In April 2017 I was sitting in the green room backstage, preparing to talk about inspirational books at a women's conference. A close friend asked me what I was working on and I told her about this WWII project I had been thinking about. Born in the postwar years in the Netherlands herself, she shrugged and said, "I'm not too interested in the past. There's so much happening right now."

Her comment gave me pause. Was I about to embark on a topic that had already been studied and analyzed to death? Was I going to miss out on the here and now if I tried to unravel some of the mythology of WWII and go searching for the grey between all the black and white of the dominant narrative?

I have wrestled with my own deep curiosity about history and the self doubt that a war that ended over 75 years ago doesn't resonate anymore.

And then suddenly, just as the ink was drying on this five-year project, war in Europe is on the horizon again. The first person accounts that have spilled over my desk for a half decade seem to be crying out in warning. I read this week in the newspaper, "history doesn't repeat, it echoes."

And so, here's the beautiful cover of my passion project. The novel is meant to entertain, and although the inside flap says "this is a work of fiction", I know you know that's just not always true.

There’s no resistance without blood

Hilde’s father’s warning echoes in her ears as she defies her family to join the underground resistance and keep the trust of the boy she loves. 

We must make the best of things…

Lady Astrid tries to ignore the Nazis occupying her castle, but she can’t turn away from the mysterious refugee also living on her estate. 

In her debut novel, Lena Scholman brings us a tale of unlikely allies who must choose between following the patterns of the past or stitching together a future of their own making. 

Once a thread is pulled, everything unravels.