My Characters and My Father’s Journal

A gut-wrenching debut from a curious daughter who unlocks a time-capsule and inspires readers to “never forget” 

NASHVILLE, TN – Debut author Cathy A. Lewis hits the scene with a historical fiction novel that looks into Hitler’s deadly plans nine years before the start of World War II and the Holocaust. 

Lewis came up with the idea in 2018, after rediscovering a small, tattered suitcase belonging to her deceased father featuring his daily journal and mementos from his six-week trek in 1933 through Europe with his Boy Scout Troop on their way to the 4th World Scout Jamboree held in Godollo, Hungary.

Inspired by her father’s historical recount and stories shared with her during her youth, The Road We Took: Four Days in Germany 1933 is the epic tale of an American Boy Scout who discovers by coincidence four desperate Jewish citizens attempting to escape Nazi Germany.  

Fascinating characters come together in a narrative of extreme courage, budding adolescent love, and their fight for survival in this gripping novel.

Life in Germany would never be the same as Hitler and the Nazis advanced their propaganda campaign to systematically murder the Jewish population and anyone that does not fit the Aryan ideals. And this was only the beginning.

In this piece, Cathy explains how her characters relate to those from her father’s journal and from his stories.

Buster 

Represents my father, his essence as a young sixteen-year-old in 1933. I capture much of my dad’s personality in Buster. 

Within the pages of the journal, I discover aspects of my father, previously not known to me.  His innocence, naivety, and view of the world at that time meld into Buster’s character. 

My father possessed a great deal of empathy, with a sympathetic nature.  Buster displays this genuineness towards his friend Wolfie and then Maddie.  

Incidentally, in the journal, on the way to the Jamboree in Godollo, Hungary, my father speaks to a Hitler Youth in Vienna, who was formally a boy scout. The young man’s name was Wolfren Wolften, and from that name, I derived the character Wolfie Wolferman. My father spoke to this boy at length, learning that Hitler issued an edict that no German or Austrian boy would go to the jamboree, and all boys had to withdraw from all organizations and join the compulsory Hitler Youth.  

My father couldn’t grasp the meaning or importance of the Hitler Youth. He wondered why the organization mimicked the Boy Scouts.  Dad wrote in his journal after his discussion with Wolfren that “he found him to be a fine fellow.” That one sentence describing this Hitler Youth became the impetus for me to author my book. 

Unknown to my father at the time, ten years later, he would marry a Jewish immigrant whose extended family lived in Baranovichi, Poland, murdered by the Nazis. I wondered if that “fine fellow” had any part in that. It was at that point I knew I had to write about these remarkable events in history.

Wolfie  

In personality and bravado is much like the eagle scout Alex Hargrave in the journal. 

My father described Alex as tall, blonde, and strikingly good-looking. He possessed an innate ability with a soccer ball, having a nose for the net. Alex lost his mother early in life, and like Wolfie, was an only child. Wolfie embodies Alex in his sense of humor and gentle ways. He could comfort a homesick young scout and empathize with my dad during his bouts with seasickness. 

When Wolfie comforts Stani after Jakob dies, I imagine Alex would do the same thing. He was a tender-hearted boy who cared deeply for others. I was able to craft a character in Wolfie that represented the pleasing qualities of Alex. 

Maddie 

One of my favorite characters in the book because she has the essence of a young woman named Doris Bulay who was on the ship from the United States to Europe. My father insisted she was a stowaway because of her mysterious nature.  

It is only after consistent questioning by my dad and other scouts that she would surrender the most minor of details about her life, where she came from, and where she was going.  

While the sun would set in the western sky at dusk, Doris would stroll onto the promenade deck and serenade the setting sun.

She cared not for the interest and attention she drew from the onlooking passengers.  Doris had access to a world all her own, seemingly unaware of the speculative glances.  

From this aura of mystery and the serenely calm presence of Doris, I crafted Maddie and her story. My father spoke of Doris’s piercing blue eyes and captivating smile, drawing him into a world of postulation. 

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Cathy has spent over 40 years as a professional chef after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She was the first female Executive Chef for the Servico Corporation, where she served The Philadelphia Eagles, The Philadelphia Flyers and The Philadelphia 76’ers. Over the course of her career, Cathy capitalized her creative talents as a restaurant owner and partner, conceptualizing and creating brands for three successful startup businesses, Food Works, in Pittsford, New York, The Bagel Bin in Penfield, New York, and The Nick of Thyme in Brentwood, Tennessee.

It was at the Nick of Thyme that Cathy developed long standing relationships within the music industry. Her clients included Donna Summer Sudano, Naomi Judd, Wynonna Judd, numerous Christian and country music artists, world-renowned wine collectors Billy Ray Hearn and Tom Black. After the sale of her business, Cathy cooked for and traveled extensively to movie locations with actress and activist Ashley Judd and her husband, three-time Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti.  She continues to cook privately for exclusive clients and friends.

When she is not working as a professional chef, she enjoys writing, reading, cooking for her family and special friends, taking photos of nature and food, gardening, watching open wheel racing, watching movie classics from the golden age of cinema on TCM, and chasing her two cats, Princess Poopie Peanut Head and Tout Suite. The Road We Took is Cathy’s first novel and partially conceived from her father’s journal of daily writings and documentations along with the narratives and tales he told Cathy as a young girl.

https://cathyalewis.com/

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