Escape Route

Escape Route is set in New York City during the tumultuous late 1960s. Told by teenager Zach, a first-generation son of Holocaust survivors and NY Mets fan, who becomes obsessed with the Vietnam War and with finding an escape route for his family for when he believes the US will round up and incarcerate its Jews. Zach meets Samm, a seventh-generation Manhattanite whose brother has returned from Vietnam with PTSD. Together they explore protest, friendship, music, faith, and love during a time littered with hope and upheaval around the globe.

Elan Barnehama: At different times, I’ve taught writing and literature at several colleges, led community-based writing workshops, was a fiction editor, worked with at-risk youth, was a ghostwriter, coached high school varsity baseball, had a gig as a radio news guy, and did a mediocre job as a short-order cook. I am a New Yorker by destiny. A Mets fan by geography.