A Funny Thing Happened While Writing This Story!
A Funny Thing Happened While Writing This Story!
Have you grown up in the shroud of family mysteries, like me, and never expected to see the proverbial light? Or, if by chance you fall into the category as my husband who can trace his heritage back to the pre-American Revolutionary days, you might still be intrigued by how a family survives a harrowing time? Well, pull up a chair in a cozy reading corner—I have a story to tell you.
Imagine yourself as Sarah/Shirley, born in 1907, a second-generation-born child from an immigrant family, and you’re fast approaching your 30th birthday. Your friends are all married; several have had a few children. Friends being friends, they haven’t said a word about your single-status, but you hear them, regardless. She’s an old hen. She’ll never marry… if she does fall for someone, it probably would be too late to start a family. Pity. Then, you meet him. His name is Charles; Chaskel was his Polish name. He was born in 1907 too, in Brzeziny, Poland—a town known for its tailoring industry, located halfway between Łódź and Warsaw.
Love strikes fast. You marry and a daughter is born. Four years later, pregnant with your second child, on a pleasant September day in 1941, you’re sitting in a movie theater with your husband, enjoying a night out. Charles has been suffering with some stomach pain, but for whatever reason, you’ve shrugged it off. Then, during the movie, he experiences acute pain, is rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with appendicitis… but it’s too late. Charles passes. You’re now a widow with one young child, another on its way. What do you do? The very best you can. Four days after the United States is jolted into war when Pearl Harbor is bombed, you give birth to your baby boy and name him after his father that he will never know, at least not in this lifetime. And, you never, ever talk about your beloved husband, or his family heritage. You only live in the moment.
What happens when your granddaughter asks about the man in your wedding photograph, still on your bedroom dresser? “What?” you say. “Are you going to write a book?” Yes, Grandma, I have, although this story brewed and brewed for decades. Although I only had the scant knowledge of my paternal family, like Chaskel, born hearing-abled, was one of several siblings that were born deaf (believed to have been caused by the marriage of first-cousins). Although, I tripped over the lack of information and fascination over the first-born of those siblings who was born deaf, and as a teenager, was not permitted through the health-inspections at Ellis Island in 1914 when the family sailed to America on one of the last ships before the outbreak of The Great War. And this great aunt, whom I didn’t even know her name until recently, became the crux that prompted me to write my first historical novel, We Shall Not Shatter, Book 1 of the Resilient Women of WWII Trilogy, releasing by Amsterdam Publishers on May 15, 2022.
Not new to penning novels, but admittedly intimidated by research (why, I don’t know because I discovered in writing historical fiction that I absolutely love learning about the past through research) I had chosen to enter the fiction world by writing for the Inspirational Market. I applaud all those authors who have mastered that genre, but though I earnestly tried, I learned it wasn’t for me. Perhaps more than anything, it was the calling of my paternal family and its mysteries that lured me, happily so, into this whole new genre and publishing market. While my historical fiction debut is first arriving in May, I already have no regrets in this new foray. I’m working on Book 3 of the Trilogy and the next historical novel—outside of the Trilogy—is already calling me by name.
Is We Shall Not Shatter autobiographical? No. It is definitely inspired by my Polish heritage and takes place in both Brzeziny (my grandfather’s birth town) and New York, as well as having a central character who is deaf. Yet, the story is fictionalized. It had morphed through a few different formats, but it wasn’t until it became a solid historical read that it found a home with Amsterdam Publishers, a champion of Holocaust stories and non-fiction books. Hmm. Holocaust? Is it a downer? While I cannot and will not dare sugarcoat the atrocities of WWII, I wrote a story about two childhood friends, one hearing and Catholic, the other deaf and Jewish, who defied societal customs and became the best of friends. Caught in the snares of approaching war, it’s a story applicable to all times: what to do to not only survive but to thrive without surrendering dreams, friendship, or family?
Are you curious about the funny thing that occurred while writing We Shall Not Shatter? One unexpected evening, after I contracted with Amsterdam Publishers, upon hearing from my father that I wrote a novel loosely based on family and Brzeziny, a second-cousin phoned me to help fill in the gaps about my family. Wait—there’s wonderfully more. He had just finished completing a family history and tree of my paternal relatives that dates back to my great-grandparents in Poland and sent it to me!! I now have names and dates. Yet, on a bittersweet note, there’s no information on my great-aunt who remained in Poland. It’s believed that she perished in the Holocaust with the remaining Jewish population of Brzeziny. Here is my Dedication in We Shall Not Shatter:
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Dedicated in the Memory of my Great Aunt, Katie Pakula, and her brother, my grandfather, Chaskel (Charles) Pakula of Brzeziny, Poland. You have passed on way too early. May we one day meet in the glorious afterlife.
And also, in memory of all those who lost their lives in Brzeziny, in all of Poland, and all those who fought against Nazism during World War II.
We Shall Not Shatter:
An unforgettable story of friendship, family and hope as two courageous young women face one of history’s most horrific tragedies.
Brzeziny, Poland, 1939 Zofia’s comfortable-lifestyle overturns when her husband, Jabez, who monitors Nazi activity, has gone missing. Rather than fleeing the country with her young son, as she had promised Jabez who is fearing retaliation, she decides to stay. She cannot possibly leave her friend, Aanya. Since their childhood they have amazed fellow Brzeziners that it does not matter that Aanya is Jewish and deaf, and that Zofia is Catholic and hearing. Now, more than ever with war looming, Zofia will do whatever is necessary to protect her family and Aanya.
As both love and war approach their Polish town, Zofia and Aanya must make choices that will change the meaning of family, home, and their precious friendship. The journey, decisions and the no-going-back consequences the women face will either help them to survive—or not—as Hitler’s Third Reich revs up its control of the world.
Inspired by the author’s paternal heritage from Brzeziny, this is a heartbreaking yet beautiful story of two women who are determined to remain united in friendship and to live freely despite the odds.
BUY HERE
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Elaine Stock writes Historical Fiction, exploring home, family and friendships throughout time. She enjoys creating stories showing how all faiths, races, and belief systems are interconnected and need each other. A member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and The Historical Novel Society, she wrote We Shall Not Shatter, Book 1 of the Resilient Women of WWII Series, inspired by her deaf great aunt who was left behind in Poland and perished in the Holocaust. The novel has earned the Historical Fiction Company’s 5-star and “Highly Recommended” Award.
Links to connect with Elaine:
Website: https://elainestock.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ElaineStock
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorElaineStock
Goodreads: http:/goodreads.com/ElaineStock
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elaine-stock
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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