To Find My Mother by Mary Wood
The Rachel’s Random Resources Blog Tour
To Find My Mother by Mary Wood
I’m thrilled today to be highlighting To Find My Mother by Mary Wood, a heart-wrenching story set in Nazi-occupied Prague. I’ve included the book description and an excerpt below.
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?
Universal Buy Link: https://bit.ly/4sSQos8
To Find My Mother will be on a Kindle Countdown deal of 99p from 1st - 8th June
Excerpt
The Germans have invaded Czechoslovakia and segregated the Jewish people.
On this day, they are rounding them up to take them to concentration camps. Not wanting to be bothered with the infirm or elderly, they are systematically killing them.
Jana and Eva, two eight-year-old Jewish children are watching from their hiding place in the park opposite their apartment block. They witness the untold horror of Jana’s bedridden Babička (Grandmother) being thrown out of her bedroom window. . .
“At last, the trucks rumbled away. A crowd gathered around Babička. Jana rose and ran screaming towards them, ‘No! Not my Babička!’
Someone grabbed her and held her. One gasped out in German, ‘You are a Jew!’ His eyes were on her yellow star.
Others moved forward, shielding her. A woman Jana recognised, but did not know her name, screamed at the man in German, ‘Leave her alone, haven’t you done enough!’
With an evil look, he swiped her face with the back of his hand. Men, speaking Czech, turned on him as if they were a pack of dogs, beating and kicking him.
A shrill whistle signalled the police arriving; the crowd dispersed, except for the woman who had screamed at the German. Jana looked from her to the bloodied, unconscious German at her feet but could not look at her beloved Babička.
Without saying anything, and her movement swift, the woman whipped off her shawl and wrapped it around a shivering Jana, whispering, ‘Don’t let them see your Star of David!’
‘What is happening here? What. . .?
The woman answered him, ‘The Nazis came and took away the Jews; they threw this woman out of the window. The German laughed, and so the crowd went for him.’
‘Who is this child? Why is she being allowed to witness a dead body and a beaten man?’
‘This is my niece. I live at the end of the road; I have just collected her from school. It is wicked that children should witness such a scene, but these things have been happening since the rotten Nazis came.’
‘Go home and take care of what you say and to whom. Many are trying to curry favour with the Nazis and will report you . . . What was that?’
Eva had cried out, ‘Jana, don’t go!’
The woman looked fearfully in the direction of the park. Jana swallowed hard, wanting to tell Eva to run as the policeman strode towards her, but no words would come.
‘What are you doing lying in the grass?’
Eva’s voice could be heard saying, ‘I hid. I – I . . .’
‘Get up.’
‘No, don’t make me . . . I have wet myself!’
Jana held her breath, aware that Eva was hiding her yellow star by lying on her tummy.
‘I know her, officer. I will see to her. Poor child, seeing this dreadful scene, isn’t it a wonder that she wet herself?’
‘All right. If, you’re sure?’
‘Yes, I’ll take her to her home.’
The policeman turned away, ordering his colleagues to begin to clear the body away and to help the unconscious German.
‘Come, we will go across the park.’ Following the woman as she went down the slope, Jana watched her shield Eva as she got up and quickly turned her so that her back was to the policeman. In a whisper, she said, ‘Hurry, before they bring the German to consciousness.’
Not speaking, Jana and Eva clung to the woman’s hand.
At the edge of the park, she told them, ‘I want you to sit there on that bench. Don’t move. Take off your coats, turn them inside out, and use them as blankets. I will fetch new ones for you, as I cannot walk through the streets with you showing your stars. I won’t be long, don’t move.’
Doing as she said, and with the shawl acting as a second blanket, Jana and Eva still didn’t speak but held hands and cried.
Darkness fell. Their bodies shivered with cold. But shock still held them silent.
It was Eva who broke it. ‘Will she come back?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I want my mama.’ Eva began to cry.
Jana couldn’t cry. Her heart hurt, and her mind gave her a picture of her lovely Babička. Not cosy in her bed, smiling her loving smile, but broken and bloodied with her eyes staring, and still . . . so still.
As if she guessed what Jana was thinking, Eva said, ‘My máma told me when my Babička died that she has no more pain, no more fear, just happiness. I think your Babička will be like that now, Jana.’
With this, Jana did cry. ‘I didn’t want her to die like that, she was afraid, she screamed . . . I couldn’t help her.’
Eva’s crying increased too. ‘I want Máma.’
They snuggled closer, cold but giving each other a little warmth. Jana could feel her eyes getting heavy.
***
‘Oh, my children, I am sorry. Wake up. The Germans were everywhere, rounding up your people; I dare not leave my home with coats for you. But they have gone now. Come. Let us get you warm; I have been to neighbours who I know will help and gathered clothes for you.’
Though it was freezing, Jana bravely stripped off her clothes with the hateful star attached and quickly dressed in the dry, woollen garments the woman offered. The action warmed her, and she asked, ‘What is your name?’
‘You can call me Teta. Just that. Then you won’t give me away by mistake, as the Nazis punish those who help your people.’
It seemed strange calling this woman ‘aunt’, but like everything that was happening, strange was becoming normal to Jewish children like herself, so Jana just accepted and asked, ‘Teta, what will happen to us? Will we see our Máma’s again? . . .”
Author Bio
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.
Author Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryWoodAuthor
Website:www.authormarywood.com
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/@booksbymarywood8074