18 Stones presents the story of a Jewish family living in Holland before the Holocaust. Inspired by a collection of family photographs, Nancy Patz’s rich portraits and Susan L. Roth’s thought-provoking prose poems portray a family’s everyday experiences, long ago in a peaceful time. 

There is “little man,” posed on a sheepskin, and Cousin Aaron, “the intellectual.” Uncle Jonas is celebrating his fifteenth birthday, and Grete cooks the perfect apple cake. Only “Letter to Rebecca,” the final poem in the series, foreshadows events to come.