Sheldon Greene

 

Sheldon Greene is a partner in the three lawyer San Francisco law firm of Greene & Allison. The firm works with over 40 credit unions on the West Coast. He is also Executive Vice President and Director of Oak Creek Energy Systems, Inc. a Southern California wind energy operator and development company that is responsible for the consummation of the largest ever wind energy power purchase agreement; 1550 MW to deliver energy to Southern California Edison. Oak Creek is a subsidiary of Marubeni, a multi-national Japanese trading company. He is a member of the advisory board of the Great Lakes Energy Institute at Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Engineering. http://www.sheldongreene.net

 

 

"...This book is a thriller that will captivate all World War II fans as it is based in fact and is an engrossing play on the Nazis in post war Germany. ...Mr. Greene is right up there with John LeCarre for must-read, edge of your chair excitement. This book has everything a dyed in the wool spy fan will like including anger, revenge, murder, art, intrigue, a million-dollar robbery and romance. .. It grabs you from the first to the last pages. I am on my way to the library to pick up Mr. Greene's previous books." Oct 10 2009 Mary Lignor, Book Pleasures "..., you will rarely find a novel that is written as well as this one. It is one you know you will enjoy after reading only the first few chapters.... you will find yourself surprised when you reach the end. Sheldon has written an engrossing novel about an interesting time in central European post-war history." Marty Dodge

"...it is a cracking read from cover to cover. Sheldon has two prior books under his belt Lost And Found and Burnt Umber. He has developed into an author with a great future, his writing style lures the reader into the tale like a moth to the light... I have nothing but praise for Prodigal Sons, it has been expertly crafted in every sense. The character development and story line are a work of art. It is not easy to paint an assassin as a hero, yet Sheldon Greene pulls it off with panache." Simon Barrett in Blogger News Network

"...This book is a thriller that will captivate all World War II fans as it is based in fact and is an engrossing play on the Nazis in post war Germany . ...Mr. Greene is right up there with John LeCarre for must-read, edge of your chair excitement. This book has everything a dyed in the wool spy fan will like including anger, revenge, murder, art, intrigue, a million-dollar robbery and romance. .. It grabs you from the first to the last pages. I am on my way to the library to pick up Mr. Greene's previous books." Oct 10 2009 Mary Lignor, Book Pleasures

 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?
 

Sheldon Greene: I grew up in Cleveland Ohio and its suburbs. I got into a class for kids with intellectual potential in elementary school. The library was my temple. My fiction writing started in law school and never let up. I suppose Tolstoy, Dickens, and Kenneth Roberts stand out as writers who I admired as a teen ager. They were great story tellers with compelling characters, lots of detail, and they left you with a fresh idea or two.

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Why do you write?

Sheldon Greene: I write to give vent to my creative side. It lets me explore a specific subject that has gotten my attention. It’s a bit like solving a puzzle. And it helps me to form and communicate a personal perspective on a given topic. My purpose is three fold; to entertain, to inform, and to transcend the reader’s reality-- help the reader see something more clearly or in a different way. And sometimes I get to make things come out the way I want them to.

 

 

 

PageoneLit.com: Briefly discuss your new book "Prodigal Sons" .

Sheldon Greene: It’s the story of a young man who loses his capacity to feel for others. He is recruited to take revenge on people who were responsible for the death of his family. I have tried to demonstrate that ideology of every persuasion keeps us from seeing the world clearly. It’s like wearing corrective lenses that aren’t right for your eyes. Also I wanted to show that love is social gravity; it brings out our common humanity and our best character traits.  

 

 

PageOneLit.com:  Who is Horst Vogle? 
 

Sheldon Greene: Horst is the cover for Jan Goldberg, an athletic, Polish Jew educated in Germany in art history. He loses his career, his fiancé, his family, to Nazi anti-Semitism. He fights the German army as a partisan only to see the continuation of anti-Semitism in post-war Poland. In Palestine he again fights for survival against the Arabs. An Israeli woman describes him as a clock without hands. The novel tracks the restoration of his emotional capacity. 

 

 

PageoneLit.com: Explain your title "Prodigal Sons"  as it relates to the story.
 

Sheldon Greene:  The biblical parable of the return of the prodigal son is given an ironic twist. Veterans of World War II, who have been dramatically changed by the War return to a changed homeland. A painting on that subject also has a minor role. 
 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com:   When did your interest in  WWII history  begin? 
 

Sheldon Greene: I’ve been a war history buff since primary school when I wrote a painfully detailed report on Grant’s Civil War siege of Vicksburg, Miss.

 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com:  How  much research went into writing "Prodigal Sons" ? 
 

Sheldon Greene: Quite a lot. But it was very focused. For example, details on German and British Army equipment, the life of Partisans during the war, the illegal immigration to Palestine after the war, clandestine Neo-Nazi activities after the war, stolen art, the Israeli War of Independence. Of these areas, the most precise historic re-cap in the novel is the battle of Degania Aleph. A handful of kibbutzniks stopped the Syrian army.

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com:  "Prodigal Sons" would make a great feature film - If Hollywood called tomorrow and asked you to cast the movie, who would you cast and why? 
 

Sheldon Greene: I’m glad you see the cinematic potential. Off the top of my head, I can see Erica Christensen as Greta. (She plays Julia in the TV series, Parenthood.) Ben Affleck might fit the role of Horst/Jan, and possibly Daniel Craig as Hermann.

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What do you hope to achieve with Prodigal Sons ? 
 

Sheldon Greene: The biggest part of my aspiration is fulfilled. The characters are accessible to readers. Other than that it would be great to have lots of people read it and love it. Of course seeing it on the screen would be splendid.
 

 

PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read? 
 

Sheldon Greene: Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, winner of the 2009 Booker Prize.

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: What's next? 
 

Sheldon Greene: Pursuit of Happiness is a fast paced, fact based, novel set in the darkest period of the American Revolution. A Philadelphia Quaker and artist is recruited to go to the Caribbean, locate a shipment of weapons from France, and convince a neutral Jewish ship owner to transport them to Philadelphia traversing the British blockade. 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing? 

 

Sheldon Greene: I have a seamless life. Everything I do compliments the rest. I sing in the Oakland Symphony Chorus. This adds mental discipline and a spiritual dimension. I have a big, tough garden, which is both physical and spiritual. I play tennis, which is physical and psychological. I sail. I’m also a public policy wonk.