THE DOUBLE CROSSING by Sylvia Patience: A Middle Grade Historical Fiction Review, Author Interview, & Giveaway

 Sylvia Patience, the author of The Double Crossing (Paper Angel Press, 2023), reached out to me with a request to review her historical middle-grade book. She suspected that it was a book that would interest me and she was right.

REVIEW

I first learned about the ocean liner, the St. Louis in Barbara Krasner's picture book, Liesl's Ocean Rescue. One of Alan Gratz's characters in Refugee was a boy on board the luxury ocean liner. This novel is a unique in-depth story of the ocean crossing told from alternating points of view of thirteen-year-olds, Hannah Coen and David Jantzen. Like the other books, it takes place in 1939 and the 937 passengers are escaping Nazi Germany in hopes of finding a safe haven in Cuba. 

Quickly the reader learns that Hannah's father was arrested during Kristallnacht and sent to a concentration camp. Her mother promises to join her as soon as possible but Hannah is distraught over leaving her. She meets David who is traveling with his family. David's father is Jewish and his mother is Aryan.  Although their backgrounds and personalities are different, Hannah and David bond over bird watching.  

Early in the book, there are hints of problems to come. David's father hears a rumor that there might be problems landing in Cuba. Leo, a friend who is a steward for the pro-Jewish Captain Schroeder, tells them that the Nazi propagandists have been trying to get Cubans to change their minds about admitting the Jews. Hannah worries about why they would get sent back; if Hitler is starting a war, and if she'll ever see her parents again.

Hannah and David overhear conversations among the Nazis on board. Specifically, they learn of Gestapo official Otto Schiendick's plan to gather secret documents from Robert Hoffman. Although both kids are nervous about what to do with the information, Hannah is determined to stop Schiendick from carrying out his plan--no matter how dangerous that is. It is at this point in the story, that their different perspectives become very interesting. Hannah concludes that they must do something; David thinks they have no options. The following is from Hannah's POV.

As we descended the stairway from the bridge deck, David whispered, "See? If even Captain Schroeder can't do anything, what can we do?"

"If the captain can't do anything we have to. Whatever he says. Even if we get in trouble. Because we know about it. And it's wrong. It could mean war!"

And from David's POV: 

Since our talk with the captain and my argument with Hannah, I'd been going around and around in my head. If you know something is wrong, do you have to try to stop it? Even if you don't have much of a chance? Even if it's dangerous? And even if the grown-ups in charge tell you not to?

Together, they face the disappointment of not landing in Cuba and the hardships on the return voyage. Although separated once they return to Europe, the ending suggests that are reunited. It's a sweet conclusion that leaves the reader wanting to know more.

                                                ****                                 

I enjoyed the role that birds played in the book. In the beginning, Hannah and David rescue an injured petrel. They hide him in a lifeboat whey they push small bits of food down his throat. When Leo asks what it was like to be Jewish in Germany she answers, "Kind of like what's happening to Peter," she said. "He's trapped and can't get out. He probably feels scared and helpless."  After the ship is prohibited from landing in Cuba David observes, "Like the birds flying over the ocean, rumors flew on board." 

Even if you have read other accounts of the St. Louis, you will find this touching, suspenseful story a worthwhile read. 

MINI-INTERVIEW

Carol: What was the inspiration for this story?

Sylvia: I first saw an article in a news publication that talked about the St. Louis' 1939 voyage. It caught my interest. I'd never heard about it. This was probably around eight years ago. I immediately thought it would make an interesting story to write, started doing research, and read some other books about it and the time period in Germany. The story grew in my mind.  

Carol: What was your path to publication?

Sylvia: As far as publication, as you probably know it's very difficult to find an agent these days, let alone a publisher. I sent out a lot of queries. I was very lucky to hear of Paper Angel Press, as they had published works of another local author. They are an independent publisher and have done an excellent job with the book, and my other book, The Weaver's Daughter. 

BACK MATTER

I appreciate how Sylvia pulled together so many facts when she wrote The Double Crossing. As soon as I finished it, I read her Author's Note and Glossary. The Author's Note provided all the factual information about the important secondary characters who were real people. I hope you'll take the time to look at the links I provided in this review; you'll see how Sylvia's impeccable research was woven into this fictional story. It almost goes without saying that this would be a great curriculum resource when studying WWII. 

GIVEAWAY 

I'm giving away my copy to one fortunate reader. Please leave a comment by December 13 along with your email address if you are new to my blog. I'll do my best to get it into the mail ASAP so you can give it to your favorite middle-grade reader or add it to your library's shelves. Share this on social media or sign up for my blog and you'll get an extra chance. As usual, if you are a teacher, home-school educator, or librarian, you'll get an extra chance. If you prefer, email me to enter. U.S. addresses only. 

                                                    ***

Congratulations to one of my teen bloggers, Janelle Epko, who won the Ebook of A Study in Terminal. 

Rose Under Fire: A Review and a Giveaway!

I wish this book didn't exist.

What I mean is that I wish Rose Under Fire, a brutally honest book about a young American pilot imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, didn't demand to be written.

But unfortunately, it did.

Rose Moyer Justice is an 18-year-old American Air Transport Auxiliary pilot ferrying planes for the British government. Although World War II is drawing to a close, during a semi-secret flight she is captured by the Germans. For six long and painful months, Rose is incarcerated with thousands of other female political prisoners and seventy-four Polish victims of Nazi human experimentation who are nicknamed "The Rabbits."

Women working in Ravensbruck.
Photo courtesy YadVashem

Wein holds nothing back from showing Rose's physical, emotional, and mental struggles in the concentration camp. Her descriptions are full of such convincing detail that I felt guilty eating a granola bar while listening to it; the characters' starvation and deprivation had become so real to me. Similarly, when I listened to Rose's beautiful poetry sprinkled throughout the story I had to remind myself that Elizabeth Wein had penned these words. In the same way in which her fellow prisoners clung to her poetry, desperate for beauty in the midst of a world of despair, I felt as if the poems were gifts from Rose herself.

Six million Jews dying in concentration camps is a number difficult to comprehend  But like seeing thousands of shoes at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., I'll remember individual stories because Wein used amazing characterization and deep point of view to show each one.  

In the concentration camp Rose becomes a part of a "family;" a small group of prisoners bonded together by their desperate hope to survive. Lisette Romilly is nicknamed the "lagermutter" and acts as the mother to the group. A French musician, professor, and novelist, her character is based on Irène Némirovsky who was killed in Auschwitz. Lisette is arrested after her Jewish Polish husband is killed and she attempts to return to France. Rose realizes that Lisette deals with the loss of her sons and husband by mothering her small prison flock. Lisette moderates sibling-like squabbles in her family and fiercely protects and provides for them--by getting small scraps of bread, obtaining contraband medicine, and finding places for the rabbits to hide. 

Róża Czajkowska is fourteen when Lisette meets her. A fierce Polish member of the Gray Banks, an underground paramilitary association. she was arrested delivering explosives to the underground. Lisette begins mothering her when they are imprisoned together in the Lublin castle. When they reach Ravensbrück, Róża is one of the first to be operated on. This is from the mock interview with Lisette: 

"The theory was that the camp doctors would simulate battle wounds on their legs to find cures for German soldiers injured on the Eastern front. My companions had muscle, nerve and bone cut from their legs, or had gangrene cultured in purpose-made wounds in their healthy flesh. Several of our transport died after the first round of experiments in the autumn of 1942." 

Lisette's mission is to get Róża out of Germany so the world will see the atrocities performed there. Rose and Róża are joined by their shared name, Rose's poetry, and the challenge to "tell the world."

 

Scars on a woman's leg after medical experimentation.
Photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

Anna Engel, is one of the harsh women's S.S. guards assigned to Rose's unit. (Spoiler alert: She plays an important secondary role in Code Name Verity, a companion volume to this book). When she discovers that Rose is American, a unique relationship develops between the two women. Anna attended college in the United States and misses American food. In exchange for recipes and cigarettes, Rose procures calcium supplements for Róża. While listening to the book I kept wondering about Anna's (and the other guards) motivations to treat their prisoners with such unfeeling brutality. Wein does a good job of answering that question through glimpses into Anna's backstory.  Wein's portrayal of this sympathetic antagonist is very believable. In fact, Wein told me that she thought Anna was the best character she has ever created. 

I was worried that Rose Under Fire would end too soon; that I wouldn't know what happened to Rose or Róża. But their bravery against overwhelming odds built on a friendship in which they challenge each other to overcome their fears, provides a perfect ending to a powerful book. 

The audiobook was narrated by Sasha Pick who does an outstanding job of portraying a variety of foreign accents. Without question, her excellent narration drew me further into the story. 

I rarely give a five star rating to any book on Goodreads. But this winner of the 2014 Schenider Family Book Award is at least a six in my book. Wein's commitment to historical accuracy combined with a well-plotted story using beautiful language makes this a book I will remember for a long time. In my first email to Elizabeth I confessed I had a hard time saying I enjoyed her book because it was painfully wonderful. She wrote back, "Funny you should say 'enjoying' might not be the best word - when it first came out I'd say to people, "I hope you enjoy it - well, you won't enjoy it, but I hope you appreciate it!" THANK YOU for appreciating it. When I was writing Rose, my Jewish aunt and uncle (my father was Jewish) pointed out to me that if our grandparents hadn't left Europe in the early 20th century, we'd all be dead including my children. It's unbelievable how far-reaching that shadow is. We are the lucky ones."

Roza and her fellow prisoners urge Rose to "Tell the world!" In Rose Under Fire Wein has accomplished exactly that. 

Scroll through Elizabeth Wein's website and you'll find many materials which will facilitate classroom discussion. If you want to picture what life was like for Rose, view this You Tube video by chronoshistory:



To win an autographed hard copy of the Canadian edition of this book, please leave me your name (and email address if you are new to this blog) by Thursday, February 20th. Share this on your favorite social media or follow my blog, and I'll put your name in twice; just let me know what you did. 

This is a book you don't want to miss. 

Writing Resources Part III: Panster vs. Plotter and a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Vijaya Bodach who won James Scott Bell's book, The Art of War for Writers.

*******

I recently completed reading, My Brother's Shadow by Monica Schroeder. When I wrote to Monica and asked her if she would share a few nuggets of wisdom for my readers, she sent the following article which first appeared on writingteennovels.com.

It has been said that there are those writers who plan and those who “fly by the seats of their pants.” I am part of the second group and before I began working on my novel, My Brother’s Shadow, I only had a rough idea of who Moritz, the main character, was and what would happen in the story. 

I encountered a surprise in the first few pages. Moritz was telling his story in first person and used the present tense. Hadn’t I read in many books about writing that the first person, present tense point-of-view was difficult to write? My first two novels were told in the voice of third person omniscient narrators reflecting on past events, and I had no intention of changing from what I knew by writing in first person and in present tense.

I rewrote the beginning in past tense but couldn’t force Moritz to tell his story in hindsight, so I stuck to the immediacy of present tense. The story is set in 1918 Berlin. I needed to convey a lot of background information. It seemed such a daunting task to introduce the reader to starvation and despair in Berlin as well as the anticipation of military defeat without the omniscient perspective of third person POV. 

In the first chapter I needed to set the stage, let Moritz introduce himself and his family, and find an intriguing ending to the chapter that would entice readers to go on. Moritz came to my rescue. As an apprentice in a print shop of a Berlin newspaper he could read the headlines of the paper he just helped print and thereby inform the readers of my novel of the state of affairs in Germany in October 1918.  The newspaper became a vehicle to disseminate information about the setting without interrupting the flow of the narrative. Moritz also meets Herr Goldman, a journalist with the paper who takes a liking to Moritz and ultimately helps him to fulfil his dream to become a reporter.  Moritz is able to tell the reader about the most pressing and newsworthy current events through his conversations with Herr Goldman. Apparently there was a way for me to write in first person, present tense and still give the reader a sense of the setting.

About halfway in, the story took an unexpected turn and once again I had trouble letting myself deviate from my original plan. Moritz had met a girl who had completely flummoxed him with her wit. Granted, it was not so unlikely that a 16-year old boy would take an interest in a girl but I had not anticipated a romance.

I had never expected to write about young love. Now here was Rebecca, the smart daughter of a Jewish bookseller who attended the same political meetings as Moritz’s mother and sister. After their first encounter on the train, it was clear that they had to meet again. Yet the book takes place in 1918, so they wouldn’t go “all the way.” I was able to braid his discovery of love together with the story of Moritz’s relationship with his brother, who returns from the trenches a maimed and bitter veteran. Rebecca’s presence even gave me the opportunity for a hopeful conclusion to leave readers satisfied after Moritz’s intense final confrontation with his brother.

Writing My Brother’s Shadow has taught me to trust the process along the way. A quote by E. L. Doctorow showed me that I am not alone with this approach: “Writing is like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Monika with her dog, Frank.
******************

I enjoy hearing other writers describe their journeys and find it interesting to compare them to my own. When I first started Half-Truths I was definitely a panster--I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. Unlike Monika though, I had several years of false starts and finding my way. Somewhere between the second and third draft I realized I need an outline so that both girls could have their own stories.  Now, I can't operate without one! These roadmaps help me to see where I'm going and how to get there--but I still discover some surprises along the way.

I also experimented with point of view and tense until I settled on two protagonists, each written in first person and present tense. None of these decisions have been easy. 

*****

To win an autographed copy of In My Brother's Shadow please leave me your name along with your email address if you are new to this blog. Let me know some of the difficult decisions you've had to make with your WIP and I'll enter your name twice. Hurry! I'm drawing a name on Thursday, February 5!

When the Writing is on the Wall

Last year when I traveled with my husband through Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic, I was interested in the tags and graffiti which I saw. I found this tag in Nuremberg, Germany:

And this graffiti in another part of that city:

Looking at them, I remembered an article that I had read a few years previous in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. According to Laurie MacGillivray and Margaret Sauceda Curwen, authors of "Tagging as a Social Literary Practice" (Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (pp. 354–369) doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.5.3), tagging is "not simply an act of vandalism or violence; it is a social practice with its own rules and codes—a literacy practice imbued with intent and meaning."

Although the authors acknowledged the vast amount of money spent on cleaning up street writing, they believe that this is a meaningful form of literacy. According to them, "Tags can be a youth’s signature moniker, a slogan, a protest, a message, and occasionally a lengthy tribute. They differ from graffiti in that they always consist of letters in which alphabetic style, use of colors, and crafted script is highly valued. Inventiveness, flexibility, and playfulness with textual spellings and meanings are integral to the tagging community. Rarely recognized by outsiders, highly stylized script, one of the main characteristics of tagging, is often only readable by tagging insiders. (p. 358.)

A tag in Toledo, Spain:

 

And from a park in Oviedo, Spain: 

The authors found that tagging accomplished several purposes. It sustained social relationships, was a form of dialogue and conversation, was a means to declare membership in a particular tagging crew (which was safer than a gang), provided commentary on larger societal issues, and a way to display talent.

Street art in Oviedo, Spain

The authors recommended that, "When educators open up the curriculum using students’ everyday literacy interests as starting points, they can also attend to issues of power, authenticity, and culture embedded in the social practices (p. 368).


Something to think about next time you see graffiti, tags, or street art.


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