Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poland. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

What I Left For You by Liz Tolsma - Celebrate Lit tour

 

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939

Deeply heartfelt story from WW2 with timeslip to 2023, Great-great Grandmother to Great-great Granddaughter of Lemko/Rusyns heritage.

You can feel through them their strength - and hope - through the tears. The Polish people had been taken over or relocated many times over the years - they seem to have been regarded as a lesser race. Who can understand the need for Ethnic Cleansing? To wipe out a nationality of people? Or the sheer cruelty of starvation, no sanitation, separation of families, taking their means of living and property? Even the little things that mean something to them of love and family. It more than breaks your heart. Today we have the means to stay in touch or research people and areas so much easier. It also shows us the resilience and perseverance that allow a person and a people to survive and leave descendants to carry on a family line. Very interesting and informative, profoundly moving - it should be a classic. You leave a piece of your heart with the characters.

I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#WhatILeftforYou #NetGalley #LizTolsma #ChristianHistoricalFiction #BarbourPublishing #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

 


About the Book

Book: What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past Book Three)

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Fiction / Romance / Historical Fiction

Release date: December 1, 2024

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939

1939
Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.

2023
Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son is a US Marine, and her oldest daughter is a college student. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

 

 

 

 

 

More from Liz

I stared at my computer screen in front of me. For years, I had been searching for my great-grandmother, Anna. I got no good information. Census records in the US weren’t helpful. Some listed her birthplace as Czechoslovakia, while others had it as Austria. I had heard before that she might have been born in Czechoslovakia before, but never Austria. There were no records that I had come across that listed the city or town where she was born.

Until that one day. While searching for my great-grandmother, I ran across a passport application recorded in Warsaw, Poland, for an Anna with the same last name, though spelled differently. Her birthday was listed as 1903, which matched the birth year I knew for my great-grandmother’s niece. As I read through the application, my heart was pounding. This Anna was born in the United States but went to Dubne, Poland, with her family in 1906. It was now 1923, and she wanted to return to the US, and she would be living with…

I started to cry when I saw who her sponsor was. My great-grandfather. The name and address were correct. There could be no doubt about it. It had taken me years, but I finally made the jump to Europe and discovered that my great-grandmother was not born in Czechoslovakia but in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now Poland.

Of course, good little researcher that I am, I had to find out all I could about Dubne, the town they were from. That’s when I first came across the term Lemko. What on earth was that?

Lemkos are a Slavic people that settled in the Carpathian Mountains of Southern Poland, Northern Slovakia, and Western Ukraine. They are also known as Lemko Rusyns, Rusyns (especially those born in Slovakia, like my great-grandfather), and Carptho-Rusyns. The mountains kept the world at bay, and they developed their own language, customs, and form of Christianity. For the most part, they were very poor, many of them eking out a living from the rocky ground.

They lived in “black houses,” called that because the poorest people couldn’t afford to have a chimney built. The smoke from the cooking and heating fires stayed inside the house and covered the walls with black tar. If you look at the cemetery records from Dubne, you would be old if you lived into your fifties. Conditions were brutal.

The most the average Lemko could afford was one sheep or one pig. Since this was their most prized possession, they couldn’t take the chance of a wild animal or a neighbor taking it away, so it lived in the house with them.

With all of them. Up to eleven people would live in a two-room house. When I mentioned that in What I Left for You, my editor questioned if I had made a mistake. No, I didn’t. I have no idea how they fit all those people in there, but they did. As I was tracking one branch of our family tree, I kept coming up with people living in house 43. Over and over and over. They stuffed that house full. Grandparents, parents, and children all lived together. They may not have had much, but that forged the Lemkos into strong and resilient people.

I’m proud to be Lemko-Rusyn, and I’m thrilled to share this story with you. I infused Helena, the historical heroine, with as much of the Lemko spunk and spirit as I could. Last October, my daughter and I had the privilege to travel to Poland and Slovakia and see the Lemko homeland for ourselves. It helped me to write a better, richer story because I now understand where they came from and who they were. Enjoy Helena’s story and her journey during WWII and beyond. I hope you come to understand and appreciate the Lemko people as much as I have.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, January 7
lakesidelivingsite, January 7
Lots of Helpers, January 8
Pens Pages & Pulses, January 8
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, January 9
Life on Chickadee Lane, January 9
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 10
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 10
Texas Book-aholic, January 11
Connie’s History Classroom , January 11
Locks, Hooks and Books, January 12
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 13
For Him and My Family, January 13
Stories By Gina, January 14 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, January 14
Holly’s Book Corner, January 15
Betti Mace, January 16
Jeanette’s Thoughts, January 16
Bigreadersite, January 17
Blossoms and Blessings, January 17
Pause for Tales, January 18
Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, January 18
A Good Book and Cup of Tea, January 19
Lights in a Dark World, January 19
Cover Lover Book Review, January 20

Giveaway


To celebrate her tour in January, Liz is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon e-Gift card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54125

Thursday, December 5, 2024

What I Left For You (Echoes of the Past Volume 3) by Liz Tolsma

 

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939

Deeply heartfelt story from WW2 with timeslip to 2023, Great-great Grandmother to Great-great Granddaughter of Lemko/Rusyns heritage.

You can feel through them their strength - and hope - through the tears. The Polish people had been taken over or relocated many times over the years - they seem to have been regarded as a lesser race. Who can understand the need for Ethnic Cleansing? To wipe out a nationality of people? Or the sheer cruelty of starvation, no sanitation, separation of families, taking their means of living and property? Even the little things that mean something to them of love and family. It more than breaks your heart. Today we have the means to stay in touch or research people and areas so much easier. It also shows us the resilience and perseverance that allow a person and a people to survive and leave descendants to carry on a family line. Very interesting and informative, profoundly moving - it should be a classic. You leave a piece of your heart with the characters.

I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#WhatILeftforYou #NetGalley #LizTolsma #ChristianHistoricalFiction #BarbourPublishing #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

My reviews

Monday, October 21, 2024

What I Left For You - preorder bonus

 

I’ve read Liz Tolsma’s upcoming release, What I Left for You, and I loved it! You’ll want to preorder it. There’s a price guarantee if you do. As a bonus, Liz is offering a cookbook of her family’s favorite recipes for preordering. Some of these recipes are mentioned in the book!
Just fill out this form, and you’ll be all set to get the recipes once the novel releases. I can’t wait! https://forms.gle/KDdces4KZBN8JNLG9

#WhatILeftForYou #LizTolsma @authorliztolsma #booksyoucanfeelgoodabout

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Abounding Hope: A WWII Christian Romance by Cindy Kay Stewart

 


Based on true events and backed by extensive research, Abounding Hope is sure to delight fans of WWII adventure cloaked in sweet romance. Come to the place where the war began and discover hope in the darkest places.

What an amazing story. Intense, tense, frustrating, so very real. As they hear of German invasions, Irena, a school teacher, refused to leave her city in Poland and those she loved. She also has close friends who had all attended the same high school with her in Europe. They decide to send one of them to get her to leave Poland. He, like Irena is an American and a successful businessman. Their story of escape and rescuing of children from Poland into the neighboring countries and then back again for her family is very detailed, intricate and twisting. I actually had to make myself put it down for a while and regroup. You can't help but hold your breath during some of this story. I'm hoping there will be another book to follow.

I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#AboundingHope #CindyKayStewart #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #HopeSpringsPress #ChristianHistoricalRomance 

Purchase on Amazon (I don't receive anything for this)

About the book

WINNER OF THE TOUCHED BY LOVE AWARD (Faith, Hope, & Love Christian Writers)

Poland’s looming defeat forces an American teacher to escape with children wanted by the Nazis.

It’s late August, 1939, and the world is on the brink of war. The Nazis are threatening Poland, but American teacher Irena Simmons refuses to flee to safety. She’s dedicated her life to serving in her church and school, and she’s watching over the little German boys she whisked to safety the year before. When her former classmate, Jonathan, surprises her in Lvov and insists she leave with him before the war starts, Irena balks. Nothing will interfere with her work—especially a man making demands.

American shipping magnate Jonathan Huntwell had a crush on Irena in school. When their former classmates select him to travel to Poland and escort her out before it’s too late, he doesn’t expect the inner turmoil she ignites in him. Although honor-bound to aid any friend in trouble, Jonathan acknowledges that Irena is more than an obligation to him. However, he must keep his feelings hidden, or he’ll jeopardize their friendship.

Irena soon discovers that the Gestapo agent she successfully evaded in Germany has found her in Poland, and he’s after her young charges. When the Germans invade, Jonathan is in Denmark on business, too far away to help. As the rising danger threatens everything Irena holds dear, she must find a way to protect those she loves.


Cindy Kay Stewart

Cindy Kay Stewart, a retired high school social studies teacher and current church pianist, writes stories of hope, steeped in love, and anchored in faith. Her manuscripts have won the Touched by Love Award, the First Impressions contest, and the Sandra Robbins Inspirational Writing Award. They've also finaled in the Maggie Award of Excellence and the Cascade Awards and semi-finaled in the Genesis contest. Cindy is passionate about revealing God’s handiwork in history.

A native of Southern California, Cindy has lived on both coasts, including a sojourn in between. She’s currently happy to make her home in North Georgia and enjoy the peaches. Cindy graduated from Bob Jones University, where she went for her "Mrs." degree. She was successful, and after forty-two years, her husband still puts up with her. While at BJU, she also earned a bachelors in elementary education. She later earned a masters degree in secondary education/history from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and School Leadership Certification through Kennesaw State University.

Cindy has always enjoyed telling stories—first to her dolls and teddy bears and then to her neighborhood playmates. She wrote her first book of stories and poems in second grade.

Cindy’s desire to write Christian novels was kindled after college, but it wasn’t until her daughter married that she had time to invest in the art of writing and publishing fiction. She had to promptly forget everything she’d learned about writing in school and develop a new skill set. That skill has grown through the years.

Cindy loves to research and “dig up” fascinating nuggets from history to share with her readers. She enjoys surprising people by weaving true historical events into her fiction—especially those happenings that seem too unbelievable to be true. But they are and she can prove it!

Cindy loves playing the piano and singing in the choir at her church. She’s an extrovert, which sometimes gets her in trouble. She tends to talk too much and has been known to drive her friends crazy at times. After thirty-two years in education, she retired to pursue her dream of publishing Christian historical fiction.

It’s a good thing that Cindy’s husband is a gourmet cook or the family would starve. She can follow a recipe, but who has time to read one?

Most of all, Cindy loves to point people to Jesus Christ, her Redeemer, and she wants others to experience the same joy He’s poured out on her so abundantly.

My reviews

Monday, December 4, 2023

Capturing Hope by Angela K Couch

 



During the thirty-six-day invasion, it is estimated that close to two hundred thousand Poles were killed, with many more injured or captured and thousands left homeless.

Amazing. No matter how many stories you hear about war it's always heart wrenching in its own unique way. Nadia is a girl who was raised in Polish nobility. Her father befriended an American photographer and confided in him. As the Germans begin to invade Poland, things change rapidly, and David promises her father to see Nadia safely to England. Their journey changes their lives forever, as well as some of those they encounter. Gripping story...you just have to know what will happen next, how they'll get out. So much sadness, but they also learn to recognize the miracles that happen along the way. Very well told, mostly documenting actual events.

I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#CapturingHope #AngelaKCouch #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #ChristianHistoricalFiction #FiveStarNovel 


About the Book

Book: Capturing Hope

Author: Angela K Couch

Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

Release Date: November, 2023

One step ahead of the Nazis. . .leaves Nadia little room for hope.

Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this new series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII.

After her father is murdered by Nazis and her mother flees to her native Germany, hope is something of which Nadia Roenne feels little—even if it is the meaning of her name. It isn’t until an American photographer sacrifices his escape from Poland to save a Jewish family, that she finds a purpose. David Reid is very familiar with failure, but when he is charged with getting Nadia safely out of Poland, he is determined to succeed—even if she works against him at every turn, putting other’s lives ahead of her own. While they race against the daily shower of bombs over Warsaw and the ever-nearing German army, Nadia grows used to risking her life. . .but dare she risk her heart?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

To keep from freezing in the great white north, Angela K Couch cuddles under quilts with her laptop. Winning short story contests, being a semi-finalist in ACFW’s Genesis Contest, and a finalist in the 2016 International Digital Awards also helped warm her up. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in as well. When not writing, she stays fit (and toasty warm) by chasing after five munchkins.


 

 

More from Angela

When I first decided to set a story during the invasion of Poland, I was woefully unprepared for the pain and horror I found there. I wasn’t new to World War II and had just finished writing A Rose for the Resistance, which is set in France during the war and deals with the resistance and the Normandy invasion. The atrocities and genocide in Poland cut so much deeper.

In the early hours of September 1, 1939, the small town of Wielun, Poland, woke to a shower of bombs on their community. They did not house an army or warehouses, only homes and civilian businesses. Wielun was not the only town or village targeted—demonstrating the Nazi goal to spread fear and death. Six months earlier, Hitler had promised that if Poland did not bow to his wishes, he would wipe them off the map. Over the next month, and more so in the following six years, he came very close to succeeding.

For the full month of September 1939, while German armies rolled across the country, the city of Warsaw endured daily bombardment. Homes, workplaces, churches on Sunday morning, the Warsaw maternity hospital— nowhere was safe. On the tenth of September, someone recorded seventeen separate air raids over the city. I was moved to tears while viewing photographs of women and children who had been shot in the streets and fields by the bombers after they had dropped their payloads over the city.

No one came to their rescue.

Poland was abandoned by its allies to the Nazis.

So how do you write about all that and more while still trying to keep hope alive in the story and in the characters who have to live through such a frightening and demoralizing history?

I invite you to read Capturing Hope to find out.

Blog Stops

An Author’s Take, November 30
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 30
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, December 1
Lily’s Corner, December 1
Texas Book-aholic, December 2
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 2
Locks, Hooks and Books, December 3
For him and My Family, December 3
Betti Mace, December 4
Books You Can Feel Good About, December 4
Life on Chickadee Lane, December 5
Cover Lover Book Review, December 5
Alena Mentink, December 6
lakesidelivingsite, December 6
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 7
Blossoms and Blessings, December 7
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, December 8 (Author Interview)
Devoted to Hope, December 8
Bizwings Book Blog, December 9
Exploring the Written Word, December 9
Holly’s Book Corner, December 10
Pause for Tales, December 10
Connie’s History Classroom, December 11
Labor Not in Vain, December 11
A Good Book and Cup of Tea, December 12
Lights in a Dark World, December 12
Joy Suzanne Hunt, December 13
Books I’ve Read, December 13

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Angela is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon eGift card and copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2909b/capturing-hope-celebration-tour-giveaway




My reviews

Monday, August 23, 2021

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

 





One of those unforgettable stories of survival during WW2 and one that deeply resonated with me. It's about Jews who escaped ghettos into the forests of Poland. Vast forests that sustained those who had knowledge of what to do. This is full of detailed descriptions valuable for any survivalist. I have been long fascinated by skills to live off the land, this doesn't disappoint.
Yona was kidnapped as a toddler and taken into the deep forests of Germany and Poland, taught all she needed to live, as well as languages, geography and other information as any student in a city school would get. Deeply engaging, full of knowledge and life philosophy.
She later learned how to live and interact with others after her kidnapper died and she encountered people who were fleeing from the ghettos into the forest. She helped them to hide and survive, they expanded her knowledge of people. A story of triumph and love. 10 star rating needed here.
Something to be aware of, a brief explicit sexual scene and one or two minor scenes I was able to easily skip over. Not a surprise I appreciated, yet not anything major or prolonged throughout the book. 
I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#ForestofVanishingStars #NetGalley.

My Reviews


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

When The Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma

https://www.amazon.com/When-Heart-Sings-Music-Hope-ebook/dp/B07FKF949B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542203190&sr=8-1&keywords=When+The+Heart+Sings+by+Liz+Tolsmahttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-the-heart-sings-liz-tolsma/1128016918?ean=9781683700425https://www.christianbook.com/when-the-heart-sings-2/liz-tolsma/9781683700425/pd/700429?event=ESRCGhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38372026-when-the-heart-sings?from_search=truehttps://www.powells.com/book/-9781683700425https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/when-the-heart-sings-a/9781432858582-item.html?ikwid=When+The+Heart+Sings+by+Liz+Tolsma&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Heart-Sings/Liz-Tolsma/9781683700425?id=7011643889686

Stunningly poignant detail.
When Germany annexed Poland they placed little value in the Polish people. They forced them to be slaves working in their war factories and lived in their homes. But God wove threads through the painful circumstances, bringing small miracles to his faithful. They also find out that in their differences they are yet the same in many ways. Nadia is made to work as a servant to a German couple. As bad as that is, in some ways it's a blessing. She learns that, like her, the wife previously lost her baby. 
Nadia has a beautiful voice that brings comfort and helps her to communicate with her husband who is imprisoned in a labor camp along the route she walks.  The story is told with incredible detail. It will have you holding your breath and pull your heart strings. Three million Polish Jews perished. Three million Polish Christians did also. Pray that it's never forgotten!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#MusicOfHope #NetGalley

Liz Tolsma Books

One lucky winner will win both The Melody of the Soul and When the Heart Sings.  Enter the GIVEAWAY here!

My Reviews: