Synopsis

 

From the bestselling author of The Murmur of Bees comes a transportive novel of two families uprooted by war and united by the bonds of love and courage.

With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future.

But Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them. He tells her of a besieged kingdom in the Baltic Sea from which spill the amber tears of a heartbroken queen.

Neither of them realizes his stories will prove crucial and prophetic.

Not far away, trying and failing to flee from a vengeful army, Arno and his mother hide in the ruins of a Königsberg mansion, hoping that once the war ends they can reunite their dispersed family. But their stay in the walled city proves untenable when they find themselves dodging bombs and scavenging in the rubble. Soon they’ll become pawns caught between two powerful enemies, on a journey with an unknown destination.

Hope carries these children caught in the crosshairs of war on an extraordinary pilgrimage in which the gift of an amber teardrop is at once a valuable form of currency and a symbol of resilience, one that draws them together against insurmountable odds.

 

 

 

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Praise

 

” Although a fictional story, it’s based on actual events related to the author by two survivors of the bombing and occupation of Prussia during World War II…Segovia’s vivid descriptions of how refugees do whatever necessary to survive compels readers to be sympathetic with human struggles, rather than simply taking sides in a conflict. This story demonstrates the staggering toll war takes, especially on women, left to carry on.”  — Authorlink

 

“Segovia likes to capture ‘the spirit of an era and a people,’ focusing on those who ‘don’t feature in the history books.’ In TEARS OF AMBER, her two main characters are children who have no control over the political issues of their era, yet find themselves struggling to survive in wartime…an engaging historical novel which enlightens readers while entertaining them” — Compulsive Reader

 

“Segovia’s prose is at an extraordinary moment for the precision in detail, the pious look at human nature, as well as for her ability to start, without distractors, great and endearing narratives in which passages and characters, despite being numerous and meriting development, do not blur or detract from each other, much less from the central characters, the children…Peregrinos is the best novel so far this year and its author is in a time of undoubted maturity.”  – Hojeando / El Norte

 

“This is a story told by a German friend to Sofía Segovia whose family settled in Monterrey, Mexico, but this author’s expertise transformed it into a post-memory novel that must be read because it makes us reflect on the consequences of the Second World War.” – Daniel Torres, Ohio University

 

“One of my favorite novels of the year! A story that is as shocking as it is moving, in which courage, resilience and love fill us with hope.” – El Librero de Valentina

 

“Segovia starts from unique and endearing characters and crucial conflicts (..) to pose allegories about the most valuable qualities of humanity. Peregrinos continues with the thread that the author follows in her career path: the stories of survival that remind us that history is not in the official books but in the real legacy of those who live it. Perhaps a novel like this one by Sofía Segovia was never so relevant and important to make us question our position on the reality of present-day migrants, refugees, pilgrims all.” – Gaceta 22

 

“A story to read slowly, with phrases that bristle and reach deep inside. A common history of a common family who as many others, was left scarred, depleted, broken….[Peregrinos] does not refer to the life of those who organize war, nor to those who benefit from it, it tells of the life of the common citizen, the innocent, the boy, the girl, the wife, the father, the neighbor. What I liked the most is the ending… it is one that stays with you, makes you aware.” – Tote Cabana

 

 

Excerpt

 

Chapter 24 Lost

 

 

January 1942

 

Karl Schipper was lost in pain.

He wouldn’t remember it later, but in the haze of his confused mind, in that silence that smelled of gunpowder, at first, he believed he was lost in death. He felt a moment of sorrow for his wife and his children. So many fatherless children. His would just be a few more in this new world of orphans. Then, he remembered the promise that his fatherland had made: in the new Germany, no family would be abandoned, no child left without food or education.

He could go reassured, then, he thought. If he could open his eyes. If he could rise, leave his body’s weight behind, he’d go. He hadn’t yet reached the level of consciousness necessary to ask himself, why do I need strength to go to the eternal life? Why do I need sight? Isn’t it supposed to be easy?

He’d barely had time to think, thank God it’s over, that the bullets have stopped flying, that life no longer reeks of dead flesh, that my hands will never again hold a rifle, that my body will never again know cold, when he became suddenly aware of his body—frozen eyelashes under a makeshift mask, breathless, motionless, lying faceup in the middle of the forest.

There were voices around him, and, more than anything else, it was they that anchored him to life. German voices.

“This one’s breathing!” said a voice above him.

Karl was happy for the man who’d be going home, who’d see his children again. What he’d give to be able to see his own! But when he felt hands lifting his body, covering it with a blanket, he understood that the voice was referring to him, the only survivor of that massacre in the forest.

As the anesthetic of ice wore off beneath the blanket, Karl’s body began to convulse with shivers. As he was transported first on a stretcher and then in a truck, the living monster named pain arrived, a monster that burned, bludgeoned, tore, bit—and with it the desire to die so that he no longer had to suffer.

But desire alone was not enough.

And, as bad as the pain was, worse still was feeling none in his legs.

“You were lucky. The bullet didn’t hit a single organ,” a doctor would tell him later. “As for your legs, you fell backward onto another soldier. You pressed a nerve against his rifle or his binoculars. Who knows? You were there for hours. And the cold did its bit, too. There’s damage to the nervous system, severe inflammation, and your toes froze. There’s no way of knowing whether you’ll recover the feeling in your legs, but we think we can save your feet. Good thing you were wearing thick socks. Time will tell. For now, rest. Don’t move, Schipper!”

As if he could. Karl couldn’t even speak, his jawbone was so tightly clenched, as if trying to kill the pain, and more than that, kill the terror of the contrast between pain and its absence. Uncontrollable pain, unbearable nothingness.

Karl Schipper had emerged from the Russian forest with raw, perforated flesh above lifeless legs. Ragged branches above a dead trunk. All he could do now was scream and groan, but inside, where nobody else could hear.

A bullet had taken him out of one war and plunged him into another: the one between his torso and his legs, between two monsters, one of excess and the other of nothingness. His only relief was the Demerol.

“Look at it this way, Schipper: you’re lucky. Your legs could be hurting, too.”

Lucky. He was lucky.

Between episodes of Demerol delirium, he could see very clearly that, in his body, life was fighting against death, good against evil, everything against nothing. He was the only witness to these battles and the only victim. He tried to explain it to his doctors, to his nurses, but no one seemed to understand.

“Listen to me!”

But no matter how he begged, nobody helped him.

“It’s all right, Schipper, don’t worry. You’ll be home soon, and we saved your feet.”

There were days—many, most of them—when he would have preferred the numbness in his legs to conquer the territory held by pain. To kill it all and give him rest. But the wounded branches of the tree that was Karl Schipper were intent on living. Little by little, electric current by electric current, they made strategic advances and, in doing so, enlisted more pain.

It made little difference that they transported him by ship and not by road. The steadiness of his journey made little difference if the pain emanated from inside, and if between the pain and the Demerol, Karl lost his head and even his memories. It made little difference when they told him: Cheer up, Schipper, you’re going home, to the first-class hospital in Königsberg. It made little difference that he’d see his wife and his children. Little or none, because Karl Schipper was in the clutches of a monster that writhed and made him writhe, that with its infinite tentacles had now reached his toes, showing no mercy and offering no respite.

Hence, when his wife and older children arrived to visit him at Königsberg Hospital, they found him unable to believe they were there, and were not just a new form of torture that his private monster had conceived.

Hence, they returned to the farm in silence, and hence why it took Arno so long to persuade his mother to take him to visit.

“They won’t let you go in, but send him a letter.”

Arno did something he thought was better: he sent his collection of tank drawings in the hope that his father would pin them on the wall, admire them, and then explain to his artist son how they worked.

His father looked at the drawings without looking, for an instant and without admiration, because the war, the pain, and the craving for Demerol had robbed him of the ability. He had no wall to pin them on, separated only by curtains that allowed a concert of moans to pass through unmuffled, his own voice joining in when he let his guard down.

 

From TEARS OF AMBER by Sofía Segovia, translated by Simon Bruni (Amazon Crossing; May 1, 2021)

 

 

About the Author

 

I was born in Monterrey, Mexico. The 5^th child in a family of six daughters and sons. My father is an OB-GYN and my mother a business woman turned politician, now both retired. We had a tennis court at home so that and all sport was a big part of our family. But surprisingly, in a growing city with no book stores or libraries, in that family, even my nanny was an avid reader. She was also my storyteller, which is a big part of my love for writing. I went to school at The American School of Monterrey, where I learned many things, but more than anything, the love for other languages and all aspects of theater, musical or other, on stage and off. I took a sabbatical to study French in Switzerland after high school. That’s when I realized I loved to travel and go to museums, that’s when I saw-touched-felt history and became an observer. I actually have a museums-of-the-world bucket list that keeps growing.

I went to college in Monterrey for two years before getting married at 20, in 1985. With my new husband, José, I lived in San Diego, California for a couple of years. When we came back to Monterrey, I went back to college to finish my degree in Communications. That’s when my involvement in politics became professional. We had our first daughter when I was 25; we have three children in all. I always kept writing —speeches, plays, political campaigns, but nothing and nobody ever said to me: fiction is your thing. Until the end of the world was announced for the year 2000. Then I asked myself: what’s your thing, yours that has nothing to do with anybody else? Writing short stories as a girl or a young woman even in college had given me the most pleasure, I realized, and it had been a long time since I’d written one for nobody, just for me, just because. So, I decided to explore that feeling again. I joined a writing workshop, and realized I no longer had short stories in me, I had novels. I wrote Huracán. It took me a while to get published in the big leagues, but the wait and my personal evolution was worth it! The Murmur of Bees opened all possibilities for me. The came Tears of Amber. So now I write and read and travel. I check off items from my museum bucket list, but have been back many times to many of them. I’ve been married to José for 35 years and been sweethearts for 40. Sports are important in our family, but also reading, travel, our pets, history, museums, theater and cooking mostly Mexican, French, Italian and Indian food. Everyone in our family is an excellent cook.

 

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Synopsis

 

Sarah B. Cochran probably didn’t expect to own businesses that competed with Henry Clay Frick’s or to exceed Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic giving in certain circles. But when her husband and son died suddenly, she had to take over the family coal and coke business at a time when it was illegal, and some thought unlucky, for women to work in or around coal mines. Rather than retreating from the world, from her forties through her seventies she engaged with it through philanthropic activity that shifted power, championed others, and influenced causes.
Today, her contributions can be difficult to identify without already knowing they exist. This book is an introduction to Sarah’s story for academics, genealogists, history buffs, and those interested in sharing stories of other “lesser mortals” who created significant changes but remain largely unknown.

 

Praise

 

This wonderful biography brings to life Sarah B. Cochran, a philanthropist, college trustee, and coal industry executive in the early 1900s. Like her contemporaries, including philanthropists Phoebe Hearst, Olivia Sage, and Jane Stanford, Sarah inherited a fortune that she used to better her community. Kimberly Hess masterfully explores the many facets of her life, helping us to understand Sarah’s transformation after the death of her husband and son, and her powerful use of philanthropy to advance the causes she believed deeply in. –Joan Marie Johnson, author of Funding Feminism: Philanthropy, Monied Women, and the Women’s Rights Movement

 

 

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Interview with Kimberly Hess

 

Why did you choose to write the first biography of Sarah B. Cochran? What drew you to her story?

 

Initially I didn’t set out to write Sarah’s first biography because I felt like that was a job for a historian or someone living in western Pennsylvania. When I took my husband to western Pennsylvania after we were married, he was amazed that he couldn’t find information about Sarah when he Googled her and encouraged me to write a Wikipedia entry for her. I liked that idea because anyone else could add to it. As I did research, I found new information that led me to want to write more about her. I gave a presentation to the Fayette County Historical Society, and the reactions to the presentation made me decide to write a book. I thought about the unique perspective I could offer: I grew up knowing about her, visiting her mansion and church; her putting my great-grandmother through college might have influenced the educational trajectory for part of my family; I had a business background and an MBA that allowed me to analyze the coal and coke industry; and, I had experience with Smith College, a corporate employee resource group, and the Alice Paul Institute that had informed my perspective about the value of Sarah’s story today and even outside of western Pennsylvania.

 

Why is this topic important for the region of southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio?

 

As a business owner, Sarah is a unique and inspiring person in the region’s history. In

one respect, this is important because Sarah made an impact on the region’s built environment and tried to improve life politically and philanthropically. Being able to better understand the scope of her work, not just what she accomplished in one town or campus, is very impressive. I also think her story is important because as part of the Appalachian region, Sarah’s story is about wealth, philanthropy, and influence that people don’t always associate with the region.

 

You write that, when Sarah’s name is mentioned in historical records, it is usually as a “coal magnate’s widow, not as an accomplished woman in her own right.” Why do you think Sarah was largely left out of the traditional narrative of this time and place in history? Why is it crucial that we tell her story now?

 

First of all, it’s easy for anyone in that time and place to be eclipsed by Carnegie and Frick, and certainly Sarah wasn’t the biggest self-promoter. But in certain records, evidence of Sarah’s existence or business responsibilities is missing because of the way records were kept and because of assumptions about women’s labor. Pennsylvania mine reports usually named managers, not owners like Sarah; some mining community histories cover women who were miners’ wives, which she wasn’t; and even on the U.S. Census her occupation was sometimes a blank space or the word “None.” So it’s important to tell her story, not only because her story has some universal and timeless elements to it, but because she’s a case study of how someone can become invisible because her reality didn’t fit neatly into expectations.

 

In addition to learning about the life of Sarah B. Cochran, what do you hope your readers take away from this book?

 

I hope the book’s existence makes people think about ways to tell the stories of “lesser mortals”–the people who might be historically invisible but whose stories need to be told–in their own communities. There are many ways to make stories like Sarah’s accessible to researchers and the general public. When books and articles aren’t an option, sending artifacts to archives and museums is an option. In the process of writing this book, I sent primary source material to a Methodist archive and sent digital copies of photographs to IUP’s archive.

 

 

About the Author

 

During her business career of nearly twenty years, Kimberly Hess served in volunteer leadership roles at the global and local levels for Smith College’s Alumnae Association and Office of Admission, and she was a trustee of the Alice Paul Institute and a board member of the Chubb Partnership of Women. Her writing has appeared on the websites of Thrive Global, the National Women’s History Museum and the Forté Foundation, as well as on the blogs of the Women’s Museum of California and the David Library of the American Revolution. She has a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Smith College, an M.B.A. in Marketing from Rutgers Business School, and a Certificate in Historic Preservation from the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University. An avid genealogist and traveler, she lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter.

 

 

The Immortals: The World War II Story of Five Fearless Heroes,

the Sinking of the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

During World War II, four chaplains were assigned to the SS Dorchester with more than 900 men on board. Alexander Goode, a Jewish rabbi; John Washington, a Catholic priest; George Fox, a Methodist minister; and Clark Poling, a Baptist minister, all offered comfort, reassurances, and prayers along with a warning from the captain that a German submarine was hunting their convoy.

Thoroughly researched and told in an engrossing nonfiction narrative, this true story alternates between accounts told from the perspective of the Nazi U-boat captain and his crew (as found in their journals and later interviews) and survivors from the Dorchester who credit the four chaplains with saving their lives after their ship was torpedoed.

The celebrated story of the men who became known as the Immortal Chaplains is now joined for the first time in print by the largely untold story of another hero: Charles Walter David Jr. A young Black petty officer aboard a coast guard cutter traveling with the Dorchester, Charles bravely dived into the glacial water over and over again, even with hypothermia setting in, to try to rescue those the chaplains had inspired to never give up.

Page-turning and inspiring, The Immortals explores the power of both faith and sacrifice and powerfully narrates the lives of five heroic men who believed in something greater than themselves, giving their all for people of vastly different beliefs and backgrounds.

 

 

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About the Author

 

Steven T. Collis is the author of the nonfiction books Deep Conviction and The Immortals and the novel At Any Cost. He is a storyteller at heart, but in his other life, he is also a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law, where he is the faculty director of the Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and Texas’s Law & Religion Clinic.

Prior to joining the faculty at Texas, he was the Olin-Darling Research Fellow in the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and was an equity partner at Holland & Hart LLP, where he chaired the firm’s nationwide religious institutions and First Amendment practice group.

​Before embarking on his legal and writing career, Steven graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor on the Michigan Law Review and the Michigan Journal of Race and Law. Steven also holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he served as the associate editor of the literary journal Blackbird. He completed his undergraduate studies, with university honors, at Brigham Young University.

Originally from New Mexico, Steven lives in Austin with his wife and children.

 

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Synopsis

 

On September 14, 1969, Private First Class Judy Talton celebrates her nineteenth birthday by secretly joining the campus anti-Vietnam War movement. In doing so, she jeopardizes both the army scholarship that will secure her future and her relationship with her military family. But Judy’s doubts have escalated with the travesties of the war. Who is she if she stays in the army? What is she if she leaves?

When the first date pulled in the Draft Lottery turns up as her birthday, she realizes that if she were a man, she’d have been Number One—off to Vietnam with an under-fire life expectancy of six seconds. The stakes become clear, propelling her toward a life-altering choice as fateful as that of any draftee.

The Fourteenth of September portrays a pivotal time at the peak of the Vietnam War through the rare perspective of a young woman, tracing her path of self-discovery and a “Coming of Conscience.” Judy’s story speaks to the poignant clash of young adulthood, early feminism, and war, offering an ageless inquiry into the domestic politics of protest when the world stops making sense.

 

 

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Praise

 

“Rita Dragonette has written a strong-hearted and authentic novel about a naive young girl and her struggle to reconcile the dissonance between the world she sees and the world she was raised to believe in. Judy is truly a quiet hero; you won’t forget her.” – Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

 

“A brilliant depiction of how the urgency of political commitment complicates the self- absorption of adolescence. This is a novel for those who marvel at the profound decisions we were called upon to make so young, but also for a new generation facing the crucial questions of the turbulent world that will define them.” – Barbara Shoup, author of Everything You Want

 

“An often fresh take on the collegiate anti-war movement in small-town America.” ―Kirkus Reviews

 

“. . . beautifully written with compassionate and thoughtful narrative and engaging characters who play out all the angst of the era set on a Midwestern college campus when America was at its most vulnerable. Dragonette show us what we can be, both in our best and our worst.” ―Windy City Reviews

 

 

Excerpt

 

 

Lottery Night

 

(Excerpt from The Fourteenth of September)

 

They had decided they would all watch the lottery drawing at David’s dorm, since that’s where most of them lived. However, after his outburst about women not understanding what the guys were going through, Vida suggested the girls stay together, and they all agreed, except Marsha. Howie wanted her to be with him.

They took places early, along the wall in the back of the north T.V. room. Judy watched David and the others take over the front row as the rest of the crowd gathered.

As the room began to fill, the guys practically walked over the women, pressing them toward the last-row seats, then taking over the standing room.

“What about space in the back?” an irritated voice called out.

“That’s girls,” someone answered.

Judy felt a wave of shame and grabbed Vida, pulling her by the sleeve.

A blonde she didn’t even know looked up as they left. Judy jerked her head, motioning her to follow as a look of recognition and guilt came over her.

“I didn’t think,” the blonde said, once they were out in the hallway.

“It’s all right,” Judy said, “me neither.”

“Wait up,” Marsha called. “I told Howie I couldn’t take up a seat. He’s sitting with David. I think he’ll be fine.”

They joined a crowd of women in exile in the adjacent student lounge. They waited.

“Ron’s been a mess,” one girl said, furiously twisting her ring. “He looks at me, and it’s like he wants me to say something, but I don’t know what.”

“Al, too,” another said. “And no matter what I say, it’s not what he wants to hear. He can get real mad.” She bowed her head. “It scares me.”

“I’m going to leave,” Marsha said. “I can’t take this.”

“Stay,” Judy said, holding her by the arm. She continued in a whisper, “Later won’t be any better.”

“What if—” Marsha began.

“No, don’t,” Judy said, “not yet.”

They waited in silence, prayer, and concentration. Hair was twisted, lips bitten; fingernails wouldn’t make it through the night. They smoked, even if they didn’t. They played with their pieces of paper that had birth dates of brothers and cousins and boyfriends at other schools.

“I want to scream,” Marsha said, grabbing her hair with her hands and holding her head between her knees. The smell of fear, something like sulfur, thickened the air.

Sounds filtered through from the T.V. room like little pockets of pressure, exploding as they called each number. Sometimes hoots of relief. Sometimes the hiss of a loud, disbelieving expulsion of air. Snap, crackle, pop, dud, silence. They couldn’t figure the code for the noises. No one came out.

Suddenly, Fish was running to her. He picked her up and spun her around, as if it were VE Day on the Champs-Élysées, then planted big kisses, wet as hell, all over her face. “I’m 327!” He fell to his knees with a beatific look on his face and a huge smile. “I love you! You know how much I love you?” He stretched his long arms wide. “I love you this much.”

Judy laughed nervously as he turned to the blonde and called out, stretching his arms even wider.

“I love you this much,” he repeated, “on the map!”

Judy was confused. If Fish was 327, they must be almost done. Could it mean that everyone she knew had a high number? Could they possibly be that lucky?

Achilles walked out somberly, and she held her breath.

“Ninety-six.”

“That’s almost a hundred, Achilles. You’ll be safe.”

“Yeah, great.” He walked past her toward the elevators. “I’d rather it was just nine. At least I’d know. Now I’m in no-man’s-land.” He stepped into the elevator, and she heard his voice die as the doors closed. “Fucking no-man’s-land.”

She heard Marsha shriek and turned to watch Howie come out, skinny and smiling.

“Take me to McDonald’s,” he said, then engulfed her in a bear hug. “Three forty-three,” he yelled with a clenched fist in the air and his old guitar-playing grin on his face.

David walked out slowly but deliberately, his gaze fixed at a spot on the floor, about three feet ahead of him. Judy could feel her fear rising, her heartbeat so intense it seemed to be coming out of the top of her head. She wasn’t breathing. She would not cry. She could not cry. She touched his arm and he stopped his march.

“Two thirty.”

She burst into tears and moved to hug him, but he pulled back. “But David, that’s nearly halfway. You’ll be clear.”

“Yeah, lucky me,” He headed to the elevator.

“Don’t follow me,” he called back at her.

“But . . .”

“Don’t.”

Judy turned in circles as others walked out of the room, not sure what had just happened with David. She strained her neck looking for Wil, Wizard, Meldrich.

“We have a Number One!” she heard someone say, followed by a chorus of disembodied voices.

“Number One. September fourteenth.”

Judy sat down in the middle of the floor, jelly legs giving up. “My birthday, too,” she said out loud to people who weren’t listening.

The post-lottery pandemonium went on above and around her. Someone just walked over my grave, she thought, and then had the sensation of dropping, like a heavy stone, accelerating. She tried to steady herself with her hands on the floor. In my family I was supposed to be a boy, she thought. It was to be a boy first and only then a girl.

“September fourteenth is my birthday, too,” she said out loud again to stop her fall.

Judy felt she should find the Number One and tell him that were it not for a flip of the chromosome coin—one extra more or less—she would be in his place, random, just like the lottery. She really could understand.

She tried to picture herself in a uniform, a helmet, but the closest she could get was to see her little brother, the same hair, blue eyes, and freckles.

This face and figure froze in her mind as she felt the digit 1 burning into her forehead like a private scarlet letter. This had to mean something.

She wandered outside. It was December. The cold hurt. She took her hands out of her pockets and forced them down at her sides as the icy air coated them, penetrating in daggers of pain to the bone. It was the least she could do.

And then she remembered. She knew who was #1.

 

Excerpted from THE FOURTEENTH OF SEPTEMBER. Copyright © 2018 by Rita Dragonette.

 

 

About the Author

 

RITA DRAGONETTE is a writer who, after spending nearly thirty years telling the stories of others as an award-winning public relations executive, has returned to her original creative path. She is currently at work on three other books: an homage to The Sun Also Rises about expats chasing their last dream in San Miguel de Allende, a World War II novel based upon her interest in the impact of war on and through women, and a memoir in essays. She lives and writes in Chicago, where she also hosts literary salons to showcase authors and their new books to avid readers.

 

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A Ghost and His Gold
Supernatural Historical
Stand-Alone Novel
Publisher TSL Publications (1/27/2021)
Number of Pages 264 pages

 

Synopsis

 

After Tom and Michelle Cleveland move into their recently built, modern townhouse, their housewarming party is disrupted when a drunken game with an Ouija board goes wrong and summonses a sinister poltergeist, Estelle, who died in 1904.

Estelle makes her presence known in a series of terrifying events, culminating in her attacking Tom in his sleep with a knife. But, Estelle isn’t alone. Who are the shadows lurking in the background – one in an old-fashioned slouch hat and the other, a soldier, carrying a rifle?

After discovering their house has been built on the site of one of the original farms in Irene, Michelle becomes convinced that the answer to her horrifying visions lie in the past. She must unravel the stories of the three phantoms’ lives, and the circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths during the Second Anglo Boer War, in order to understand how they are tied together and why they are trapped in the world of ghosts between life and death. As the reasons behind Estelle’s malevolent behaviour towards Tom unfold, Michelle’s marriage comes under severe pressure and both their lives are threatened.

 

 

 

 

Lulu * TSL Books (UK)

 

 

About the Author

 

Robbie Cheadle has published nine books for children and one poetry book. She has branched into writing for adults and young adults and, in order to clearly separate her children’s books from her adult books, is writing for older readers under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle.

Robbie Cheadle’s Sir Chocolate children’s picture books are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions that children can make under adult supervision. Her books for older children also incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.

Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s supernatural stories combine fabulous paranormal elements with fascinating historical facts.

Children’s picture books – available as a square book and an A5 book (co-authored with Michael Cheadle):
Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the baby cookie monster story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Condensed Milk River story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Sugar Crystal Caves story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook
Sir Chocolate and the Ice Cream Rainbow Fairies story and cookbook

Middle school books:
Silly Willy Goes to Cape Town (includes five fun party cake ideas)
While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with Elsie Hancy Eaton)

Poetry book:
Open a new door (co-authored with Kim Blades)

Supernatural fantasy YA novel:
Through the Nethergate

Supernatural historical adult novel:

A Ghost and His Gold

Horror Anthologies (edited by Dan Alatorre):
Spellbound
Nightmareland
Dark Visions
Wings & Fire

Paranormal Anthologies (edited by Kaye Lynne Booth):
Spirits of the West
Whispers of the Past

Murder mystery Anthology (edited by Stephen Bentley)
Death Among Us

 

 

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Giveaway

 

 

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THE TAKEAWAY MEN

 

By Meryl Ain

 

 

Publisher: SparkPress
Pub Date: August 4^th, 2020
Pages: 265 pages
Categories: Historical / Jewish Literature / Sibling Fiction / Holocaust

 

 

 

 

With the cloud of the Holocaust still looming over them, twin sisters Bronka and Johanna Lubinski and their parents arrive in the US from a Displaced Persons Camp. In the years after World War II, they experience the difficulties of adjusting to American culture as well as the burgeoning fear of the Cold War.

Years later, the discovery of a former Nazi hiding in their community brings the Holocaust out of the shadows. As the girls get older, they start to wonder about their parents’ pasts, and they begin to demand answers. But it soon becomes clear that those memories will be more difficult and painful to uncover than they could have anticipated.

Poignant and haunting, The Takeaway Men explores the impact of immigration, identity, prejudice, secrets, and lies on parents and children in mid-twentieth-century America.

 

 

 

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Praise

 

“At a time when the darkness of the Holocaust is being whitewashed, Meryl Ain’s remarkable debut novel illuminates the postwar Jewish American landscape like a truth-seeking torch. An emotionally rich and lovingly told saga of survivors, with great sensitivity to what was lost, buried, and resurrected.” — Thane Rosenbaum, author of The Golems of Gotham, Second Hand Smoke, and Elijah Visible.

 

“The author’s tale is sensitively composed, a thoughtful exploration into the perennially thorny issues of religious identity, assimilation, and the legacy of suffering.” — Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meryl Ain’s articles and essays have appeared in Huffington Post, The New York Jewish Week, The New York Times, Newsday and other publications. In 2014, she co-authored the award-winning book, The Living Memories Project: Legacies That Last, and in 2016, wrote a companion workbook, My Living Memories Project Journal.  She is a sought-after speaker and has been interviewed on television, radio, and podcasts. She is a career educator and is proud to be both a teacher and student of history. She has also worked as a school administrator.

The Takeaway Men is the result of her life-long quest to learn more about the Holocaust, a thirst that was first triggered by reading The Diary of Anne Frank in the sixth grade. While teaching high school history, she introduced her students to the study of the Holocaust. At the same time, she also developed an enduring fascination with teaching about and researching the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case. An interview with Robert Meeropol, the younger son of the Rosenbergs, is featured in her book, The Living Memories Project. The book also includes an interview with Holocaust survivor, Boris Chartan, the founder of the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, New York.

Meryl holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an Ed.D. from Hofstra University. She is a lifetime member of Hadassah and an active supporter of UJA-Federation of New York.  She lives in New York with her husband, Stewart. They have three married sons and six grandchildren. This is her first novel.

 

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Synopsis

 

During World War II, an American soldier encounters a German woman living a secret life in bomb-blighted London.

In September of 1940, the Blitz had begun. Like other British civilians, Audrey Stocking is determined to survive, except she isn’t from England. She is a German—a young Jewish woman with a fake passport and a nearly-perfect British accent, trying her best to blend into the city. Her days are kept busy working for the Woman’s Voluntary Services to evacuate British children into the countryside, saving them from nightly bombings over London. But she also writes secret letters addressed to her father’s factory back home. Audrey longs to be reunited with her father and younger brothers in Germany, but she isn’t holding out much hope. If the bombs don’t get her, British Military Intelligence will. And then there’s the paralyzing nightmares and flashbacks—something from her past she can’t quite remember. When an air raid leaves an unexploded bomb wedged in the floor of Audrey’s flat, an American soldier training with Bomb Disposal Company 5 is a welcome sight.

Lieutenant Wesley Bowers arrived in England the day the Blitz began. He knows the average life expectancy of soldiers disarming bombs is ten weeks, and not all of the men in his unit will survive. Wes struggles with the idea of losing men who are starting to feel like family. Although he’s committed to being a soldier, he grapples with the thought of death. Meeting Audrey, an attractive, intelligent, and caring British girl has been the one bright spot during the war’s unending bleakness. Wes has a girl waiting for him back home, but he’s never met anyone like Audrey. There’s an immediate connection between them, and they open up to each other, sharing their innermost feelings. Will he still feel the same if he discovers the truth about her identity? Even Audrey doesn’t know the whole truth. Not yet.

In Times of Rain and War is a gripping and heartbreakingly beautiful story about the strength and resilience of the human heart and spirit, reminding us there is always hope in hard times.

 

 

 

 

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About the Author

 

Camron Wright began writing to get out of attending MBA school at the time, and it proved the better decision. His first book, Letters for Emily, was a Readers’ Choice Award winner, as well as a selection of the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. The Orphan Keeper is a Foreword Reviews Indie Book of the Year Gold winner in Multicultural Fiction. Camron and his wife, Alicyn, live on the western edge of the Rocky Mountains and are the parents of four children.

 

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Synopsis

 

Swirling rumors forced Cecilia White out of the teaching job she loved. She vowed not to get involved with a man again—no matter what. But when the term begins at a new schoolhouse in a new town, disaster strikes. No matter what she does, she can’t seem to escape the handsome, single chairman of the school board.

 

John Morgan has a secret. He’s not who he says he is. He’ll do anything to protect and provide for his young sister—including cozying up to the prickly schoolmarm.

 

Sparks fly and Cecilia must deny her heart if she hopes to keep her job. But what’s more important? Duty or love?

 

 

 

 

Review

 

This was a fun read and took me back in time when teachers couldn’t be married (for some crazy reason) and courting wasn’t about how fast you could get someone into the sack.

Cecelia has come to this small town after a “scandal” at her last job. By today’s standards, it was no big deal, but at that time it could ruin someone’s reputation. John has his own past that he is running from but no one in town knows what happened except his sister. Will he be able to keep it a secret?

I really liked Cecelia and her dedication to teaching and even trying to bring John’s sister around. Ruth is persnickety and a troublemaker partially because that is how she was raised before her parents died, and partially because no one has taken her to task to be a better person. I like how Cecelia doesn’t let Ruth get to her and eventually breaks through to her.

John’s past is about to catch up to him and there is remorse on his end for what he did in the past and he has worked hard to change who he is inside. It shows a lot for his character when he does own up to his past and while people are shocked and back away, they realize that people can change and become better citizens.

The love story between John and Cecelia is slow but for a reason. They both are afraid of their past and do not want to move too fast.

Overall, an enjoyable story and we give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Lacy Williams wishes her writing career was more like what you see on Hallmark movies: dreamy brainstorming from a French chateau or a few minutes at the computer in a million-dollar New York City penthouse. In reality, she’s up before the sun, putting words on the page before her kids wake up for the day. Those early-morning and late-night writing sessions add up, and Lacy has published fifty books in almost a decade, first with a big five publisher and then as an indie author. When she needs to refill the well, you can find Lacy birdwatching, gardening, biking with the kiddos, or walking the dog.

 

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It Happened in Tuscany by Gail Mencini

 

Adult Fiction (18+), 408 pages

 

Mainstream Fiction, Historical Fiction

 

Publisher: Capriole Group

 

Release date: Feb 18 2020

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

From the multiple-award-winning author of To Tuscany with Love comes a captivating story of the epic tug of war between honor and duty, the irrepressible power of love, and the concept of family.

In 1945, Will Mills and his fellow soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division scaled Italy’s treacherous Riva Ridge in the frigid night to break through the nearly impenetrable German line of defense. Severely wounded, Will was rescued by Italian partisans and one, a beautiful girl, tended his injuries until he had the strength to rejoin the U.S. troops.

Tormented and haunted by his decisions and actions during wartime, Will knows he has unfinished missions in Italy to complete. The passage of time and years of carrying this unfulfilled need have molded Will into a bitter, angry man.

Seventy-five years later, Will’s spunky thirty-two-year-old neighbor, Sophie Sparke, faces disaster in her life. Everything is going wrong—her job, her love life, even her dog. Part of the problem is that confident and fiercely independent Sophie lets her quick mouth get her into trouble.

Grouchy, mean-spirited Will finagles Sophie into traveling with him to Tuscany to find the partisan who saved his life. Will also secretly hopes to confront the demons his wartime actions created. Sophie and Will comb enchanting Tuscan hill towns on an improbable and unfolding mission with few clues to aid them. Will’s passionate tenacity drives their quest and in the process exposes their darkest secrets. The journey alters the course of their lives, and Will and Sophie find more than they had imagined in the hills of Tuscany.

 

 

Amazon ~ Audible

 

B&N ~ IndieBound ~ Apple

 

 

Guest Post

 

Gail joins us today and I love the topic – book themed parties!!!  What is even better is the book is set in the 1980s which were my high school and college years. I loved that decade and even had a party with that theme one year. There are some great suggestions so when the world opens back up, have a party. Or host it on a video call, that could be fun too.

 

 

Tips for Hosting a Book-Themed Party

 

By Gail Mencini

 

Have you ever been to a Great Gatsby party or wedding? Often books can provide a theme for parties and events, book clubs, and reading groups. My two Tuscany novels, To Tuscany with Love and It Happened in Tuscany, are examples of books that provide fun themes for parties.

Party themes for To Tuscany with Love:

1. I set the novel’s college years in the 1980s, which is a fun theme period.
2. Dress in the clothing styles worn in the 1980s and serve popular food from that decade.
3. Have a costume that reflects a 1980s song, movie, or artist.
4. Host an Italian dinner party, with Tuscan food and wine. You can find recipe and wine ideas on my website and in my novels.
5. Host a wine tasting party, using the wines mentioned in To Tuscany with Love.

Party themes for It Happened in Tuscany:

1. Will fought in Italy during World War II and trained at Camp Hale in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
2. Dress in World War II era clothing and serve food served during that time period.
3. Wear ski clothing, clothes suitable for a snowshoe hike, or clothing one would wear to winter climb a mountain (in any time period) and serve après ski food and drink: cheese, Court Bouillon, and chocolate fondues, gourmet and/or spiked hot chocolate, and other warm drinks such as Irish Coffee and Hot Apple Cider.

2. Host an Italian dinner party, with Tuscan food and wine. You can find recipe and wine ideas on my website and in my novels.
3. Host a wine tasting party, using the wines mentioned in It Happened in Tuscany.

For either book, you can make a playlist of 1980s, World War II era, or Italian music with American or Italian artists for an authentic backdrop to the party. Your party invitation can include a copy of the book you’re basing your party on, so all of your guests can read or look at the book in advance!

 

About the Author

 

Gail Mencini is the acclaimed author of It Happened in Tuscany and To Tuscany with Love, both of which are Denver Post #1 bestsellers and award winners. Gail grew up in DeWitt, Nebraska, graduated from Wartburg College with a BA in Accounting and Economics, and earned a master of taxation degree from the University of Denver. A frequent visitor to Tuscany and a homegrown gourmet cook, Gail has toured Italy by car, train, bus, Vespa, and foot. She lives in Colorado with her husband.

 

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Giveaway

 

Win 1 of 5 copies of IT HAPPENED IN TUSCANY (choice of signed print, ebook, or audiobook)

 

or the GRAND PRIZE (book plus high-quality canvas bag)

 

(6 winners total) (USA only) (ends Apr 9)

 

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Synopsis

 

Kite to Freedom: The Story of a Kite-Flying Contest, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the Underground Railroad is an action-packed, fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the construction of the Niagara Falls International Suspension Bridge, which still connects the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls.

When engineers were faced with the challenge of bridging the vast Niagara Gorge, the solution was a kite-flying contest. After Katie and Homan’s kite crosses the gorge and wins the contest, construction begins on the first suspension bridge to connect the United States and Canada. The two friends are there as it becomes an important link on the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom. Even as her parents try to shield her from the ugly existence of slavery and the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Katie discovers that the scary truth is closer to home than she could have imagined, even meeting a woman she later learns was Harriet Tubman along the way.

 

 

 

City of Light Publishing * Amazon * B&N * Bookshop

 

 

Excerpt

 

Get a peek into the book with this excerpt from chapter 4.

 

Katie’s Question

 

On their walk home, Katie and her papa talked about the contest. Papa told Katie that she and Homan should hope that the snow held off for the contest. Katie breathed into the icy air just to see it. It wasn’t long before the father and daughter reached home and Katie ran inside to hug her mother.

“Something smells delicious,” exclaimed Papa. “I made stew and some bread this afternoon,” said Katie’s mama.

Katie was at the stove, peering into the pot and smelling the simmering dinner. Mama came over to the stove and began scooping heaps of the stew into bowls, handing them to Katie to bring to the table. They sat down and Katie began slurping her stew as her parents talked about the day. Her ears perked up when she heard her name.

“I’ve got an early delivery tomorrow, and Katie hoped to come with me in the morning to Homan’s place. They’re building a kite for the contest,” said Papa.

“Oh, is that right?” Mama asked. “What color kite are you going to build?”

Katie stopped gulping down her dinner to join the conversation.

“Homan says it’s called a barn door kite, but I don’t know what color it will be yet. We don’t have any fabric.”

“Well, I imagine it will have to be light enough to catch the wind, but sturdy enough to withstand the snow,” Mama said.

“Yeah, Homan said it needed to be real light.”

“Well, after you help me clean up dinner, maybe we can go through my fabric scraps to see if there is anything you like.”

“Really?” asked Katie, already visibly excited. Mama nodded, a small grin creeping across her face.

“Now where is this delivery that you’ve got to leave the house so early for?” Mama asked, looking Papa squarely in the face. “I don’t think it’s right of that Walsh fella to be sending you out before the sun even rises.”

“He’s not making me go. I just want to get the delivery out to the Cataract House,” Papa replied. “I’ve got some business to handle with the headwaiter. We have to straighten out some things.”

Mama seemed to understand exactly what this meant. Katie remembered the last time that she saw the Cataract House. She remembered Homan telling her about slaves. She remembered that woman as she ran away from all those angry men. She wondered if the woman was a slave.

“What’s a slave?” Katie asked. The question seemed to shock both of her parents. A silence that felt like an eternity ensued. Katie began to worry.

“Why you askin’ about slaves?” said Mama. “Where’d you hear that word?”

Papa seemed alarmed, as if something he had said led to this question.

“Well, the last time me and Homan went down to the islands, we saw the Cataract House and he told me Southerners come up here with their slaves.”

Papa finally spoke. “Homan is right. Lots of Southern people come to see Niagara Falls. The ones who can afford to stay at the Cataract House are rich, and many rich Southern families own slaves.”

“But a slave is a person, right?” asked Katie. “Homan said a slave is a black person who works for a white person and doesn’t get paid. How can you own a person?”

“Things are very different in the South, Katie,” said Papa. “People buy and sell other people and make them work in their fields. People who look like us are considered property—objects— in the South.”

“But how come we’re not?” asked Katie.

“Before you were born, your grandparents were purchased from a Southerner by a Northern man. That man made a habit of buying people—people just like you and me—and bringing them to the North to set them free,” said Mama.

“Those people at the Cataract House who come to see the Falls—do they set their slaves free when they come to the North?” Katie asked.

“Unfortunately, not all people share the same values,” said Papa.

“They bring slaves here to be slaves, and bring them home just the same,” added Mama.

Katie thought about bringing up the woman she had seen running away and the boat that ferried her off. She thought about telling them about all the angry men who chased her. But then she thought it best to not tell her parents what she had seen. Her parents might not let her go back to the Cataract House or go exploring, even during the summer. Maybe they wouldn’t even let her go to the kite-flying contest. She decided to remain silent.

That night, after all the dishes were washed and Katie had picked out pretty fabric for the kite from her mother’s bin of scraps, she changed into her nightgown and crawled into bed. She contemplated the dinner conversation. Now she understood what a slave was, but she still didn’t understand why she was any different.

 

 

Review

 

This is a great middle-grade book that teaches children about how a suspension bridge was built over the Niagra Falls gorge and also teaches them about how different parts of the country viewed slavery in the mid-1800s along with some facts about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman.

The story is well told and I appreciated Katie’s innocence in what she knew as a young lady. While she recognized that she and Homan had different skin colors, they treated each other as equals and didn’t think twice about their differences. I think they both learned a lesson about slavery and human rights as they observed a young black woman escaping to freedom in Canada. They are even able to meet her and spend time with her during a snowstorm that left them stranded in Canada for a few days.

I especially enjoyed the part of the story that educated me on how suspension bridges are built and the ingenuity that one person came up with to get the wire over the gorge to the other side. This was no easy task but it was a nice peek into STEM and might influence another young mind in this field.

I enjoyed the illustrations and felt like they capture the scene and the moment and add dimension to the book.

I think this is a must read for middle-grade students. They can learn quite a bit and perhaps whet their appetite for more. We give this book 5 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Kathleen A. Dinan was inspired to write this book by her father. She was born in Buffalo, New York, and lived most of her adult life in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where she raised her three children. A graduate of Saint Louis University School of Law, she worked in New York City for many years.

About the Illustrator

 

Iris M. Kirkwood, a self-taught visual artist, was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, just a few miles from Niagara Falls. She used elements of the story, the setting, the young characters, and her unique point of view, combined with digital and traditional tools, to create the visual narrative for this story. Her work is in private collections as well as exhibited in galleries and museums.