My Beautiful Mistake
In 1943 young nurses Kittie and Nora join the Canadian Army hoping to serve overseas. Sent instead to a POW camp in northern Ontario, Kittie discovers her best friend is implicated in a possible spy ring. Terrified of exposure and infatuated with Nora, Kittie will do anything, even succumbing to blackmail, to protect her, hoping it will all be forgotten after war’s end. But in post-war Toronto, the web of deceit tightens. Nora grows desperate to recapture the love of her returning soldier while Kittie works to keep secret the deepening involvement of Nora’s family in the spy ring. A bill of reckoning is due and the two women’s obsessions ultimately lead to a fatal conclusion that changes their lives and binds them together forever.
This book has been a work of love for several years and is based in part on the true story of my mother Ann who served in the Royal Canadian Medical Corps. Her story and those of the young men and women who served with her at POW Camp 23 were the seeds that became this work of historical fiction.
I’m now working to see it published.
This book has been a work of love for several years and is based in part on the true story of my mother Ann who served in the Royal Canadian Medical Corps. Her story and those of the young men and women who served with her at POW Camp 23 were the seeds that became this work of historical fiction.
I’m now working to see it published.
For a sneak peak at the opening, visit the October 2019 issue of Embark Literary Journal at embarkliteraryjournal.com/issues/issue-10-october-2019/
The Swiss Tutor
Lonely and bored, Susanne Burckhardt is surrounded by a surreal mix of Nazis, American pilots, TB patients, and refugees in Davos, Switzerland. For years, she has been punishing herself for past indiscretions and believes her inability to have a child is punishment for her sins. When Susanne begins the position of tutor to a young TB patient, she is confronted by the tragedy of war. She soon discovers the whereabouts of a famous painting that she knows leads to something important. Thinking she could use it to help her patient's Jewish friends, she works to uncover its secret. When she realizes everyone else wants it too, she must find forgiveness and courage before Nazi Germany gets to it first.
Captivated by the unusual mix of people living in "neutral" Switzerland during the war, I began work on a book telling the story of a deeply religious woman who is dogged by insecurities and an unwillingness to accept forgiveness for her mistakes. As she searches for atonement, she unwittingly becomes the mastermind behind Hitler's most shameful secret. A tale of love, intrigue, redemption, and faith.
Captivated by the unusual mix of people living in "neutral" Switzerland during the war, I began work on a book telling the story of a deeply religious woman who is dogged by insecurities and an unwillingness to accept forgiveness for her mistakes. As she searches for atonement, she unwittingly becomes the mastermind behind Hitler's most shameful secret. A tale of love, intrigue, redemption, and faith.
