Blog Tour: Guest Post: To Find My Mother by Mary Wood
Today I am helping to end the blog tour for To Find My Mother by Mary Wood. This is a historical fiction novel that deals with the Holocaust. It is about two young girls and their story of survival and love. Mary is sharing a guest post and talking about the novel! To Find My Mother was just released April 20, 2026. **If you are lucky enough to live in the UK, To Find My Mother is on a Kindle Countdown Deal of 99p until June 8th!**
Book Description:
A HARROWING AND YET UPLIFTING STORY OF SURVIVAL AND LOVE
Best friends Jana and Eva are carefree eight-year-olds in Prague-until Nazi occupation tears their lives apart.
As their mothers are taken away and the girls face the horrors of war, survival becomes all that matters
In Theresienstadt, two desperate women make unimaginable sacrifices to one day find their children.
But will love and hope be enough to help them reunite?
Buy Your Copy Here:
Amazon US
Amazon UK To Find My Mother is on a Kindle Countdown Deal of 99p until June 8th!
Hello everyone,
I am thrilled to be here.
I am an author of 36 Historical Fiction books – 11 of which were written under the pseudonym of Maggie Mason besides these I have written a Gangland Thriller under the pseudonym of Molly Kent. Here for you to enjoy is a summary of my latest book.
TO FIND MY MOTHER is harrowing in parts as it deals with the holocaust – a dreadful time in the world’s history that we all hope is never repeated.
In a very short chapter one, we meet Jana, a young Jewish girl, living in London. searching for her mother.
Then the story behind that search unfolds as we are taken back in real time to 1939.
Jana and her friend, Eva, just eight years old, are playing happily until the moment they hear the drumming sound of many feet pounding the road. In the distance they see what to them is a magnificent sight – rows and rows of soldiers, immaculately dressed, marching as if they were clockwork figures. Unaware of danger, they are soon enveloped in fear as Jana’s mama clutches them to her and utters: ‘Elohim save us.’
So begins a life of segregation, the wearing of the Star of David, and not being allowed to attend school and worst of all, the disappearance of loved ones. Until one day whilst playing in the park across from their apartment block, they hide when their street is suddenly filled with Nazis arriving in trucks. What they witnessed should never be so.
The book follows their journey as they are rescued and cared for by outlying farmers – The rebuilding of their lives to feeling happy and secure with many moments of joy but always lurking in the shadows is their longing to be with their mamas and to know what happened to their Tata’s (father’s).
Their story then goes forward to them being aged thirteen when they find where their mamas are incarcerated – hear tales of starvation and cruelty, but also of other children taking food to the walls of the ghetto where a young girl from inside crawls through to collect it.
Their decision to do this for their mama’s, brings them joy, but leads to the end of life as they know it . . .
For Marie, mama of Jana, and for Lenka, mama of Eva, whose story is told alongside Jana’s and Eva’s, their lives have changed unrecognisably as they try to survive in Theresienstadt. In their quest to avoid the dreaded lists that see hundreds of Jews sent to concentrations camps, leads to a path that’s abhorrent to Marie.
They want to live. They want to find their children. They know this won’t be possible if they are ‘chosen’. The tales they hear of extermination of Jews being carried out in Auschwitz where many are sent, fills them with fear.
Lenka shocks Marie by the measures she takes to progress to a trusted position in an endeavour to keep them safe. For herself, the love she still holds for her beloved husband, Jan, will not let her betray his memory in that way. Having a beautiful voice, she is chosen for the choir which affords her some protection.
One concert is attended by Rolf, an officer of high ranking. When he falls in love with her, her life changes. But is devastated once more when Jana and Eva are captured and by what happens to Eva and then to Lenka, the friend she has had in her life since they were children. . .
This is a story that takes you from, Prague to England, to Argentina. It will tear at your heart and give you moments of heartbreak and of feeling fear for the characters, interspersed with Joy and eventual happiness as you involve yourself in the incredible resilience and courage shown during the Holocaust, not just by the Jewish community but by many who tried to help them, including German soldiers.
All characters are fictious, but events are based on true accounts.
Hope you enjoyed my post. Thank you for having me, Much love to all, Mary x
About the Author:
Mary was brought up in Leicestershire where her family settled when she was six months old, Mary now lives in Blackpool with her beloved husband Roy. Their children have long flown the nest and are living happily with their partners and have extended Mary and Roy’s happiness by giving them eight wonderful grandchildren, and umpteen great grandchildren, all of whom are a joy to them.
Mary began writing in the 1980’s but didn’t find success until she self-published on amazon in 2011. Soon after she was thrilled to be spotted by Pan Macmillan who have since published 24 of her books, including the bestselling Jam Factory Girls series. Her latest being ‘A Lasting Promise’ and ‘Her Hidden courage’.
Soon after being published by Pan Macmillan, Mary was approached by Sphere, a subsidiary of Little Brown Books. Joining them she wrote 12 novels under the pseudonym of Maggie Mason. Including the bestselling, The Half Penny Girls. Her latest Maggie Mason is: A Daughter’s Dream, with one more to come in 2027 yet, untitled.
Mary has now come full circle and is returning to publishing herself with the help of her son, James Wood, as she now cares for her beloved husband and needs to set her own, achievable deadlines, but remains ever grateful to both of her publishers and for all they did for her.
Contact Mary:
Website
YouTube @booksbymarywood8074
TikTok @authormarywood
Instagram @mary.wood.7796420
The Blog Tour:
Book Review: The German House by Annette Hess
The German House
Author: Annette Hess
Published: December 3, 2019
336 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963, Annette Hess’s international bestseller is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator—caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power—as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation’s past.
If everything your family told you was a lie, how far would you go to uncover the truth?
For twenty-four-year-old Eva Bruhns, World War II is a foggy childhood memory. At the war’s end, Frankfurt was a smoldering ruin, severely damaged by the Allied bombings. But that was two decades ago. Now it is 1963, and the city’s streets, once cratered are smooth and paved. Shiny new stores replace scorched rubble. Eager for her wealthy suitor, Jürgen Schoormann, to propose, Eva dreams of starting a new life away from her parents and sister. But Eva’s plans are turned upside down when a fiery investigator, David Miller, hires her as a translator for a war crimes trial.
As she becomes more deeply involved in the Frankfurt Trials, Eva begins to question her family’s silence on the war and her future. Why do her parents refuse to talk about what happened? What are they hiding? Does she really love Jürgen and will she be happy as a housewife? Though it means going against the wishes of her family and her lover, Eva, propelled by her own conscience , joins a team of fiery prosecutors determined to bring the Nazis to justice—a decision that will help change the present and the past of her nation.
Kim’s Review:
It really hurts my heart that I have to give such a low rating to a book that centers around the Holocaust. The idea was an interesting one but the execution was not good at all. The twist was ok; it was kind of obvious by the time you got there. The characters were bland and not really likable. It seems that Eva and her fiancé are the only ones who don’t realize that they don’t belong together. David Miller, for all his passion, did nothing but hinder the legal fight against the Nazis. And the ending … ugh. There was no resolution. It literally just stopped. It was frustrating and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I really can’t recommend this book to anyone.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor
The Paper Girl of Paris
Author: Jordyn Taylor
Published: May 26, 2020
359 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Now:
Sixteen-year-old Alice is spending the summer in Paris, but she isn’t there for pastries and walks along the Seine. When her grandmother passed away two months ago, she left Alice an apartment in France that no one knew existed. An apartment that has been locked for more than seventy years.
Alice is determined to find out why the apartment was abandoned and why her grandmother never once mentioned the family she left behind when she moved to America after World War II. With the help of Paul, a charming Parisian student, she sets out to uncover the truth. However, the more time she spends digging through the mysteries of the past, the more she realizes there are secrets in the present that her family is still refusing to talk about.
Then:
Sixteen-year-old Adalyn doesn’t recognize Paris anymore. Everywhere she looks, there are Nazis, and every day brings a new horror of life under the Occupation. When she meets Luc, the dashing and enigmatic leader of a resistance group, Adalyn feels she finally has a chance to fight back. But keeping up the appearance of being a much-admired socialite while working to undermine the Nazis is more complicated than she could have imagined. As the war goes on, Adalyn finds herself having to make more and more compromises—to her safety, to her reputation, and to her relationships with the people she loves the most.
Kim’s Review:
So this cover. This. Cover. And the story was pretty good too.
We all dream of being left a random metropolitan apartment that has been preserved by time and we are the first to open the door in decades. I geeked out just reading it. And then finding the diary of your grandmother’s sister from WWII? I was living vicariously through Alice and thoroughly enjoying it. Adalyn’s story was great! A Parisian girl who joined the French Resistance and bravely helping to defeat the Nazis is always going to be exciting and engaging. I had tears in my eyes by the time I reached the end, which was more twisty than I expected.
My main criticism is with Alice herself. I acknowledge as a historian that we can only go by documented evidence and I hold to that. But there will always be speculation, no matter the situation. Alice apparently has no imagination and could only handle one theory at a time and that got frustrating real quick. I can’t get into too much detail because I don’t want to give anything away, but long before the truth was revealed, I wanted to throw the diary at Alice’s head just to get her to open her mind a little.
But overall, I thought this was a good book and I really enjoyed it. This is a great one to give to teens for WWII reading!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
