The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel

Published June 6, 2023-Gallery Books-Historical Fiction-384pp

Book Summary

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.

More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Paris Daughter Review was first published in the Historical Novels Review Magazine, August 1, 2023 for the Historical Novel Society.

The Paris Daughter opens in 1939, days before Hitler invades Poland, as two fellow Americans cross paths in a Paris suburb. Elise LeClair, on a life changing walk in the park to escape her demanding artist husband Olivier, meets grieving Juliette Foulon, owner of the Bookshop of Dreams. Kristin Harmel sets the stage for a lifelong friendship and emotional turmoil between the mothers and their newborn baby girls, while drawing sharp contrasts in the personalities and political beliefs of their husbands. Elise is feeling invisible as Olivier becomes passionately, overtly Communist, endangering daughter, Mathilde. Meanwhile, Juliette lives a quiet life in the bookshop with protective husband Paul, baby Lucie, and two sons. By the time the playmates are 3 years old, political and world events have led to Elise’s excruciating decision that to protect Mathilde, she will take on a new identity and leave her daughter to live in relative safety with Juliette’s family.

Harmel’s plot revolves around innocent civilians being bombed then living with fear and helplessness; exploring how Juliette and Elise survive the aftermath of war through 1960. Following the plight of Jewish widow, Ruth Levy, separated from her children and the ensuing search, the narrative reveals the inner strength required to endure trauma and face adversity. Connecting readers to current events in Ukraine, a key historical thread is that of orphanages established to reunite children with their families. Themes of home, family, and the mystery of survival strategies are emphasized.

Divided into three parts and based on the real-life Allied bombing raids of the German-controlled Renault factory in Paris, Harmel’s historical mystery crisscrosses the Atlantic, focusing on how coping with loss and grief is personal and individual. Strong character development, emotional, compelling plot twists, supported by superb historical research.

Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling, USA Today bestselling, and #1 international bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, and a dozen other novels that have been translated into more than 30 languages and are sold all over the world.

Mrs. Porter Calling by AJ Pearce

Publishing August 8, 2023-Scribner-Historical Fiction 320pp

Book Summary:

“Heartwarming, funny, and joyfully uplifting, the third novel in the Emmy Lake Chronicles is a moving tribute to friendship and overcoming adversity.

London, April 1943. A little over a year since she married Captain Charles Mayhew and he went away to war, Emmy Lake is now in charge of “Yours Cheerfully,” the hugely popular advice column in Woman’s Friend magazine. Cheered on by her best friend Bunty, Emmy is dedicated to helping readers face the increasing challenges brought about by over three years of war. The postbags are full and Woman’s Friend is thriving.

But Emmy’s world is turned upside down when glamorous socialite, the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter, becomes the new publisher of the magazine, and wants to change everything the readers love. Aided by Mrs. Pye, a Paris-obsessed fashion editor with delusions of grandeur, and Small Winston, the grumpiest dog in London, Mrs. Porter fills the pages with expensive clothes and frivolous articles about her friends. Worst of all, she announces that she is cutting the “Yours Cheerfully” column and her vision for the publication’s future seems dire. With the stakes higher than ever, Emmy and her friends must find a way to save the magazine that they love.”

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Mrs. Porter Calling is the third novel in the Emmy Lake Chronicles by A.J. Pearce. Set in Central London, in 1943, Emmy Lake and her best friend Bunty share a home in Pimlico and are still volunteering at the local fire station as telephonists. On staff at Woman’s Friend magazine, Emmy responds to letters for her popular advice column, Yours Cheerfully, with compassionate, helpful ideas. When Mrs. Porter arrives on the scene as the new owner and publisher, the daily lives and schedules of the staff go rather sideways. Pearce compares time with Mrs. Porter to working with a Lancaster bomber in a hat, and as Mrs. Porter aptly put it herself, “Meetings are not my thing.” Mrs. Porter wreaks havoc on Woman’s Friend, sending the magazine circulation into a downward spiral.

A.J. Pearce develops the plot through quirky, witty characters, who become a close-knit team as they pull together to save Woman’s Friend and outwit Mrs. Porter. Columns such as What’s in the Hot Pot and On Duty for Beauty add ingenious ideas and giggly humor for readers along with columnist Pamela Pye’s penchant for French. Back at home, Emmy and Bunty are trying to “Stay Calm and Carry On” in true British fashion. The men in their lives are at war but friends and colleagues from the fire station fill in when needed. The addition of friend Thelma and her three children add to family dynamics of cooking with ration coupons, acquiring pets, and providing unexpected emotional support. Pearce highlights the stamina, patience, and love required of families to endure the war years.

Mrs. Porter Calling is chocked full of hilarious British humor, iconic pearls of wisdom, and laugh out loud dialogue interspersed with personal and social situations that strike all the emotional chords. This novel is a comfort; as Thelma often reminded her children, “You are safe, and you are loved.”

Secrets of the Italian Island by Barbara Josselsohn

Publishes May 11, 2023-Bookouture-Historical Fiction-Sisters of War-Book #1-393pp.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Barbara Josselsohn’s foray into historical fiction begins with Secrets of the Italian Island. Based on a true story, this dual timeline is book #1 in the Sisters of War series. Main character Mia, grieving her grandmother Lucy’s recent passing in 2018, receives a letter claiming her grandmother is connected to an object of historical significance stolen from a castle on an island off the coast of Italy in the early 1940’s. Known as the Castle of the Poets for centuries, it had become a sanctuary for inventors, scientists, writers, and artists from all over the world. In the 1940’s the castle was stormed and overtaken by Nazis to house high ranking officials. The dual timeline continues with the saga of three sisters on a quest in 1943 to save their dying father. Papa, a Jewish tailor, should be leaving Italy, but due to his health must remain at home in his small village south of Rome. Annalise, oldest sister at 18 years old, has devised a daring plan to travel to the island, secure jobs in the castle kitchen, and find the owner, Patricio Parissi, who she hopes will help save her father.

Barbara Josselsohn’s well developed characters bridge the timelines for readers. In the current timeline, Mia’s boyfriend, Ryan, lacks empathy for her search to understand how the grandmother that raised her is somehow connected to a wedding dress found in a closet. When Mia travels to Italy, Ryan’s questioning phone calls and lack of support creates tension and distrust as the story progresses. Mia’s island tour guide, Leo, links readers to the latter timeline, as he shares the Parissi’s family history of the castle and the gruesome details of the Nazi takeover. Readers will also appreciate the impressive head of the castle kitchen, Signora Russo, and her intricate system of record keeping for guests in the castle.

Josselsohn’s prose is filled with anticipation, hope and fear in the sisters’ plan and her dialogue evokes emotions ranging from infuriating reactions to soul-stirring feelings shared on a dance floor. Along with analysis of the grandmother/granddaughter relationship readers can follow the sisters for an historic discovery and the threads of connection between artists and musicians of years past. Notes in walls and secrets leading to a love story on the Isola di Parissi, will be discovered in Secrets of the Italian Island.

Shadows We Carry by Meryl Ain

Publication April 25, 2023-SparkPress-Historical Fiction-296 pp

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In Shadows We Carry, Meryl Ain continues the life stories of Second-Generation Holocaust Survivors introduced in The Takeaway Men. “Second generation” refers to the children of Holocaust survivors who were born after the great cataclysm and grew up in its shadow.” Meryl Ain’s sequel is set in the U. S. during the turbulent ‘60’s and ‘70’s as the fraternal Lubinski twins, Bronka and JoJo, navigate marriage, family expectations and face quotas for women in professional careers. Readers are enveloped in the social and political unrest after the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the implications of the Viet Nam war. These events have a great emotional impact on Bronka, JoJo, their work cohorts, friends, and neighbors. The theme of gender identity is also dealt with through Bronka’s longtime boyfriend Ned as he searches for answers and portrays only the socially acceptable side of being gay in the 1970’s.

Meryl Ain weaves the heavy inherited guilt of these young men and women with the emotional trauma their parents and neighbors have survived. How do the daughters deal with the family responsibilities, the guilt, and the truth of their lineage? Through layers of emotionally charged dialogue between parents, father-daughter, and budding relationships, the prejudices of the times come to the surface. Catholic and Jewish concepts are treated with an empathetic, omniscient view, as Father Stan, a Catholic priest explores his Jewish heritage. The common themes of captivity, freedom, and covenants in the Christian and Jewish religions are highlighted.

Meryl Ain deftly weaves the rich tradition, culture, and beliefs of a Jewish family throughout the narrative but especially poignant are the Seder meal and Passover celebrations. A glossary of Jewish terms along with a cast of characters and background from the first novel is included.

Meryl Ain’s novel finally transports Bronka and JoJo, as second-generation survivors, to the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in 1983 for a Lubinski reunion. As Aron Lubinski reminds his family, “Each generation must learn to live with the Shadows We Carry.”

Meryl Ain is a writer, author, podcaster, and career educator. The Takeaway Men, her award-winning post-Holocaust debut novel, was published in 2020. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications and she is the author of two nonfiction books. A member of The International Advisory Board for Holocaust Survivor Day, she is the host of the podcast People of the Book, and the founder of the Facebook group “Jews Love To Read!” She holds a BA from Queens College, an MA from Columbia University, and a doctorate in education from Hofstra University. She and her husband, Stewart, a journalist, have three married sons and six grandchildren and live in New York. https://merylain.com/

SPOTLIGHT / EXCERPT: SHADOWS WE CARRY By Meryl Ain

Publishing April 25, 2023-SparkPress-Historical Fiction-296pp

“In this eagerly anticipated sequel to Meryl Ain’s award-winning post-Holocaust novel The Takeaway Men, we follow Bronka and JoJo Lubinski as they find themselves on the cusp of momentous change for women in the late 1960s. With the United States in the grip of political and social upheaval, the twins and a number of their peers, including a Catholic priest and the son of a Nazi, struggle with their family’s ancestry and how much influence it has on their lives. Meanwhile, both young women seek to define their roles as women, and as individuals.

Enlightening and evocative, Shadows We Carry explores the experience of navigating deeply held family secrets and bloodlines, confusing religious identities, and the scars of World War II in the wake of revolutionary societal changes.”

EXCERPT: SHADOWS WE CARRY- p. 102-104

“So, Miss Lubinksi, you want to be a journalist?” he asked after they sat down.

“Yes, very much, Dean Atkins.”

“Well, I have to say you would make a very attractive journalist. Do you have any clips?”

While always pleased with a compliment, Bronka wondered what her physical appearance had to do with her skills as a journalist. She took out the red faux-leather scrapbook where she had lovingly scotch-taped all her articles — beginning with her piece on President Kennedy’s assassination in the high school newspaper and the one on the space program that landed in the Long Island Press. The dean looked through pages of her work, including all of our contributions to the Queen’s College newspaper and literary magazine.

“Well, you certainly are a prolific writer. But do you think you have what it takes to be a journalist? Do you think you’re assertive enough — actually aggressive enough to do what it takes to chase down a story?

“Yes, I do,” Bronka answered, mustering every bit of confidence she had. “I’ve done it numerous times on many assignments for the school newspaper. And I’m also very competitive; I want to be the first one with the breaking news.”

She knew — deep in her heart — that she absolutely would be able to get over her shyness when pursuing a lead. Even in school, when she was on an assignment for the paper, it enabled her to do and ask things she couldn’t do in real life. Sitting in the dean’s office at the Journalism School made her forget Ned and all her troubles. When she was running after a story and writing it, nothing else mattered.

“Well, you are a very impressive young woman, Miss Lewinsky. And your credentials are top notch — stellar grades and a track record of performance in the field. And I did mention earlier that you’re easy on the eyes. I do have to tell you, though, we only admit 100 graduate students a year — that’s from the whole country — actually the entire world; you know, we have foreign students too, Out of the 100, we have a quota for women — it’s about 20 percent. So, we will only be admitting 20 women this year. So, here’s my last question. I ask every woman this question — and I must ask it of you too.

“Do you plan on getting married and having a family? You see, because our enrollment is so limited, we want the women we admit to stay in the field. It’s been our experience that women don’t have the same staying power as men in the profession once they have a family. It’s a fact.”

“But things are changing,” Bronka retorted.

“Maybe so dear, but change is always slow. And right now, that’s what the statistics tell us. We make a serious investment in all of our students and we want to see the results. So please answer the question. “Do you plan on getting married and having a family?”

Bronka’s face turn red, and she scowled. This is patently unfair, she thought to herself.

About Meryl Ain-Author-New to the Grateful Reader!

The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly

Publishes April 18, 2023-Ballantine Books-528pp.-Historical Fiction

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Martha Hall Kelly once again explores the astounding, haunting, immeasurable consequences of World War ll, the Holocaust, and experimentation at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Readers of Kelly’s Lilac Girls will recall the horrific experiments to which women and children were subjected at the all-female camp where Dr. Herta Oberheuser was working. The saga continues as two female spies known as the Golden Doves are arrested and sentenced to Ravensbrück to endure unspeakable things. The Golden Doves are Josie Anderson, an American whose mother is a famous Jewish singer and Arlette La Rue, a Parisian. The survival of Josie’s mother and Arlette and her son, Willie from the Kinderzimmer, are central to the plot set at Ravensbrück. A decade later Josie’s mission for the U.S Army is to track down an infamous Nazi doctor and Arlette is led to believe her son, Willie, may have survived. The former Doves risk their lives to seek justice for Josie’s mother and hopefully reunite Arlette with her son.

This novel is based on an inordinate amount of research, so typical of MHK’s previous books. There’s an unbelievable amount of history that’s certainly not taught in schools or revealed in many World War ll novels. She seamlessly weaves an introduction to “Operation Paperclip” here in the U.S. and the Ratline in Germany to give readers a host of nonfiction reading and research to pursue after The Golden Doves. The emotional tension, fear, and guilt are palpable on every page as the plot alternates from 1944 (Before) to 1952, taking readers from Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas where Josie is stationed, to Arlette’s Parisian café, and then following them both to South America to Camp Hope. Readers may not be aware of Colonia Dignidad, an entire “world in the aftermath” of World War ll.

From camp experiments at Ravensbrück to working on vaccines to alleviate a ‘germ bomb’ by the World Health Organization in French Guiana, readers will be spellbound by this compelling narrative and mesmerized by the revelations based on an inconceivable time in our history.

OPERATION PAPERCLIP: In a covert affair originally dubbed Operation Overcast but later renamed Operation Paperclip, roughly 1,600 of these German scientists (along with their families) were brought to the United States to work on America’s behalf during the Cold War. The program was run by the newly-formed Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), whose goal was to harness German intellectual resources to help develop America’s arsenal of rockets and other biological and chemical weapons, and to ensure such coveted information did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union. More information here:

https://www.history.com/news/what-was-operation-paperclip

RATLINES were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

There are many more references and books to read if searching Ratlines, World War ll.

The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly

Publication March 7, 2023; Gallery Books, 416pp, Historical Fiction

“An epic saga of love, motherhood, and betrayal during World War II“

https://www.juliakellywrites.com/the-lost-english-girl

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly is based on a family story handed down through her British mother’s side of the family. Set in Liverpool, England, on the brink of World War ll, Kelly examines the daily life and choices of Viv Byrne, Catholic, and Joshua Levinson, Jewish, in alternating points of view. Viv wants to escape her strict mother’s scrutiny and Joshua dreams of playing saxophone in a band, not becoming a tailor like his father.

At the emotional core of the novel readers are immersed in the social and religious situations facing Viv and Joshua. Each family plays a prominent role in how independent decisions impact others as Viv and Joshua deal with responsibility and duty. The internal and external conflict of Kelly’s characters builds as the war continues. Viv is dealing with separation, becoming a “bread winner” and finding her voice while Josh copes with being a foreigner in the U.S. and guilt related to his decisions.

Beginning September 1, 1939, approximately 1.5 million children were relocated to the English countryside for protection from bombing strikes. Known as Operation Pied Piper this political and historical account of parents sending their children away connects readers to Viv as she is faced with making gut wrenching decisions. Kelly explores the psychological impact of the evacuation on children through the lens of Catholic and Jewish families. She sites abandonment issues, including anger, rejection, disappointment, and the pains of family reunification after years of separation.

Through the war years Viv and Joshua grow and change in many ways readers will appreciate. Kelly introduces conflict between characters that creates emotional angst; specifically, a priest that Viv’s family relies on and actions of Viv’s sister, Kate. Their questionable choices are in direct contrast to Joshua’s father. Kelly’s depiction of Mr. Levinson’s empathy and extreme sensitivity to Viv and her feelings makes him an absolute role model and a bridge to current social and religious climates.

Through this harrowing story readers will feel empathy for families fleeing the Ukraine when Russia invaded in 2022. The Lost English Girl– a story of choices and how much the human spirit can withstand to find ways back to those we love.

OPERATION PIED PIPER

#1: The children assembled at school at 5am on Friday 1 September 1939. This photograph shows evacuees and adults walking along a street carrying suitcases and gas mask boxes. Some of the adults are wearing arm bands which identify them as volunteer marshals. © IWM (D 1939A)

#2: A small boy carrying his luggage as he left London for the country with a party of other evacuees on 5 July 1940. © IWM (HU 55936)

#3: Evacuees wearing their gas masks in Montgomeryshire, 1939

EXPLORE MORE!

The evacuation of children during the Second World War: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-evacuation-of-children-during-the-second-world-war/

Child Evacuees in the Second World War: Operation Pied Piper at 80: https://history.blog.gov.uk/2019/08/30/child-evacuees-in-the-second-world-war-operation-pied-piper-at-80/

A Mother’s Hope for the CORNISH GIRLS

Publication February 16, 2923-Avon Books UK – Avon, 382pp

Preorder Book #4: https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Hope-Cornish-Girls-heartwarming-ebook/dp/B0B5NRC3B6
Links to Books in the series below

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The lasting impact war and motherhood has had on the beloved girls of Cornwall is the focus of book #4 in Betty Walker’s Cornish Girls series. The Cornish girls are ‘doing their bit” at home in 1943 while sons, fathers, lovers, and friends have left to serve Britain during World War ll. Walker quickly engages readers with Lady Symmond’s announcement of her impending marriage and move to Scotland. From this point on readers are immersed in the lives of the Cornish girls; their angst, fears, worries, nightmares, and dreams for a future with their loved one at war. Some marry and become expectant mothers, some find purpose in caring for orphans or for wounded soldiers in the convalescent home. One is a mother with a son whose father is missing in action. Each of Betty Walker’s endearing mothers of Cornwall find hope in supporting one another. The mothers and the readers learn that “Love is what we fight for. That, and the next generation.” A heartwarming way to spend an afternoon with a cup of tea, while looking forward to Book #5: A Wedding for the Cornish Girls.

BOOK DESCRIPTION BY AVON :

Can the bonds of motherhood give them the strength they’ll need to get through the war? St. Ives, Spring 1943. After having given up her baby at seventeen, Sonya is inspired by her work at the orphanage to discover what happened to her daughter twenty-five years ago. Reunited, they struggle to bond whilst braving the war together. Nurse Lily has returned to St Ives to finish training as a midwife. But when old flame Tristan is brought in wounded, she realises she must put the past in the past to care for him, and perhaps then she’ll realise her own dreams of motherhood… And working at Tristan’s convalescent home, Mary longs for the romance she reads of in her novels. But her overprotective mother is making that hard for Mary at every turn…In times of war, the Cornish Girls can rely on one another to make it through. But can they lean on the bonds of motherhood for support too?

https://www.amazon.com/Wartime-Cornish-Girls/dp/0008400288

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Cornish-Girls-heartwarming-homefront/dp/0008400318

https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Cornish-Girls-heartwarming-historical/dp/0008525145

Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner

Publishes March 14, 2023-Flatiron Books-288pp

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855541/oncewewerehome

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab- First Published in the Historical Novels Review Magazine, February 1, 2023-Issue #103

Once We Were Home is based on the true stories of hidden children, the youngest survivors of the Holocaust who eluded the Nazis by hiding in convents, orphanages, and other places. Jennifer Rosner places four hidden children into families who are living with prejudices true to the 1940’s. Her hidden children are Mira and her baby brother, Daniel, out of a Polish ghetto; Renata, moved to England without explanation by her mother to hide German bloodlines; and Roger, concealed in a Catholic monastery in France. The children must at times hide in plain sight, so Mira becomes Ana, and Daniel, Oskar. Rosner creates dialogue laced with candor and reality as Roger masks his confusion with endless questions, riddles, and jokes. She continues themes from her previous novel, The Yellow Bird Sings, by exploring themes of longing for connection and finding one’s roots.

By 1968, the paths of the young adults intersect in Israel. Rosner sinks readers into each of their adult worlds as they navigate the past; filled with distress and torment, overcoming tribulations and sorrow. Like Renata’s matryoshka dolls, nesting one inside the other, Rosner slowly unveils the familial connections and roots of the four hidden children. She also treats readers to the return of a beloved character from The Yellow Bird Sings.

Rosner’s novel reflects personal interviews and in-depth research of those involved in the redemption of Jewish children. She illuminates the complex and opposing political and religious viewpoints of the adults and organizations involved in the kidnapping, or considered by some to be reclaiming, ransoming, or redeeming of the children. Representing thousands of Jewish children saved, Rosner’s heart wrenching revelations of hidden children in Once We Were Home will persist in readers’ minds for seasons to come.

Jennifer Rosner is the author of the novels Once We Were Home and The Yellow Bird Sings, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award; the memoir If A Tree Falls: A Family’s Quest to Hear and Be Heard, about raising her deaf daughters in a hearing, speaking world; and a children’s book, The Mitten String, which is a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable. Jennifer’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Massachusetts Review, The Forward, Good Housekeeping, and elsewhere. She lives in western Massachusetts with her family.

An Enemy Like Me by Teri M. Brown

Publication January 24, 2023

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

A heart gripping account of the unthinkable choices men and women face when deciding to serve in the military to defend their country. An Enemy Like Me is a love story woven with soul searching dialogue and heartfelt confessions. This novel magnifies then analyzes the fear and misgivings that rise unexpectedly in private thoughts and dreams but are consciously pushed down to survive and function in daily living.

Teri M. Brown exhibits exquisite prose as she takes command of her characters’ development by sharing their feelings through wartime situations and realistic dialogue. Told in alternating points of view between Jacob, born of German immigrants in America, his wife Bonnie, and four year-old son, William, as they navigate World War ll and the post war years.

Teri M. Brown’s depiction of Jacob saying good-bye as he boards the train reporting for duty sums up the feelings of the novel perfectly: “Patriotism mingled with heartache. Loyalty mingled with selfishness.”

BOOK DESCRIPTION

How does a man show his love – for country, for heritage, for family – during a war that sets the three at odds? What sets in motion the necessity to choose one over the other? How will this choice change everything and everyone he loves?

Jacob Miller, a first-generation American, grew up in New Berlin, a small German immigrant town in Ohio where he endured the Great Depression, met his wife, and started a family. Though his early years were not easy, Jacob believes he is headed toward his ‘happily ever after’ until a friend is sent to an internment camp for enemy combatants, and the war lands resolutely on his doorstep.

In An Enemy Like Me, Teri M. Brown uses the backdrop of World War II to show the angst experienced by Jacob, his wife, and his four-year-old son as he leaves for and fights in a war he did not create. She explores the concepts of xenophobia, intrafamily dynamics, and the recognition that war is not won and lost by nations, but by ordinary men and women and the families who support them.

Purchase Link:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-enemy-like-me-teri-m-brown/1142018249

Teri M. Brown-Author Bio

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M Brown came into this world with an imagination full of stories to tell. She now calls the North Carolina coast home, and the peaceful nature of the sea has been a great source of inspiration for her creativity.

Not letting 2020 get the best of her, Teri chose to go on an adventure that changed her outlook on life. She and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots. She learned she is stronger than she realized and capable of anything she sets her mind to.

Teri is a wife, mother, grandmother, and author who loves word games, reading, bumming on the beach, taking photos, singing in the shower, hunting for bargains, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, and mentoring others. https://www.terimbrown.com/bio.html

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