Waiting for Elijah is an intimate portrait of time-reckoning, syncretism, and proximity in one of the world’s most polarized landscapes, the Bosnian Field of Gacko. Centered on the shared harvest feast of Elijah’s Day, the once eagerly awaited pinnacle of the annual cycle, the book shows how the fractured postwar landscape beckoned the return of communal life that entails such waiting. This seemingly paradoxical situation—waiting to wait—becomes a starting point for a broader discussion on the complexity of time set between cosmology, nationalism, and embodied memories of proximity.

Waiting for Eli is a historical mystery surrounding the Friedman family's emigration to the United States from Germany in 1933. The layered plot weaves together events in everyday life and creates a complex tapestry that reaches into the past. Events that unfold do not make sense and come with a feeling of chilling uneasiness. The story starts as Phoebe attends the funeral of her grandfather in 2005. Directly following his passing, an antiquities dealer is murdered after handling a piece of the family's heirloom ceramics. For the next four years, Phoebe investigates the murder along with her family's connections in Europe. She traces the Friedman 'family business' across four generations, through two continents, five western European countries, and one very important World War. She learns that Friedman Freedom Fighters were embedded in several international cities during this period and traded goods for lives. Phoebe's evolution as a person and as a participant in the family business finds her confidently settled in her grandfather's house raising another generation of Friedman's as time continues to create and cycle her family's legacy.

"The church originated in the itinerant ministry of a Civil War veteran named L. T. Nichols, whose controversial preaching led to his being shot and wounded. Originally known as the Christian Brethren, Nichols and his followers relocated from Oregon to the Midwest in 1883 and some years later embarked on an evangelistic ministry that entailed traveling up and down the Mississippi River system on a large steamboat. In 1904, the group moved to its present home of Rochester, New York, from which its missionaries traveled throughout the United States and Canada. They took the name "Megiddo" from a strategically located city in ancient Israel, which to them signified a place where soldiers of God gathered to renew their strength and courage."--BOOK JACKET.

In 2009, in the NSW country town of Armidale, a mentally ill young man is shot dead by a police officer. Senior Constable Andrew Rich claims he ‘had no choice’ other than to shoot 24-year-old Elijah Holcombe — Elijah had run at him roaring with a knife, he tells police. Some witnesses to the shooting say otherwise, though, and this act of aggression doesn't fit with the sweet, sensitive, but troubled young man that Elijah's family and friends knew him to be. The shooting devastates Elijah's family and the police officer alike. So what happened in that Armidale laneway — and how could it have been avoided? Waiting for Elijah is the culmination of journalist Kate Wild's six-year investigation — an investigation that not only seeks to answer these questions, but also poses some vitally important ones of its own: Why is it still taboo to talk about mental illness in our society? Is it fair to expect police to be first responders in mental health crises? If the community insists this job belongs to police, how can these interactions be improved? Written with clear-eyed compassion and a compelling narrative drive, Waiting for Elijah is an account of a tragedy that didn’t have to happen. It is also an intense, forensic deconstruction of the extended legal proceedings that followed, and a heartbreaking portrait of a family’s grief.

Waiting for Elijah is an intimate portrait of time-reckoning, syncretism, and proximity in one of the world’s most polarized landscapes, the Bosnian Field of Gacko. Centered on the shared harvest feast of Elijah’s Day, the once eagerly awaited pinnacle of the annual cycle, the book shows how the fractured postwar landscape beckoned the return of communal life that entails such waiting. This seemingly paradoxical situation—waiting to wait—becomes a starting point for a broader discussion on the complexity of time set between cosmology, nationalism, and embodied memories of proximity.

At Passover, Sarah saves a spot for the prophet Elijah who is said to visit every seder. But when the electricity goes out in neighboring buildings, Sarah invites the neighbors over. Will there be a chair left for Elijah?

Elijah emerged as the voice of unapologetic truth during a time of national crisis and moral decline. His ministry was marked by tenacious faith and holy fire--the same kind you will need in order to remain steadfast in current culture.