Publication Date: September 3, 2024
Print Length: 640 pages
- A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
- National Jewish Book Award Finalist
- Chautauqua Prize Finalist
- American Library Association Notable Book 2025
Previous Author Publications:
- Pet Shop Boys: Literally. (1990)
- Pet Shop Boys versus America (1993)
- Feel: Robbie Williams (2004)
- Reveal: Robbie Williams (2017)
SYNOPSIS
In No Road Leading Back, journalist Chris Heath investigates how a dozen prisoners escaped from Ponar, a Nazi killing site in Lithuania where more than 70,000 Jews and other political prisoners had been executed. To disguise the executions, the Nazis ordered a group of Jewish prisoners to uncover the bodies and incinerate them. Recognizing that they themselves would eventually be killed, the band of prisoners dug a tunnel with their bare hands and were eventually able to escape.
In addition to recovering their improbable story, Heath explores why this courageous feat has been left unexplored for decades, as well as highlighting the challenges associated with piecing together the full story of what happened based on the narratives told by the different survivors.
REVIEWS AND AUTHOR INFORMATION
Asherson, Neal, “A Daring Escape.” The New York Review, October 9, 2025. A Daring Escape | Neal Ascherson | The New York Review of Books
Kurkowksi, Peggy, “No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust.” Washington Independent Review of Books, October 16, 2024. No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust | Washington Independent Review of Books
Burghardt, Linda, “No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Estcape from the Nazis in a Place Called Ponar, and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust.” Jewish Book Council, August 30, 2024. No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis in a Place Called Ponar, and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust | Jewish Book Council
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does Chris Heath’s investigation reveal about the challenges associated with creating a single, complete picture regarding events that happened in the past?
What combination of grit and courage enabled the dozen prisoners to persist in their tunnel project despite not knowing whether they would succeed?
What was unique about the Nazi executions that took place in Lithuania? How do the events at Ponar as well as the prisoner escape add to the overall picture of what happened during the Holocaust?
Why were the executions that were taking place at Ponar so little publicized during the WW2? Has the Ponar site now been properly reclaimed and honored?
