Fun Facts
stuff you probably didn't know
about the writers of
The Road to Liberation
JJ Toner
I could have been a famous actor. All I lacked was talent.
I could have served in WW2, but my feet were too flat, and I
was too young.
I once played in a rock band. We made one record, now a rare
collector’s item.
I like to discover a new word every day. Today’s word is
“parergon.”
I could have been a professional golfer. All I lacked was
talent.
Ellie Midwood
English is my second language.
I can’t cook to save my life.
I hardly feel any physical pain (I recovered from surgery
without taking a single painkiller and usually don’t notice that I accidentally
cut myself until I see actual blood).
As a teen and in my early twenties, I performed on stage at
our local theater and was seriously considering becoming a director, but life
had other plans, so now I’m writing about them:) Another profession I seriously
considered was a medical one (go figure!), but I ended up becoming a writer
instead. Not that I’m complaining.
One of my early jobs was teaching kids horseback riding.
Rachel Wesson
Contrary to some readers' beliefs, shared by my children, I
didn't live through the war.
I fought off some bank raiders with a tea tray and teacups -
Us Irish like our tea!
I once embroidered an Irish dancing costume just for fun - I
can't thread a needle now.
In England, they think I am American due to my accent.
I can't hold a conversation in my native tongue.
Marina Osipova
As a child, I wanted to be a fisherwoman or a doctor or an
actress.
Now matured, I regret, I didn’t become an archivist or an
archeologist or an anthropologist.
In my soul, I envy Robinson Crusoe.
I love all things classical: literature, music, art and
would prefer living in the 19th century.
I’m highly responsible. If I fail to accomplish something
important for myself or others, I feel terrible.
Chrystyna
Lucyk-Berger
I wanted to be Grizzly Adams when I grew up, writing stories
and books, being on television each week, living in a cabin in the mountains,
and being followed about by a pet grizzly bear.
After surgery, I can’t feel the second toe on my right foot
anymore, and I often dream that it just falls off at very inconvenient moments.
When I was ten, my grandmother asked me what I wanted to be.
I said, “Storyteller.” She said, “How will you make money?” I said, “I’ll write
books.” She said, “So, you want to be an author? You’ll have to marry a doctor
or a lawyer to support you.” Wrong thing to say to a fiercely independent kid,
so I said, “Then I’ll be a veterinarian and an author, like James Herriot.”
Today my answer is, “Then I’ll just be a better author.”
My husband and I met anonymously on the Internet only to
find out that we knew each other from other circles. And when that became
clear, I danced a little jig and dreamt that night I’d be married to him by the
following spring. And that happened. I really hope the toe-falling-off thing
doesn’t, though.
I live in the mountains, in a cabin, where I stream Netflix
and Amazon prime each week, write books and stories and have a dog and cat -
who follow me about. The cat can have a grizzly temper. (Sometimes you gotta
make compromises).
***
Riveting stories dedicated to celebrating the end of WWII.
From USA Today, international bestselling and award-winning
authors comes a collection filled with courage, betrayal, hardships and,
ultimately, victory over some of the most oppressive rulers the world has ever
encountered.
By 1944, the Axis powers are fiercely holding on to their
quickly shrinking territories.
The stakes are high—on both sides:
Liberators and oppressors face off in the final battles
between good and evil. Only personal bravery and self-sacrifice will tip the
scales when the world needs it most.
Read about a small child finding unexpected friends amidst
the cruelty of the concentration camps, an Auschwitz survivor working to
capture a senior member of the SS, the revolt of a domestic servant hunted by
the enemy, a young Jewish girl in a desperate plan to escape the Gestapo, the
chaos that confused underground resistance fighters in the Soviet Union, and
the difficult lives of a British family made up of displaced children.
2020 marks 75 years since the world celebrated the end of
WWII. These books will transport you across countries and continents during the
final days, revealing the high price of freedom—and why it is still so
necessary to “never forget”.
Stolen Childhood by Marion Kummerow
The Aftermath by Ellie Midwood
When's Mummy coming? by Rachel Wesson
Too Many Wolves in the Local Woods by Marina Osipova
Liberation Berlin by JJ Toner
Magda’s Mark by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
***
About the Authors
Marion Kummerow:
Marion Kummerow was born and raised in Germany before she
set out to "discover the world" and lived in various countries. In
1999 she returned to Germany and settled down in Munich, where she's now living
with her family.
After dipping her toes with non-fiction books, she finally
tackled the project dear to her heart. UNRELENTING is the story about her
grandparents, who belonged to the German resistance and fought against the Nazi
regime. It's a book about resilience, love, and the courage to stand up and do
the right thing.
Marina Osipova:
Marina Osipova was born in East Germany into a military
family and grew up in Russia, where she graduated from the Moscow State
Institute of History and Archives. She also has a diploma as a German language
translator from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages. In Russia, she
worked first in a scientific-technical institute as a translator then in a
Government Ministry in the office of international relations, later for some
Austrian firms. For seventeen years, she lived in the United States, where she
worked in a law firm. Eventually, she found her home in Austria. She is an
award-winning author and a member of the Historical Novel Society.
Rachel Wesson:
Rachel Wesson is Irish born and bred. Drawn to reading from
an early age, she started writing for publication a few years back. When she is
not writing, Rachel likes to spend her time reading and playing with her three
kids. Living in Dublin, there are plenty of things to do, although the Cowboys
and Indians of her books rarely make an appearance. To chat with Rachel,
connect with her on Facebook - authorrachelwesson. To check out her newest
releases, sign up to her mailing list.
JJ Toner:
My background is in Mathematics and computing, but I have
been writing full time since 2005. I write short stories and novels. My novels
include the bestselling WW2 spy story 'The Black Orchestra,' and its three
sequels, 'The Wings of the Eagle,' 'A Postcard from Hamburg,' and 'The
Gingerbread Spy.'
Many of my short stories have been published in mainstream
magazines. Check out 'EGGS and Other Stories' - a collection of satirical SF
stories. I was born in a cabbage patch in Ireland, and I still live here with
my first wife, although a significant part of our extended family lives in
Australia.
Ellie Midwood:
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning
historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second
World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of
the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the
frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only
deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After
obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time
career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, "The
Girl from Berlin." Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new
research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by
collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga
enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher,
a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. Ellie lives in New York with her fiancé and
their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.
Chrystyna
Lucyk-Berger:
Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger was born in Minnesota in 1969 and
grew up in the culture-rich neighborhood of "Nordeast" Minneapolis.
She started her writing career with short stories, travel narratives, worked as
a journalist and then as a managing editor for a magazine publisher before
jumping the editor's desk and pursuing her dreams of writing and traveling. In
2000, she moved to western Austria and established her own communications
training company. In 2005, she self-published a historical narrative based on
her relatives' personal histories and experiences in Ukraine during WWII. She
has won several awards for her short stories and now primarily writes
historical fiction. During a trip into northern Italy over the Reschen Pass,
she stood on the edge of Reschen Lake and desperately wanted to understand how
a 15th-century church tower ends up sticking out of the water. What stories
were lying beneath? Some eight years later, she launched the "Reschen
Valley" series with five books and a novella releasing between 2018 and
2021.
For more on Chrystyna, dive in at inktreks.com.
***
Where to By
