restrictions but without fear of harm. That changed in March 1944, after the Nazi defeat at Stalingrad, as an avaricious Hitler conquered Hungary and declared his plan for mass extermination of the Jewish people. With the notorious Adolf Eichmann supervising the process, Nazis began rounding up Hungary’s Jewish population.

In this dramatic new novel, The Righteous, Theresa Weissbach, a professor at the University of Michigan, hasn’t heard from her parents in Budapest for over a year. Her best friend, Julia Powers, recently awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for her OSS service in occupied Holland, joins with her to locate and rescue Theresa’s family. While there, they become involved in a much larger cause, trying to save as many people as they can. Theresa’s father, a leader of the Budapest Jewish community, accompanies them in a desperate effort to rescue their people. Working alongside the newly formed US War Refugee Board, diplomats from neutral nations, and leaders of underground rescue organizations, Julia and Theresa forge relationships with Swiss Vice Consul Carl Lutz and Swedish businessman, Raoul Wallenberg. Their skills and connections in the complex networks of public and secret diplomacy enable Julia, Theresa, and others to take enormous risks in an effort to save thousands of innocent lives.

Authentic, suspenseful, and deeply moving, The Righteous continues Ronald H. Balson’s fictional exploration of World War II and the heroic actions of those who resisted Hitler’s Master Plan.

This program is read by Fred Berman, five-time Audie Award–winner, Broadway star, and narrator of over 400 audiobooks.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

About Ronald H. Balson

RONALD H. BALSON is an attorney, professor, and writer. His novel The Girl From Berlin won the National Jewish Book Award and was the Illinois Reading Council's adult fiction selection for their Illinois Reads program. He is also the author of The Righteous, An Affair of Spies, Defending Britta Stein, Eli’s Promise, Karolina's Twins, The Trust, Saving Sophie, and the international bestseller Once We Were Brothers. He has appeared on many television and radio programs and has lectured nationally and internationally on his writing. He lives in Chicago.

About Fred Berman

Fred Berman is a five-time winner of the AudioFile Earphone Award for Audiobook Narration and the recipient of the 2013 Audie Award for narration in Spy the Lie. He has read a number of audiobooks for young listeners, including Judy Blume’s Soupy Saturdays with The Pain & The Great One and Andrew Clements’s The Last Holiday Concert. He has also narrated the audiobooks for Robert Kirkman’s popular series, The Walking Dead.Berman is an accomplished actor of both the stage and screen as well, performing on Broadway as Timon in The Lion King and off-Broadway in Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and King Lear. On television, Berman has had roles on NBC’s hit series Smash as well as All My Children and Law and Order. He lives in New York City.


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