Atlanta, January 2023 – In a follow-up to the success of his first two novels, Chain of Custody (2012) and Rally on Two (2018), Atlanta Attorney Scott I. Zucker has just released his third novel titled Battle for Life.
“‘This book was a challenge for me to write,” Zucker said. “I tried to weave together a fictional father and son journey story along with the true story of my father’s military service during World War II. I wanted to tell both stories together. The combined narrative is all about love, courage and loss.”
“My dad served as a radar man on an aircraft carrier during the War as it supported the invasions on the Pacific islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On May 11, 1945, his ship was hit by two kamikaze planes within minutes of each other. That day, 393 sailors and airmen were killed, and 264 men were injured. He was injured as well in the attack and received a Purple Heart in honor of his service. Miraculously, the ship did not sink. It was considered one of the most-deadly attacks on a naval ship during World War II.”
In Battle for Life, Sam Silver is a sixty-year-old lawyer balancing work and his family after having moved back to his hometown to care for his ailing parents. Now, his ninety-year-old father Max has asked Sam to accompany him to Washington, D.C. for a reunion of his crewmates from the Navy ship he sailed with during World War II. Managing the stress of life, Sam embarks on a final road trip with his father, exploring along the way not only his father’s lessons about handling adversity and heartache but exposing some long-kept secrets about his experience in the war.
Together, Max and Sam share a journey of understanding about loss and love and the challenges that each of us face as we go through life. Together, they recognize the ultimate lesson – that life can be a battle, but worth the fight.
“After the war my father typed out his recollections of that day and what he saw and felt and then filed it away. After he passed away in 2001, I found his writings among his papers. I would often find myself re-reading his narrative and wondered how I could share it with my family and others to honor his service. I ultimately decided that I could incorporate his experience inside a larger story about a family and some of the travails that we all face as we go through life.”
“The book,” Zucker explained, “is certainly meant not only to be a nod to the ‘Greatest Generation’ but also, for those familiar with the concept, an ethical will about sharing the lessons of life.”
Scott is a partner in the law firm of Weissmann Zucker Euster + Katz, P.C. based in Atlanta and manages Epic Resolution Services, a national mediation and arbitration service. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and the George Washington University National Law Center. He and his wife Melanie have two grown sons and a new daughter-in-law.
The book can be purchased online through Amazon or via Scott’s website, ScottiZucker.com. Scott can be reached at Scott@wzlegal.com