Corners bumped and edges rubbed. Spines creased. Reading copies. Ellie, a young American photojournalist, finds herself in the Jerusalem of 1947. She unwittingly becomes a pawn in a political chess game when she photographs some ancient scrolls discovered by Bedouins. David seems to love her dearly, but Moshe has a purpose and commitment in life that intrigues her more than she can say. Through it all, Ellie discovers a people, a spirit and a person who profoundly change the direction of her life. This first book in THE ZION CHRONICLES vividly portrays the intense struggle of the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the forces, within and without, which engulf the Middle East in conflict and controversy even today *** The first two books in THE ZION CHRONICLES, The Gates of Zion and its sequel, A Daughter of Zion, graphically portrayed the courage and hope of the Jewish people streaming into Israel after the Holocaust. The drama of history and the heart-stopping life-and-death struggle of a nation are captured by bestselling author Bodie Thoene in the lives of the people who live on these pages. The Return to Zion opens during the final month of British occupation in Palestine. With Moshe the target of a dangerous conspiracy and Rachel imprisoned behind the walls of the Old City, David and Ellie marshall efforts in the last-ditch attempts of the Jewish Agency to arm its people against the onslaught that surely will come on the day the British forces leave Palestine. ENGULFED IN DARKNESS AND HOPELESSNESS, THEY WONDERED WHAT DIFFERENCE THE PROMISES TO ISRAEL MADE NOW? *** The fifth book in THE ZION CHRONICLES, The Key to Zion opens with the British in the final stages of their military evacuation from Palestine. Haj Amin Husseini and the Arab Palestinians have been impatiently awaiting this day, but their power has gradually eroded. Five Mid Eastern nations have gathered around the tiny country to divide it up for themselves, totally ignoring the interests of the Palestinians in their greedy conspiracy to destroy the Jews. While the Jewish Haganah frantically trains its pilots in fighter planes which they, ironically, have bought from Germany?Moshe is still attempting to supply the Old City of Jerusalem with food. Even before statehood is declared on May 14, 1948, full-scale fighting breaks out between the Arabs and the Jews with no intervention from the British. And caught in the middle are the fleeing Palestinian refugees clogging the roads in front of the incoming armies.