Surviving the Fatherland: A True Coming-of-age Love Story Set in WWII Germany

book cover surviving the fatherland with three awardsAmazonIndieBoundAudible

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ISBN: 978-0-9977800-4-8
Paperback $16.99 eBook $4.99 Audiobook $24.95
Paperback Page Count: 372
Publication Date: March 15, 2017

Award-winning WWII Historical Fiction 

“This type of raw, articulate, history-based storytelling pays homage to the war children who bore witness while struggling to survive.” Publishers Weekly

“This book needs to join the ranks of the classic survivor stories of WWII such as Diary of Anne Frank and Man’s Search for Meaning. It is truly that amazing!” InD’tale Magazine

Based on a True Story

Spanning thirteen years from 1940 to 1953 and set against the epic panorama of WWII, SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND is a sweeping saga of family, love, and betrayal that illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the children’s war.

SURVIVING THE FATHERLAND tells the true and heart-wrenching stories of Lilly and Günter struggling with the terror-filled reality of life in the Third Reich, each embarking on their own dangerous path toward survival, freedom, and ultimately each other. Based on the author’s own family and anchored in historical facts, this story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of war children.

young girl smilesWhen her father goes off to war, seven-year-old Lilly is left with an unkind mother who favors her brother and chooses to ignore the lecherous pedophile next door. A few blocks away, twelve-year-old Günter also looses his father to the draft and quickly takes charge of supplementing his family’s ever-dwindling rations by any means necessary.

This photo shows my father, Guenter, around 1940.

As the war escalates and bombs begin to rain, Lilly and Günter’s lives spiral out of control. Every day is a fight for survival. On a quest for firewood, Lilly encounters a dying soldier and steals her father’s last suit to help the man escape. Barely sixteen, Günter ignores his draft call and embarks as a fugitive on a harrowing 47-day ordeal always just one step away from execution.

When at last the war ends, Günter grapples with his brother’s severe PTSD and the fact that none of his classmates survived. Welcoming denazification, Lilly takes a desperate step to rid herself once and for all of her disgusting neighbor’s grip. When Lilly and Günter meet in 1949, their love affair is like any other. Or so it seems. But old wounds and secrets have a way of rising to the surface once more.

Explores themes of war, children of war, betrayal and forgiveness, survival and hope

Perfect for

  • Fans of Historical Fiction
  • War and Survival Stories
  • Boys and War
  • Fans of WWII History
  • Students 

Surviving the Fatherland Audiobook Sample

Soon available worldwide through dozens of audiobook outlets, here is Chapter One of the audiobook.

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