Victoria’s War: A Novel

Description

Inspired by events lost in World War II history, Victoria’s War by Catherine A. Hamilton gives voice to the courageous Polish women kidnapped into real-life slave labor operation during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The historical fiction novel tells the story of Polish teenager Victoria Darski, who was sold into slavery during the Nazi occupation of Europe, and the deaf daughter of the German baker who bought Victoria.

“Lagodny, Poland—September 1, 1939 — RADIO changed Victoria Darski’s world. It brought swing jazz and blues into her living room. And on the first of September, when she sat on the high-backed sofa and reached for the brass knob on the cabinet radio, it brought news of war.” In Victoria’s War, the lives of two young women intertwine when Victoria Darski, Polish and Catholic, is bought by the German Tod family and held in their bakery attic—the same place where Etta Tod, deaf and mute, hides her anti-Nazi paintings.

Victoria’s War is the debut novel from author Catherine A. Hamilton, who actively publishes and blogs at www.catherineahamilton.com. Of Polish descent, Hamilton has articles and poems published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Oregonian, the Catholic Sentinel, the Dziennik Związkowy, and the Polish American Journal. She authored the chapter about Katherine Graczyk in Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation, edited by Richard C. Lukas. She is available for public events and book club interaction.

“A searing reminder of the many lesser-known World War II stories that still need to be told.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] page-turning tour de force of historical fiction…”—Krysia Jopek, author of Maps and Shadows

“[A] riveting debut….of one Polish woman’s plight and her unlikely friendship with the deaf-mute daughter of her captors….I could not put it down.” —Brigid Pasulka, winner of the 2010 PEN/Hemingway Award for A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True

“Some stories that need to be told are never told. They languish in a limbo of forgotten stories that should never have been forgotten. Hamilton’s Victoria’s War resurrects one of these stories. In language intimate and natural and yet touched by the poetry of truth, Hamilton tells the story of a young girl who is the victim of war. Too often, we think only of the men who go to war and do heroic things. We forget the other victims and heroes of war, the women like Victoria in this brilliant novel.” —John Guzlowski, author of the award-winning Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded

“In Victoria’s War we follow the life of one Polish woman caught in the machinations of a war that has no pity.…Inspired by the life of a real woman subjected to Hitler’s forced labor program, Victoria’s War reveals the hatred and fanaticism against Poles in Nazi Germany and the specific vulnerabilities of women that made their lives a living hell. Hamilton’s story about a largely ignored aspect of women’s history is emotionally evocative and rich in detail.”
—Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, author of Wearing the Letter “P”: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939–1945

“Victoria’s War is a compelling story of a young Polish woman trapped in the vise of the German invasion of Poland at the opening salvo of World War II. Written in an engaging literary style that captures the textures of Polish life, Catherine Hamilton’s gripping novel is a must read!” —Dr. Richard C. Lukas, author of Did the Children Cry?: Hitler’s War against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939–1945 and editor of Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation

Copies of Victoria’s War, paperback (ISBN: 9781632100689) or ebook (ISBN: 9781632100696), can be purchased through Amazon, retail bookstores, or ordered in quantity from Plain View Press.