Something Beautiful Happened: A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil

Yvette Manessis Corporon grew up listening to her grandmother's stories about how the people of their tiny Greek island Erikousa banded together to hide a Jewish family—a tailor named Savvas and his daughters—from the Nazis during World War II.

Decades later, Yvette couldn't get Savvas's story out of her head. She set out to search for his descendants. Eventually, miraculously, she found them, reuniting the two families with a shared past. But Yvette's celebration was cut short when, just days later, her nephew was gunned down by a neo-Nazi.

As Yvette and her family wrestled with their own tragedy, the lessons she learned from the survivors of the Holocaust—and her unending quest to honor the islanders who risked everything—taught Yvette that even in the midst of unimaginable pain, beautiful things can still happen.

At once a very personal memoir and an ambitious account of the untold history of the Greek Jews, Something Beautiful Happened is a nuanced story about the power of faith, the importance of kindness, and the courage to stand up for what's right, no matter the cost.