 
The Plum Tree
by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Fiction / 367 pages / Paperback
Kensington / December, 2012 Dear Reader, My mother grew up in Nazi Germany, the eldest of five children in a poor, working class family. When World War II broke out, my Opa (grandfather) was drafted and sent to the Russian front, where he was captured and imprisoned in a POW camp. Eventually, he escaped, but for two years, my Oma had no idea if he was dead or alive until he showed up on their doorstep one day. During the four years Opa was gone, Oma put food out for passing Jewish prisoners and listened to illegal foreign radio broadcasts -- both crimes punishable by death. My family's stories of life during the war -- tales of poverty, hunger, bombings, and constant fear -- were the inspiration behind The Plum Tree. Told from one of the best vantage points for witnessing the first cruelties and final ruin of the Third Reich -- the German  home front -- my novel follows a young German woman through the chaos of WWII as she tries to save the love of her life, a Jewish man. I hope you enjoy The Plum Tree -- a fictional tale of courage and resolve, of the inhumanity of war, and the heartbreak and hope left in its wake. Thank you! All the best, Ellen ELLEN MARIE WISEMAN IS GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES OF THE PLUM TREE. ENTER TO WIN A COPY.
About The Plum Tree:
"Bloom where you're planted," is the advice Christine Bolz receives from her beloved Oma. But seventeen-year-old domestic Christine knows there is a whole world waiting beyond her small German village. It's a world she's begun to glimpse through music, books -- and through Isaac Bauerman, the cultured son of the wealthy Jewish family she works for.
Yet the future she and Isaac dream of sharing faces greater challenges than their difference in stations. In the fall of 1938, Germany is changing rapidly under Hitler's regime. Anti-Jewish posters are everywhere, dissenting talk is silenced, and a new law forbids Christine from returning to her job -- and from having any relationship with Isaac. In the months and years that follow, Christine will confront the Gestapo's wrath and the horrors of Dachau, desperate to be with the man she loves, to survive -- and finally, to speak out.
Reviews of The Plum Tree: "Stories of WWII rarely look at the lives of the average German; Wiseman eschews the genre's usual military conflicts in favor of the slow, inexorable pressure of daily life during wartime, lending an intimate and compelling poignancy to this intriguing debut." -Publisher's Weekly
"This is an extraordinary debut novel in which the author's childhood trips visiting family in Germany impart a heartbreaking realism. Ultimately a story of human survival and enduring love despite insurmountable odds, it's an original and important addition to the World War II canon." -RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!
"The meticulous hand-crafted detail and emotional intensity of The Plum Tree immersed me in Germany during its darkest hours and the ordeals its citizens had to face. A must-read for WW2 fiction aficionados -- and any reader who loves a transporting story." -Jenna Blum, NYT bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and one of Oprah's Top 30 Women Writers
To learn more, visit Ellen Marie Wiseman's website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Ellen Marie Wiseman is available to speak to your book club by phone, Skype, or in person. Contact Ellen to arrange a discussion. |
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