Plato Papajohn’s true story begins just before the outbreak of World War II, with an idyllic glimpse of village life in the Greek island of Evia, where the eleven-year-old Plato rises early each Sunday morning to ring the bells of his beloved church. Soon, however, the beauty of Greece, its people, its islands, its majestic mountains and peaceful beaches, are to fall into the brutal hands of the Nazis, and Plato’s idyllic world will turn into a nightmare. As a result of the occupation, life becomes a daily struggle for survival, a struggle that transforms Plato, the innocent child, into a cold, unfeeling creature capable of doing whatever he deems necessary to keep himself and his family alive during these terrible years. Those who never felt the cold breath of war, death, and starvation, on the back of their necks cannot relate to the haunted dreams of those who have. And Papajohn’s true story of struggle and survival does not end after the liberation. The evil communist uprising and the ensuing civil war bring in more horrors to young Plato, his family, and friends; more experiences of brutality, intrigue, betrayal, cunning, and revenge.
Always a survivor, Plato, much hardened by his experience of the Nazi occupation and the civil war, manages to overcome these horrors and to emigrate from the tiny village in Evia, to a new life in the United States, where he must face new challenges as he becomes acculturated to a new homeland. His journey, always moving and inspiring, becomes even more so, when, along the way, he comes to discover the purpose of his existence by rediscovering the God who, he thought, had long abandoned him. Plato’s journey, both worldly and spiritual, continues as he moves on to a new home and a new life in the prosperous post-war America where he eventually becomes a husband, a father, and a successful businessman. In his new life in the New World Plato is able to find the true gift of life, and a special kind of love that fills him with all the happiness and joy he could hope for, as he leads a productive and purposeful life with the woman he loved always at his side. Plato's unique story of individual triumph reflects the hopes and dreams of millions of immigrants who steamed through Ellis Island in the first half of the last century. It also chronicles the spiritual rebirth of a man who, having experienced a shuttering childhood, eventually finds peace with God and embraces all that is good and worth seeking in life. Papajohn's book is more than a fascinating story of a life well-lived told by its remarkable subject. It is also the powerful rendering of an extraordinary man's existential response to some of life's greatest themes: war, passion, love, adventure, illness, death, and God himself. An inspirational story of determination, strength, hope and faith. Stairway to Heaven will undoubtedly capture the hearts of its readers.
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Biographies 
