Identity or Exile?
An ordinary boy.
A forbidden marriage.
A family divided by faith.
A son condemned for the blood he never chose.
Across three generations, 'Identity or Exile' follows people caught between love and the identities imposed upon them.
From the shtetl communities of nineteenth-century Lithuania and Sweden to the forests of Russia and the ruins of Berlin, their lives unfold across a century when being born into the wrong family could mean a death sentence.
Three stories.
One history.
And a past that refuses to stay buried.
Identity or Exile is about love, loss, survival — and the terrible price of deciding who someone is by where they came from.
Coming soon
As Europe, East and West, descends into suspicion and hatred, those old divisions acquire a terrifying new significance. What had once been disapproval becomes persecution; prejudice becomes law; and questions of blood and identity become matters of life and death.
Spanning nearly a hundred years, 'Identity or Exile?' is a sweeping family saga about love across cultural divides, the damage inflicted by inherited prejudice, and the tragedy of people condemned not for what they have done, but for whom others believe them to be.
At its heart, it asks a simple and enduring question: how much of ourselves can we surrender in order to belong—and what happens when the world refuses to let us choose who we are?
The Simnava shtetl, a town of farmers, tradespeople and shopkeepers.
Simple lives. Families, faith, work and tradition. Lives that had followed much the same rhythm for generations. Lives that nobody imagined would ever change.
Until they did
Why I Wrote 'Identity or Exile?'
Although secular, my Jewish heritage has been pivotal to my life and, inevitably, to writing the book. The history of the Jewish people is one of extraordinary survival. For centuries, Jews have endured persecution, expulsion, forced conversion and attempts at annihilation. Empires have risen and fallen; civilisations that once seemed permanent have disappeared. Yet the Jewish people have endured. The events of 7 October 2023 gave this story renewed, deeply personal relevance. They reminded me that history does not simply disappear because we wish it to. Old hatreds can survive across generations, sometimes dormant, sometimes disguised, and sometimes returning with frightening force.
They also reminded me how easily truth can be obscured, and how dangerous that can become when prejudice is fed by distortion. History has shown us, with terrible consequences, what can happen when human beings are first made into others, and then into enemies. This is at the heart of the book. It is not simply a story about persecution or war. It is a story about people: families, love, faith and identity, and about the consequences that can follow when individuals cross boundaries imposed by religion, culture and prejudice. Above all, it is about the enduring human need to belong — and the terrible consequences when a society decides that some people belong and others do not. I dedicate this book to all those — Jews and non-Jews alike — who continue to stand against hatred and prejudice, and who believe that honesty, compassion and truth still matter.
Brian Hershon
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