3.5
On the eve of World War II Egon Schneider--a gallant and successful Jewish doctor, son of two world-famous naturalists--escapes Germany to an uncertain future across the sea. Settling into the unfamiliar rhythms of upper Manhattan, he finds solace among a tight-knit group of fellow immigrants, tenacious men and women drawn together as much by their differences as by their memories of the world they left behind.

They each suffer degradations and triumphs large and small: Egon's terminally acerbic lifelong friend, bestselling author Meyer Leavitt, now wears a sandwich board on a New York street corner; Catrina Harty, the headstrong daughter of a dirt-poor Irish trolley driver, survives heartbreak and loss to forge an unlikely alliance; and Egon himself is forced to abandon his thriving medical practice to become the "Cheese Man" at a Washington Heights grocery. But their spirits remain unbroken, and when their little community is faced with an existential threat, these strangers rise up together in hopes of creating a permanent home.

some of the constructive criticisms were about lack of character development; rushed
While I agree with that slightly, I liked this book because , while it was about WW II, it was a different setting than all the others you usually read - taking place in NYC. And in light of recent issues around immigration I think it provides great insight into what it was like to be be an immigrant in the early 1900s into WW II era. The dedication says it all: To everyone from somewhere else.
go back far enough and that it all of us.
Good read