Tag: #historicalfiction

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Echoes of Infamy by Shaina Steinberg

Book Description

In postwar Los Angeles, former spies Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher dig into shady real estate dealings, murder, and the appalling aftereffects of Japanese American internment during World War II.

Now president of her father’s company, Bishop Aeronautics, Evelyn is presiding over a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of her factory when she is approached by Billy Takemura, a Japanese American soldier who announces that she’s building on stolen land.

Like Evelyn and Nick, Billy is a war hero. He served in the decorated 442nd Nisei company, while most of his family were forcibly interned at Manzanar. Their thriving family restaurant, and the land it occupied, were taken while they were in the camp.

Determined to right this wrong—and concerned about her father’s possible involvement in profiteering—Evelyn enlists Nick in her investigation. What starts as a discovery of widespread fraud quickly graduates to murder. Suspects range from an unscrupulous business partner to a bitter widow to Billy’s hotheaded brother. It’s up to Evelyn and Nick to expose the truth. However, it’s not easy when Evelyn is fending off betrayal in her own company and Nick’s brutal childhood returns to haunt him.

Nothing is as it seems as secrets threaten to destroy the life they have worked so hard to build .

***

Elise’s Thoughts

Echoes of Infamy by Shaina Steinberg intertwines a black mark of American history with an intense mystery.  The internment of American Japanese during World War II is a period marked by significant injustices and Steinberg skillfully shows the struggles of that community post-World War II.

The story follows the Japanese American Takemura family. The female lead, Evelyn Bishop is President of her father’s company, Bishop Aeronautics. She is presiding over a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of her factory when approached by Billy Takemura, a Japanese American soldier who announces that she’s building on stolen land. Like Evelyn and Nick (her husband), Billy is a war hero. He served in the decorated 442nd Nisei company, while most of his family were forcibly interned at Manzanar. Their thriving family restaurant, and the land it occupied, were stolen by a carpetbagger while they were in the camp. Billy implies that the land was fraudulently purchased. Moreover, things go from bad to worse after a construction worker, preparing the factory’s foundation, unearths a corpse with its head bashed in. Evelyn and her husband Nick decide to investigate, because shady law enforcement seems to be dragging their feet and stalling the official cause of death.

The other sub-plots of the story include women empowerment, Nick’s family issues that include abuse, and misogyny. Steinberg skillfully ties everything together in a satisfying and emotional way.

The reader is immersed in the era with the attention to historical detail. The story is gripping and enlightening with a mystery that has intrigue.

***

Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Shaina Steinberg: I’m Jewish, and I watched people coming out of the concentration camps, and trying to find their friends, and trying to find their family, and trying to find where to go. And I think so many people have written so many incredible, brilliant books about the Holocaust, that I decided not to write about it. But I think there’s such a strong parallel with the Japanese and Japanese American people who returned, in interned, down the West Coast.

EC: Did you base the story on anyone? 

SS: No, it wasn’t based on anyone. I did a lot of research. I read a book called Farewell to Manzanar which is a memoir by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston about their experiences before, during, and following their relocation. Naomi Hiriahara, who is also a mystery writer, wrote a brilliant book called Evergreen, about a family who had been interned, and moved to Chicago. 

EC: You seem to have a lot of subplots in the story. There’s murder, there’s Rory, there was Lewis, there was Willa. Was there a reason for that? 

SS: We look at mystery books, and usually murder, but not always, as being the center of the plot. And I think that whenever you have something major in your life, your life doesn’t stop. I think of Nick, I really enjoyed writing that part because he’s had such a horrible family, such a hard life. And in many ways, he and Evelyn are opposite in that respect. 

EC: Carl seemed very single-minded that he got angry at Evelyn without even talking to her. Is that a fair statement?

SS: Yes. Absolutely. Carl was angry at her because she continued associating with her dad, who she loved very much. But, her dad did something very bad as well. And once he took a step back, he realized that what he was angry about was not that big of a deal. It’s the small thing, and then it’s this massive thing behind it, and it appeared that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And I think for Carl, it was difficult not to be able to be who he is and not feel his friends would accept him for who he is. Plus, there was the constant fear of being discovered, because, obviously, being gay in the 40s, is a lot different from being gay now. We’ve made so much progress and thank God for it. And I think that with Carl, it probably feels very unfair that he must hide how he feels and who he is. And it’s just one more secret on top of everything. I think he is annoyed and not thrilled that Evelyn is talking to somebody who he thinks is a traitor, who he believes did horrible things. But I don’t think that element, per se, is why he cut her out. I think it’s him needing to deal with a lot of his own stuff

EC: How would you describe Rory, Nick’s nephew?

SS: I love Rory. I think that he’s smart, and driven, and curious, and dealt a bad hand in life. And I think Nick sees himself in this kid. And he saw somebody who was completely innocent. They both had a second chance for family. I really admire Rory for being able to be self-directed enough to make a change, to make his life a little bit better. It is difficult to step outside a comfort zone, but he really does that. Rory was abused in the book. His mother would let the men in her life knock him around. And yet, he still doesn’t want people’s pity or charity. He doesn’t want to open his life and say to people, look at how hard this has been.

EC: What role did Lewis, the executive director, play in the story?

SS: I think Lewis is unfortunately a typical man for that era. He’s misogynist, but doesn’t know that word, wouldn’t think of it. He’s the kind of man who sees a very strong difference between the sexes and believes that women have a particular role, and that role is not president of the company, which is Evelyn’s position. He watched Evelyn grow up from, her toddler years, all the way into a grown and a very capable woman. And I think that it can be hard, not just for Lewis, but a lot of people to see someone they knew from childhood going off to college. And with strong opinions and passions. And he had a hard time not seeing her as a child anymore. 

EC: Is there women empowerment in the story?

SS: I think Evelyn has been fighting the good fights since the beginning of the series. And, Willa, who had engineering and chemistry degrees from UCLA, now going for her PhD, and working brilliantly for the company, even finding broken brackets on the plane’s engine mounts. She has this job that she loves. But it’s not necessarily easy. She’s coming into a world of these men, and asking them to take her seriously at a time when women weren’t really taken seriously. Unlike Evelyn, Willa comes into a department where she’s the only woman, she’s on the bottom of the totem hole, she has a very different experience. And as much as I love Evelyn, I do think sometimes it can take her a minute to look around and see that other people’s experiences are different from hers. even if it’s lumped into the same general category. 

EC: Do you think Evelyn is a feminist?

SS: Absolutely. Even though she’s a feminist, she was brought up in the other world, too. Evelyn was expected to become a wife, and a mother, and a socialite, and I think that if the war had never happened, it is probably a life that would have never fit her well, but it was probably the life she would have had. Yet the war happened, and she went to save her brother, and she found herself in many, many ways, and she found her strength. When she came back, going back into that prescribed role really didn’t fit her. And she knew herself well enough to know that this is something she couldn’t do.

EC: How would you describe the villain in the story, Russell Clements?

SS: Clements was a scam artist, uncaring, self-centered, and unlikable. He also took advantage of the American Japanese situation during the war.

EC: What do you want to say about the three American Japanese children?

SS: Hanzo, Mary, and Billy Takemura. It’s a family story. But they had conflicts. Hanzo and Billy have butted heads ever since they were kids. They each have different strengths. And they can struggle to respect the other ones’ strengths. Hanzo was never able to understand why Billy went and fought for a country that put their family in these horrible camps. And Billy will never overcome his resentment, because he feels that Hanzo abandoned the family. And I think Mary is in the middle. She can see both sides, but at the end of the day, Hanzo was the one who pulled the family out of the camp. Hanzo was the one who helped them relocate to Chicago. So, in many ways, yes, there’s this massive historical event that affects their family dynamics. 

EC: What do you want to say about the Japanese internment camps?

SS: I explain in the book that the Japanese Americans were rounded up like cattle. They were only entitled to one single suitcase. The vultures circled, trying to buy heirlooms for nothing on the dollar. Their living conditions weren’t great. 

EC: What do you want to say about Billy’s unit the 442nd Infantry Regiment?

SS: It was an American Japanese unit that fought for America. A lot of them went out with the motto of wanting to prove their loyalty, their family’s loyalty, to the United States. When they left, their parents might have approved, or they might not have approved. But almost universally, their parents told them, ‘Don’t shame the family. Go out and make us proud.’ And I think they really carried that very strongly into battle. They were incredible fighters. There were many times when they broke through the German lines after people said it was impossible. They were so incredibly brave, sometimes people recognized their humanity and the sacrifice they made. But, unfortunately, sometimes they came home, and were not accepted. People wouldn’t rent to them. There was a story of a guy who walked into a barbershop, wearing his army uniform, and the barber kicked him out, and said, ‘Nope, we will not serve you.’

EC: Next book?

SS: It will not be an Evelyn or Nick book. I’m writing a book about grief, and it centers on a young man who loses his father, and his father’s dying wish is for him to say Mourner’s Kaddish for a whole year. Traditionally, Jews are required to say the Kaddish for 30 days after burial for a child, spouse or sibling, and for 11 months after burial for a parent. It follows this young man as he grows and changes, and how he and his family struggle with that awful first year of grief. The working title is Kaddish. 

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Last Baby in Auschwitz by Anna Stuart

Book Description

Naomi Demetriou has survived three years behind the walls of Auschwitz. Torn apart from her family, every breath could be her last. She’s learnt to survive by secretly trading the clothes she’s forced to sort through in exchange for food. But when an SS officer singles her out, her life becomes even harder. And then she discovers she’s pregnant…

With the support of Ana, the kind midwife, and the other mothers in Barrack 24, Naomi does the impossible and gives birth to a tiny baby boy. Hiding in the shadows, Naomi vows to do whatever it takes to keep baby Isaac safe. With rumours circulating of an Allied invasion, Naomi holds onto the hope the camp will be liberated. And she dreams of returning to her house by the Greek sea with her son.

But the day comes when Naomi hears heavy footsteps and the harsh voice of an SS guard. ‘Out! Now! You can’t take anything with you!’ She’s shoved into a line of people being marched out of the iron gates. Thick snow falls around them. Tears sting in Naomi’s eyes.

It all happened so fast. And she was unable to grab the bundle of blankets containing her little boy. But Ana is still there, will she and the other brave women be able to save him?

***

Elise’s Thoughts

The Last Baby in Auschwitz is a very gripping and compelling novel. Inspired by true stories, this novel shows how the characters remained courageous in a time of unimaginable darkness. There is fear of not only losing their country, but also family, and who they are as they fight to survive the hellhole of Auschwitz.  

The story follows two young cousins from a Jewish Greek family as each fight to survive. Naomi Demetriou is separated from her escaping family and captured by the Nazis. Lieke Demetriou is rounded up with her father, mother, and brother and sent to Auschwitz. Lieke’s mother is Austrian and has spoken to her daughter in German, so they are both bilingual. Because of this, Lieke and her mother are among the few prisoners chosen to work in the camp offices. Yet her father and brother are separated from them and forced into slave labor.  

Throughout the years, the cousins occasionally speak to each other, at Auschwitz, and remind the other that as Naomi’s mother told them, their family ties are like a spider’s web and even when destroyed, the spider will keep rebuilding them. Now three years in Auschwitz these sixteen-year-olds learn to survive. 

Naomi ‘s life gets even harder after she is singled out by a German SS officer who constantly takes her for his own sexual pleasure. She survives by thinking of her mother’s words and using the “gifts” he gives her to help others.  

After discovering she is pregnant by him, Naomi vows to give birth and keep the baby.  She is aided by Ana, the kind midwife, Ester, and others in Barrack 24. They hide the pregnancy and then the baby from the evil Kapo, Klara. Hearing rumors of an Allied invasion, Naomi holds onto the hope the camp will be liberated, and dreams of returning to her house by the Greek sea with her son. 

Naomi and Lieke stories are ones of survival, resilience, and hope even during the dark times, enduring the evils of the Nazis with their total lack of humanity and cruelty.  

***

Elise Cooper: Do you think this book is relevant today?  

Anna Stuart: There is a huge antisemitism in Britian, and it is truly shocking.  It is not seen as terribly serious. This is why these types of novels are relevant and important.  It is very easy to forget about the Holocaust, and I don’t know why. It should not be forgotten considering the burning of people of all ages, the rapes, and the working of people to death. 

EC: Idea for the story? 

AS: I wrote Midwife of Auschwitz, the first book in the series that tells the story of Ana Kaminski and Ester Pasternak. This was followed by  Midwife of Berlin. Naomi was also in the first book as a young counterpart to the others.  When doing my research for these books I read about the Greek Holocaust. I really wanted to write about Naomi and what happened to the Greek Jews which is why I wrote this story. The overall thread is friendship and family and holding onto people. 

EC: Were Greek Jews treated like the rest of Europe by the Nazis? 

AS: The Nazis had a level of excessive disdain for them. They were considered more Eastern. They raped and pillaged the Greeks. The disparity between how the Jews were treated and the non-Jewish Greeks was much less than in other places.  

EC: What was true in the story? 

AS: There was an Italian zone in Greece, more of a safe zone for the Jews. The Italians in charge resisted deporting the Jews until the Germans took over Athens. The Italians did not consider the Jews the root of all evil as the Nazis were.  

Black Sabbath was also true. The Nazis ordered the Jewish men to Platia Eleftherios, Freedom Square. They made the men do humiliating and meaningless exercises, forced into relentless calisthenics, and men were forced to drag one another across the square in races where the Nazis bet.  Losers were shot.  Those that lived were rounded up and sent into slave labor. 

The Jewish Ghetto was interesting for me. They were transient camp ghettos, briefly lived in, because they were deported so quickly in an inhumane way. Some believed that the Germans were selling them land in Poland to get them to go quietly. It was the same trick they played when they offered people soap to supposedly go into the showers, but it was the gas chambers.  

EC: How would you describe Naomi? 

AS: A risk-taker, brave, determined, soft-hearted, cunning, independent, and tough. Once she got to Auschwitz, she felt humiliated, a slave laborer, bitter, lonely, and escaped through her memories. The way she coped is to try to find the positives. For example, her rapist gives her gifts that she passes on to others to help them survive. Ana and Ester were her mother’s substitutes. They were her new adoptive family. 

EC: How would you describe Naomi’s mom, Agata? 

AS: She seems to be one of the few who connected the dots.  She is from Polish origin. She is tough but leaves Naomi with words of wisdom, such as, “Your body is your own,” that Naomi thinks about why being raped, trying to keep a part of herself. 

EC: What is the role of the spiders? 

AS: Naomi associated it with her mom Agata, a connection. Her mom told Naomi spiders are resilient creatures. They create these amazing webs. It is a symbol. The friendships in Auschwitz were a web that held together. These women clung onto each other. Just as the saying goes, “spinning the family web.” 

EC: How would you describe Lieke? 

AS: She is daring, hopeful, has a dry-wit, cynical, bold, protective, and resilient.  I wanted a character who is Jewish, Greek, and can speak German. She speaks the language of the enemy, which ultimately saves her family. As the story progresses, she becomes stronger.  

EC: What is the role of Mala? 

AS: Mala is a real person. I kept her as a real person. She worked as an administrator in Auschwitz. She could have just stayed safe but did everything she could do help others. She helped link up Naomi and Lieke. She contrasts with the Kapos like Klara, also based on a real person, and Grunwald. The Kapos figured out to survive Auschwitz as they went over to the dark side.  

EC: Why did you have Naomi want to keep the baby boy, Issac? 

AS: Although he was a reminder of her rape, Naomi tried to divorce Issac from the Nazi father. She sees Isaac as a bit of her. Isaac became a symbol of saving all the babies who were lost. It is a defiance that proves love can win. Naomi is a positive person who saw Isaac as only hers.  

EC: Do you only write Holocaust stories? 

AS: I started writing Medieval novels under my real name, Joanna Courtney.  My first series is called, “The Queens of Conquest.” Then the series, “Shakespeare’s Queens” and I have just finished a book in a new series “Women of the Ancient World,” titled “Cleopatra & Julius”. 

EC: Next books? 

AS: Midwife of Berlin is the sequel to the first book, Midwife of Auschwitz. It is set in Berlin in 1961. It explores what happened to Ester’s baby, taken away from her, in Auschwitz. Both are published now. The other books in the series that are also out are The War Orphan and The Secret Message. The Children on the Train is about the saving Jewish German children in 1938/39 and will be published in September. 

THANK YOU!! 

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: First Daughter by Marlie Parker Wasserman

FIRST DAUGHTER

by Marlie Parker Wasserman

May 4-29, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for FIRST DAUGHTER by Marlie Parker Wasserman on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, and excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway! Enjoy!

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Book Description

In the summer of 1895, President Grover Cleveland and his pregnant wife, Frances, retreat to their secluded Cape Cod home, eager to avoid Washington’s heat and hassles. The very day that Frances gives birth, their three-year-old daughter vanishes. A ransom note surfaces, demanding a mysterious and peculiar sum.

Is the kidnapper a political enemy or someone closer to home? Secret service agents chase multiple leads but reach dead ends. Desperate, Frances Cleveland searches for answers on her own. As the hunt continues, the kidnapper carefully plots each move and determines to settle a score.

The historical record documents threats against the Clevelands, but no actual kidnapping. Yet, what if the president and his wife, known for keeping secrets, concealed a terrifying chapter of their lives? In this gripping blend of fact and fiction, the line between public duty and private anguish blurs in a mother’s fight to save her child.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250900764-first-daughter?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=58HpjRuJ3B&rank=1

First Daughter

Genre: Historical Crime Fiction
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: April 14, 2026
Number of Pages: 324

***

My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

FIRST DAUGHTER by Marlie Parker Wasserman is a well-researched historical fiction novel with a fictional crime mystery interwoven throughout around the eldest daughter of President Grover Cleveland and First Lady Frances Cleveland set in their secluded summer home on Cape Cope.

It is 1895 and Frances Cleveland is about to give birth to the couple’s third child in Grey Cables, the summer home of the President and his family during the summer months. When Frances sends for her two daughters to meet their sibling, the eldest, three-year-old Ruth, is discovered missing.

With no clues until a ransom note is found, the First Lady and their lead Secret Service agent follow multiple leads, which is difficult as the President wants this crime to remain secret with minimal people knowing the truth. It is a different time, with minimal security around the President and his family and secrets to be kept. Can the case be solved and Ruth returned safely?

This is a historical fiction that demonstrates the author’s in-depth research, comprehension of the period and the Cleveland family. The author makes you feel as if you are right there on Cape Cod in 1895. Frances Cleveland is a complicated character, but also a woman of her time. While the kidnapping mystery is purely fictional, it allows the author to bring in many additional historical facts, as well as a suspenseful tension to the story. The story does start out a bit slowly, but it does pick up as the characters become more developed and the mystery plot intensifies.

This is an engaging historical fiction look into President Cleveland’s family with a crime mystery twist.

***

Excerpt

At the western edge of Cape Cod, in the grandest bedroom in the sprawling residence known as Gray Gables, Frances Cleveland couldn’t stifle the rising sound of her own screams. Between pains, she rested. The late morning breeze drifted across the lawn from Buzzards Bay, fluttering the lace curtain and cooling the sweat on her forehead.

Even at this moment, Frances felt grateful that Grover chose to spend summers away from Washington’s heat, away from the prying public. Here, in this secluded haven, she needn’t fear strangers hovering near the windows of the Executive Mansion for a glimpse of their president—or, more likely, of his wife and daughters. She could concentrate her fears on her pains and pray for the safe birth of her third child, in the same way she had for her first and again for her second. Frances expected from experience that her suffering would soon recede, replaced by the joy of motherhood. She did not know that before the day was over, her bodily misery would end, yielding not to joy but to overwhelming terror.

The previous February, after sensing a flutter beneath her gown while greeting a crowd of visitors at a reception, Frances guessed the baby would be her third girl. Practiced at keeping confidences, she never mentioned her prediction to her preoccupied husband. When she gave birth to another girl, the blathering journalists would have their say. They would try out their jokes about the president’s little harem. Most days, Frances ignored the journalists. Most days, she trusted Grover to love each of his babies.

The image of a trio of girls was far from Frances’s mind now, as she suffered in bed. She cried out, too loudly. Dr. Bryant reminded her that she’d survived labor pains before. “Don’t you dare say that again,” she said, in a shrill tone that surprised her.

At last, Frances heard the newborn’s cry, faint but lovely. Dr. Bryant chuckled while he clamped and cut the cord. “Mrs. Cleveland, should I bring the president upstairs to see his new daughter? He’s pacing on the front porch. Once he sees this one—she’s beautiful—he won’t regret it’s not a son.”

“Yes,” Frances said, with the strongest voice she could muster. A girl, as she’d guessed. For an instant, with the last of her contractions, she’d ignored her prediction and hoped for a boy. Now, she didn’t linger on that momentary weakness of character. She let a surge of pride swell over her, above the exhaustion. She’d done it. Again.

Frances turned to the local midwife hired to assist. “Tell the steward, his name is Sinclair, to get Ruth and Esther. I want my daughters to see their new sister.”

Frances raised herself a few inches, enough to see the midwife slip into the hall. The woman returned and gave Frances a nod. The girls would come shortly. Frances sank back and watched the midwife wipe down the infant and swaddle her. She did look beautiful. “Here,” Frances said, crooking her arm to make room for Marion, the name Grover chose that would serve for a girl or a boy. The same name as a town across Buzzards Bay, where many of their friends lived. Frances appreciated Grover’s decision to buy an estate on the outskirts of a different but nearby town, Bourne. The family could escape Washington’s heat and busybodies.

And escape the threats.

Hours earlier, Frances gave thanks for the breeze blowing through the open window, reminding her that Gray Gables was perfectly located on a point overlooking the Bay’s east side. But now she blocked the sound of wind and waves. straining to make sense of other sounds, to hear what Grover would say about a third daughter. The doctor scurried downstairs. The midwife remained stationed over the bed, tending to Frances and crooning softly to the baby. Frances ignored the woman, mindful only of the voices wafting in through the window. First, low tones as the doctor talked to Grover. They were friends. Dr. Bryant saved Grover’s life two summers ago, removing the cancer eating away at his palate. Now, Frances imagined the doctor patting her thickset husband on his shoulder and shaking his hand. She hoped Grover would offer the doctor a contented smile. Seconds later, Grover clomped upstairs. The doctor followed behind, with lighter steps.

“So happy, Frankie.” Her husband used one of her nicknames. After their wedding, she asked Grover to call her by her more dignified name, Frances. He still used Frankie or Frank in private moments. She let him—the nicknames added tenderness to his gruff voice. “The doctor tells me you’re fine. You managed without chloroform this time, too. And the baby’s healthy. Marion, right? Three girls. They will enjoy each other’s company.”

He said the right thing. She didn’t need to feel anxious about another girl. He was a good man, kind to her, whatever others thought. He wouldn’t hold the baby, rarely did. But he wiped his chubby hand on a cloth, then touched Marion’s forehead. He stood there for a few minutes, cherishing their third child. For him, it was a fourth, but no matter. His eyes shifted to gaze at her. He wouldn’t see the tall, slender belle he married nine years ago, the one the reporters called lovely. He’d see a tired, sweat-drenched woman who looked every day of her thirty years.

“Ruth and Esther?” Frances asked again, eyeing the midwife. “Did you send Sinclair for them?”

“Yes, ma’am. The steward went a minute ago.” The midwife spoke quietly, carefully. She’d feel nervous in the presence of the president.

Still almost flat in bed, Frances clutched Marion, admiring the infant. Perfect features. Ten fingers and ten toes. Another blessing from God.

A familiar sound at the door. Sinclair knocked softly. His usual pattern—soft, loud, soft—keeping to the household code. Another sound, when the midwife opened the door. Next, Frances would hear four little feet rushing toward the newest baby.

No feet. Only hushed words.

“Sinclair found Annie,” the midwife said. “She’s your older daughter’s nursemaid, right? He tells me she needs another minute to bring Ruth and to tell your younger daughter’s nursemaid to bring Esther.” The midwife stood far from Frances’s bed, speaking almost in a whisper.

Grover didn’t look concerned. His rough mustache skimmed Frances’s cheek as he kissed her lightly on her damp forehead. She was too tired to return the kiss. She heard him drop into the nearby rocking chair.

“Joseph,” he said, addressing the doctor, “you’re certain Frankie is fine? No complications?”

“Just fine, Grover. Ready for the next one before long.”

Four years earlier, when Ruth was born, Dr. Joseph Bryant told Frances how to manage her family. “Breastfeed for six months.” He looked straight at her, with no awkwardness. “You’ll not get in the family way, and the baby will stay healthy. After six months, well, you and Grover can proceed to another.” And so they had. Esther after Ruth. Marion after Esther. A daughter every two years.

Frances closed her eyes, relying on her ears. Dr. Bryant thanked the midwife for her assistance. The woman tidied up, gathering soiled sheets and opening a chest, hunting for fresh linens. The room went silent, except for the soft, repetitious squeak of the rocking chair. Grover leaned up, then back, up then back. Frances sensed herself drifting off.

Another soft knock, barely a sound, followed by a pause, and two more soft knocks. Not Sinclair. One of the nursemaids. Annie? The midwife opened the door. “Ma’am.” Annie’s voice came out as a croak. “I can’t find Ruth.”

***

Author Bio

Marlie Parker Wasserman loves writing historical crime fiction. She has published three novels–First Daughter will be her fourth. After a career in publishing in New Jersey, she moved to Chapel Hill, NC with her husband. When she is not writing, she travels, reads, and sketches. One of her goals is to visit every national park in the U.S., and she is close to her goal.

Social Media Links

www.marliewasserman.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub – @marliewasserman
Instagram – @marliepwasserman
Bluesky – @marliewasserman.bsky.social
Facebook

Purchase Links

Amazon – https://pictbooks.tours/T9V2E7ea

Kindle – https://pictbooks.tours/QU2N8pzi

BN – https://pictbooks.tours/Zg47J5P9

BookShop.org – https://pictbooks.tours/8ejtYGal

BookBub – https://pictbooks.tours/vrHjPbBG

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PICT GIVEAWAY

https://pictbooks.tours/BjlQbs2q

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Girl with the List by Shari J. Ryan

Book Description

Day in, day out, servant Rosalie is forced to aid in the harrowing medical selections at Auschwitz, marking prisoners as “fit” or “unfit” with trembling hands. She once thought “unfit” meant they’d get the help they needed. Now she knows the devastating truth: “Fit” means they live another day, “unfit” means they don’t…

Every day, her heart breaks further as she hopelessly scans the crowds for the face of the man she loves, torn from her a year ago simply for being Jewish. Praying that he’s still alive, Rosalie desperately tries to save as many other men as she can—risking everything by marking them as fit and hoping her act of rebellion isn’t noticed.

Then one icy morning, she looks up from her list into the stunning green eyes of the man in her line—the man her heart beats for. And now the real fight begins, as Rosalie risks her life to save Stefan’s again and again. But then one morning, Stefan isn’t there. Rosalie frantically searches for him, blood turning to ice. He’s gone. But how far will she go to find him? And can he stay alive without her until she does…?

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Girl with the List by Shari J. Ryan is a powerful story that shows the emotional and physical cruelty of the Nazis. The plot has Rosalie Kaufman and Stefan Selig trying to fight for survival while in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

This novel is told from the perspectives of Rosalie and Stefan where chapters alternate back and forth between them and their time in Auschwitz and the times before and early in the war.

Rosalie and Stefan meet when she becomes the midwife for his mom during a challenging pregnancy. While living together within the same household they grow very close and fall in love. But when the Nazis come to their small Polish town, they are separated.

She is forced to become the midwife, nanny, and assistant to SS officer Weyman, who is stationed at Auschwitz. Rosalie is made to aid the Nazi officer not only in their home, but in the camp deciding the fate of the lined-up prisoners as fit or unfit for work. Fit prisoners were sent to the factories and farms to work, while the unfit were eliminated.

Then one morning as the prisoners are lined up, she stares into the eyes of the man she fell in love with, Stefan. Rosalie had to endure Weyman’s psychological torments by using her morality, ethics, and compassion for others against her. She knows Stefan has epilepsy and is very weak from hunger but day in and day out she still marks him as fit. Rosalie risks her life to keep him alive.

Readers will be completely invested in both Rosalie’s and Stefan’s stories. They will anxiously be turning the pages to find out what happens to these characters and will they get a happy ending. Anyone who reads one Shari J. Ryan book will automatically want to read the next book.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why write about the Holocaust?

Shari J. Ryan: I had family who survived the Holocaust, my grandmother and great grandmother. The rest of my family did not. This is the reason I have been writing books focused on the Holocaust. The stories resemble people they were associated with or others that experienced similar journeys. The material found is factual with the characters fictional.

EC: How did you get the idea for this story?

SJR: I am focused on those servants who were taken to serve the SS and their families in their homes, outside of Auschwitz. This inspired Rosalie’s story. She was forced by the SS officer Weyman to follow his directions. Stefan’s story was inspired by a disability he had.

EC: This book discusses the cruelty of the Kapos, Jews who served the Nazis?

SJR: Yes, sometimes they were crueler than the Nazis and were motivated by getting more food and other things. They did it for self-survival. I have read books that discuss what it would take for someone to survive and how can they live with themselves after.

EC: The Nazi family members living outside of Auschwitz had to know something?

SJR: Lotte, Weyman’s wife, represented those who played dumb. Anyone in that situation had to know enough and it was a matter of maintaining a façade. What played a big part of my thoughts, ‘how could you not know your husband is doing this?’ In the book Lotte says, “Rank must be determined by the number of innocent lives killed.” She knew and stayed quiet to maintain her own safety, the silent wife. She wanted to preserve a life for her and her children until she could find a way out.

EC: Do you think Rosalie played God? The famous line during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, says who shall live and who shall die will be determined?

SJR: I do think it will haunt her forever. Her motivation was to save people. But know Weyman made her choose who shall live and who shall die. There really were people in Auschwitz who had to do this inhumane decision. Rosalie had to determine who was fit to live and unfit to live.

EC: How would you describe Rosalie?

SJR: She was nicknamed ‘the girl who saves babies,’ because she was a midwife for pregnant women. She is quiet, defiant, sarcastic, impatient, brave, and caring. Once the Nazis took over, she was a slave laborer.

EC: How would you describe Stefan?

SJR: He is Jewish, charming, resourceful, funny, and has epilepsy. Once at Auschwitz he becomes dehydrated, exhausted, hungry, and strives to protect Rosalie. The protectiveness is more of an emotional journey for him and a physical journey for her.

EC: How did religion play within the relationship?

SJR: Rosalie tells him, “I greatly admire the Jewish faith-your pride of culture and tradition, strength and perseverance.” To build on a relationship there must be understanding of both sides. She was not really raised with a strong sense of religion. For her, this was her first taste of a strong faith and what Stefan’s family believed in, and why they believed in it. She was getting a front row view that gave her a sense of belonging since both her parents died.

EC: What about their relationship?

SJR: She feels whoever she loves dies. She feels she failed him repeatedly as she kept him alive. She was going against the grain, fighting for him. She felt she left him vulnerable and had a lot of self-blame. In my mind she blamed herself for her mother’s death, a response to the trauma she saw.

EC: How would you describe the SS officer Weyman?

SJR: He is a killer, cruel, evil, manipulative, uncaring, savage, inhumane, feels power is pride. His attitude was the Jews need to be wiped from the earth.

EC: Was the doctor in the story Mengele?

SJR: Yes, even though I did not mention him by name. He had experimentations, Eugenics, sterilizations, and thought that those with diseases like Stefan’s epilepsy should be killed or sterilized. He was cruel and I did a lot of research on prisoners which I wish I could erase from my brain as I did my research.

EC: Next book?

SJR: It will be Celina’s story who was a servant for a family of an SS officer who was at Auschwitz. She was hiding her Jewish faith and has a loved one. Her story takes place following the days of liberation. She survived after surviving. Her war was not over after liberation. It will be out in August of this year and is titled The Lost Husband.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Star on the Grave by Linda Margolin Royal

Book Description

In 1940, as the Nazis sweep towards Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his government and secretly issues visas to fleeing Jewish refugees. After the war Sugihara is dismissed and disappears into obscurity.

Nearly three decades later, in Australia, Rachel Margol is shocked when her engagement reveals a long-held family secret: she is Jewish. As she grapples with this deception and the dysfunction it has caused, unspoken tragedies from the past begin to come to light. When an opportunity arrives to visit Chiune Sugihara, the man who risked his life to save the Margols during World War II, Rachel becomes determined to meet him. But will a journey to Japan, and the secrets it uncovers, heal the family or fracture them for good?

The Star on the Grave is inspired by the true story of Chiune Sugihara, and the thousands of people who owe him their lives. Sugihara is often referred to as the Japanese Schindler. It is estimated that he saved 6,000 people – the author’s father and grandparents among them, and as many as 500,000 people are alive today because of him.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Star on The Grave by Linda Margolin Royal is a wonderful novel that explains the reasons why Holocaust survivors refused to talk about those horrific days and why some chose to no longer embrace their Jewish heritage, hoping future generations would never know the hatred and anti-Semitism that they had experienced. 

The story begins with Rachel Margol, a twenty-year old nurse in 1968 Sydney who only learns she is Jewish after she becomes engaged to be married to a Greek Orthodox doctor. Her grandmother, Felka, decides to tell Rachel the truth about her heritage. Rachel feels like her whole world has fallen apart and cannot understand why she was not told sooner of her Jewish background. Why was she sent to a Catholic school? Why has she never set foot in a synagogue? After finding out her grandmother is going to attend a reunion in Japan to see Chiune Sugihara, the man who saved her dad and grandmothers’ lives from certain death at the hands of the Nazis, Rachel decides to go with her.

From 1938-1940, Chiune Sugihara was the Vice-Consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania, and he defied his own government’s orders and secretly issued thousands of transit visas to Jewish refugees desperate to flee. Sugihara is often referred to as the Japanese Schindler. It is estimated that he saved 6,000 people including the author’s father and grandparents. Because Sugihara defied the Japanese government and issued the visas anyway, he was dismissed and disappeared into obscurity. At the reunion in Japan, Rachel meets other families who have been saved by Sugihara and learns more about her heritage. Readers take a journey with Rachel as she discovers new strengths within herself. She begins to understand the sufferings her family and others experienced during World War II and why they kept so many 

secrets. This story is very powerful, and the characters are very complex. Readers start to understand the trauma that Jews went through during the Holocaust and can relate the antisemitism that still goes on today.  A bonus is learning about Jewish traditions, ceremonies and rituals.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Linda Margolin Royal: My brother suggested we interview our dad on his 80th birthday. We knew they left Poland, went to Japan, and then came here to Australia. At first, when I heard about Sugihara saving our family from being murdered, I thought I would write it as a screenplay, but someone suggested I write it as a book as well. I gave it a try. I got it published in Australia. And now I have just secured a US publishing deal, and it is now available on Amazon. (https://www.amazon.com/Star-Grave-Linda-Margolin-Royal/dp/B0GRKKLTL2) 

EC: Did you ever get the story from your dad?

LMR: He mentioned how he escaped and was helped by this man, Chinua Sugihara. I looked him up and found out he had saved 6000 Jews in the Holocaust. I found out he was the reason I am alive. I was able to get in touch with his son to tell me what happened. This book is the true story of my family’s escape although I did take some artistic license. I created a character, Rachel, based on me but not fully me. 

EC: What happened to Sugihara?

LMR:  He was found in Moscow in 1968 by a survivor who was living in Israel. He had issued him a visa that helped him survive the Holocaust. Sugihara was told he saved all these people. He was issuing visas but had no idea if anyone would survive. On his return to Japan, he was dismissed by the diplomatic corps, likely due to the fact Japan in WWII was an ally of Germany and he issued visas to 6000 Jews illegally. He had asked three times for permission to do it and each time his government said no but he defied orders.

EC:  How would you describe him?

LMR: He challenged authority. He had a strong moral compass and did what was right. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but he left the entrance exam blank and walked out because he did not want to go into medicine. He enrolled and got a degree in International Studies. He was put in charge of the Manchurian Railway Project but resigned because of the brutality he witnessed inflicted on the Chinese workers by the Japanese. 

EC: How would you describe Rachel’s grandmother, Felka?

LMR:  She was based on my grandmother. Very intelligent, upbeat, positive, bold, brass, and funny. She had a huge presence and adored me and my siblings. She suffered privately, but lived and breathed for us. Both her parents perished in the Holocaust. 

EC:  How would you describe Rachel’s dad, Michael?

LMR: Michael was not based on my father, who was very loving. Michael conceals his own feelings from his family, non-compassionate, callous, uncaring, and avoids talking about the war.  He denies his Jewish faith and makes his family do so as well. He did this because of his trauma. 

EC: Were there any similarities between your dad and the book dad?

LMR:  He had a loving family and a rich life. He was forced to flee Poland as an 11-year-old. 

EC:  How would you describe Rachel?

LMR: A deep thinker, courageous, direct, and lacks order in her life. Motherless, she lost hers when she was nine years old.  Just as I did with mine, Rachel also has a strong bond with her grandmother who is the matriarch of the family. Felka was the rock of my and Rachel’s world. She was our go-to. 

EC: The Japanese seemed to be very complex about the Holocaust?

LMR: There were those who did not want to give visas to the European Jews. Yet, the Jews who did come to Japan did not face antisemitism. They gave them free food, found ingredients to make Matzo.  There was a synagogue there. My father and other survivors said they had a lovely experience in Japan. The Japanese people were welcoming.  About twenty years ago Sugihara became a hero there.

EC: Did Rachel change once she found out she was Jewish?

LMR:  She was brought up atheist. Then she finds out she has this rich heritage with a sense of belonging. This book is a mission for me to teach about the importance of faith. 

EC: What do you want readers to get out of the story?

LMR: Intense generational trauma is at epidemic proportions. Hitler’s work had far-reaching consequences.  It did not stop with the ones murdered but impacted second generation lives. For example, my husband’s father went through Auschwitz, survived, had terrible depression, and suicided when my husband was sixteen.  This severely impacted my husband and his parenting. 

Another point I wanted to make was that some people I met were brought up not Jewish only to realize in their late teens that their parents concealed they were Jewish in fear of persecution.

EC:  Do you think the story has connections with what is going on today?

LMR:  The book went to print the week of October 7th when 1200 Israelis were brutally murdered by Hamas. None of us could have imagined the antisemitism that followed all over the world, particularly in Australia. Here we have the largest population of Holocaust survivors other than Israel. No one ever thought anything could happen out here like the killing of Jews and then the Bondi Beach massacre happened during Hanukkah 2025. 

I have this quote in the book, “Fear of being singled out as a Jew, of being hated and persecuted…people judge us. People hate us without reason.” This is happening today. I think about what is happening when I wrote this, pre-October 7th. What it means for me to be Jewish is the constant fear of persecution and being wiped off this planet but with the desire for my people to stay on it. We have been threatened with extermination and elimination from this world for thousands of years and have prevailed. In some gentiles there is this festering seed of antisemitism and given the right circumstances it rises to the top and bubbles over in all its horrific glory. So, when October 7th and the aftermath happened there were those who accused Israel of committing genocide and ignored what really took place.  Then the Bondi Beach massacre happened even though Jews have been warning the government and the police for two years. There were attacks on synagogues and then what follows is attacks on Jews. We asked for 10 to 15 police at this event and were given three fairly untrained to deal with such brutality. 

EC: Why the quote about the tattoos done by the Germans on the Jewish people?

LMR: You are referring to the quote, “They stripped away the identity. The numbers are for identification.” When people refer to numbers like 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust or 1200 people died on October 7th or 3000 people died on 9/11 that strips away people’s identity. Numbers – whether the tattooed numbers or the statistics strip away people’s faces and dehumanize them.  This is why the posters of individual people on October 7th were so important. Statistics need to be personalized.  6 million cannot even be comprehended. When I do talks, I personalize by saying how “my father and Anne Frank were born weeks apart in 1929. My father died of natural causes at the age of 87 in Sydney Australia because one person with a moral conscious saved his life, while Anne was stripped of her life at the age of fifteen in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. 

EC: Next book?

LMR: It is a prequel. The backstory 1939-41. It touches on Rachel’s grandmother, Felka as a young woman arriving to Australia in 1941 and settling in Bondi Beach, a meeting place for the Jewish people. (deleted a sentence) Most, like her, are (deleted a sentence) refugees who found the beach provided comfort, safety and a place to gather and belong with their own. The whole last act of my prequel is the family, having escaped the Holocaust in 1940, settling there with Felka, (the grandmother from the first book in 1968) spreading her arms in the ocean saying, ‘this feels like freedom.’ The settings go from Warsaw, to Japan, to Australia, following the family’s flight. I am also considering writing a sequel book following Rachel’s journey in her future. 

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Mists over the Channel Islands by Sarah Sundin

Book Description

The German invasion of the British Channel Islands shatters Dr. Ivy Picot’s peaceful world, forcing her to shoulder the weight of her father’s medical practice and hold together a family unraveling under the strain of war. As conditions worsen in Jersey with the arrival of thousands of forced laborers, Ivy’s quiet allegiance to the Allies compels her to risk everything by providing medical aid to escaped workers–even as danger closes in.

Dutch engineer and resistance member Gerrit van der Zee volunteers to build fortifications for the Germans so he can secretly send maps and diagrams to the Allies. On his arrival in the Channel Islands, he crosses paths with Ivy, who shows him contempt for the uniform he wears. As tensions mount and their missions grow increasingly dangerous, Ivy and Gerrit must confront the cost of courage, the meaning of sacrifice, and whether love can survive in the shadow of war. Will their covert efforts turn the tide–or will they pay the ultimate price for defiance?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Mists over the Channel Islands by Sarah Sundin is another riveting story. All her books seem to educate the readers while presenting a compelling story, relatable heroes in both Ivy and Gerrit and incredibly memorable multifaceted characters. There is danger, suspense, a sweet love story, and family conflicts.

The book opens with the German invasion of the Channel Islands. The female lead, Ivy Picot, has her father leaving the family’s medical practice to serve as a medic on the Allied front lines. Now Ivy along with her older sister, Fern, and younger brother Charlie must manage the practice.

As conditions worsen in Jersey with the arrival of thousands of forced laborers, Ivy’s quiet allegiance to the Allies compels her to risk everything by providing medical aid to escaped workers. She meets Dutch engineer and resistance member Gerrit van der Zee and his friend Bernardus Kroon. They volunteered to build fortifications for the Germans so they can secretly send maps and diagrams to the Allies. But Ivy wants nothing to do with him and shows him
contempt for the German uniform he wears.

Charlie is aligned with Ivy on her views of the Germans and realizes that Gerrit and Bernardus are in the resistance. He volunteers to help them and becomes part of the resistance. The one sibling who readers will grow to hate is Fern. She was a terrible sister and awful person, blaming others, and never taking responsibility. Plus, she aligned herself with the Germans, working for them and having an affair with a German officer.

The tension increases as the dangers increase for Ivy, Gerrit, Charlie, and Bernardus. Readers will not want to put the book down because this story is a page turner.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Sarah Sundin: I have always been interested in the English Islands, which were occupied by the Germans. I looked at Jersey and read about the physicians who took care of the escaped forced laborers. A lot of the men who fought as young men in WWI fought as older men in WWII. The main character’s father was a physician, and fought even though he was a little older.

EC: Jersey folk versus English folk?

SS: There are four Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, each with their own unique status. They are not part of the United Kingdom, and are not English, but are a part of Great Britian.  They depend on them for military protection, but they have their own laws, police, government, postage stamps, and currency. They have Norman roots but have a lot of British culture.

EC: Did you show how they Germans tried to exploit the difference?

SS: Yes. There was some resentment between the natives and the English there.  The Germans deported those who were born in Mainland England and sent them to internment camps. One of the reasons the Germans did it was to drive a wedge between the locals and the English people. It totally backfired. The people of Jersey were upset.

EC: In the story, Ivy and Gerrit seem to struggle with their beliefs. Do you agree?

SS: The quote, ‘the Nazis are specialized in cruelty and erasing the goodness for the Island.  Why did God do nothing to stop them?’ It’s the old saying, ‘if God is good why do bad things happen?’ Ivy especially struggles with it but realizes God does not want people to be robots and should make choices.

EC:  How would you describe Ivy?

SS: She is intuitive, caring, and compassionate.  She has quiet strength and courage. Being a doctor, she faces criticism and must deal with being a woman in a man’s world. Sometimes she can see things others don’t.

EC: How would you describe Bernardus?

SS: He is the friend of Gerrit.  He is smart, driven, a little bit reckless. He wants to get things done.

EC:  What about Gerrit?

SS: He is cautious to a fault, wants to do the right thing, thoughtful, and gentle. He has an engineer’s mind and sees the world in black and white.

EC: How would you describe Charlie?

SS:  He was my favorite character and at some point, stole the story. He is bright, curious, courageous, impetuous, selfless, charming, perceptive, favors and respects Ivy over his other sister.

EC: How would you describe Fern, the older sister?

SS: A charming narcissist. She is bitter, jealous, disloyal, a betrayer, controlling, bullying, mean, efficient, clever, and enjoyed Ivy’s dependence on her. She twists people’s words.  She sees herself as the heroine, not as the villainess she is. She will never admit her wrong doings.

EC: What about the relationship between Gerrit and Ivy?

SS: I think it was an enemy to lover’s story that got off to a rough spot. Ivy’s perspective was he wore the German uniform and would not trust him. He is in the resistance but cannot tell her that.  For him, it is a forbidden love. He cannot tell her because he would put himself, Charlie, Bernadus, and herself in danger. In the end they became affectionate toward each other.

EC: Do you think the Germans were harsh to the Islanders?

SS: They would not allow people to draw outside. They regulated the water intake, had curfews, and took political prisoners.  The Germans cut off Jersey from Britian who provided supplies, coal, and medicine. Now they had to buy from France but do not have trade patterns with them. This was a cruelty of war itself.

EC: Next books?

SS: A Christmas novella coming out in September, titled Twelve Days and Twelfth Night. It is set in San Diego with a USO show.  The USO director must put on a show for the sailors. She recruits a Hollywood heartthrob has been, who has severe burns. It is fun and lighthearted.

My next novel comes out in February, set in France. The plot has those living in the mountains of France rescuing 3000 Jewish children during the war. Almost every home in that village rescued at least one person.

THANK YOU!!

***

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.