THE PLUM TREE took me around six years to write. I used to write as a hobby and had started a few other novels, but one day I just knew I had to write about my mother’s experiences growing up in Germany during WWII because I’ve been inside the bomb shelter where she hid in as a child and I grew up hearing stories about what it was like for her and her family during the war. Despite barely having enough to feed her children, my Oma put food out under the cover of night for the Jewish prisoners who were marched by her house every day, as did many of the other women in the village. She also hid her short-band radio to listen to foreign radio broadcasts instead of listening to the Nazi controlled radio. Both of those acts were crimes punishable by death. My Opa was drafted, sent to the Russian front, captured, and sent to a POW camp in Siberia. Eventually, he escaped, but my Oma didn’t know if he was dead or alive for two years until he showed up on their doorstep one day. Those are just some of my family’s stories included in THE PLUM TREE.
When I finished the manuscript, I knew I need an agent if I wanted to get it traditionally published, which is extremely difficult because agents don’t make money unless they can sell your book. I sent out seventy-two query letters over a period of two years and was about to give up before I decided to try one more time. The seventy-third letter is the one that got my agent, who sold the book to Kensington publishing in three weeks.
Wow, I’m sorry I haven’t read The Plum Tree yet, but it’s next on my list. What an amazing grandmother you had.
Once again, I’m astonished when I hear that authors have persisted to the point that their books actually get published. There’s the writing - which takes a lot of dedication - but then there’s the effort you have to go through to get someone to read & accept it. I’m sure I speak for all of us here when I say thank you for hanging in there! Not only is your writing entertaining, but it’s informative and important.
Were you employed when you started your first book? How old were your kids at the time your first novel got published? And are you at the point in your writing career where you can devote yourself to your craft, or do you still need to have a side gig?
I really enjoyed writing THE PLUM TREE because I wasn’t on a deadline. But THE LIFE SHE WAS GIVEN was fun to write because I always wanted to write a story similar to FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC and it was fun learning and writing about a circus sideshow. It’s really hard to pick which of my novels was the most challenging because they all seemed really difficult at the time, especially because there was so much research involved. As far as choosing the one I’m most proud of, that’s hard too because the topics I write about always seem to open people’s eyes to little known historical injustices. At the same time, I get many stories from people who’ve had experience with those injustices, either on their own or through relatives. Just last night at a signing, a woman thanked me for talking about Catholic orphanages in THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR because she grew up in one. But if I had to pick the novel that made me the proudest, I’d have to say THE PLUM TREE because other Germans who lived through the war have thanked me for telling their story. And it’s made so many others realize that being German at that time did not make you a Nazi. As a matter of fact, at the peak of the Nazi party, only 10% of the German population were members of the Nazi party.
I was working part-time as a bookkeeper at my husband’s family business, not my favorite job ever. My children were 28 and 26 when THE PLUM TREE was published. Luckily I don’t need a side-gig right now, but I’m very busy and involved with my six grandkids! I babysit the 20 month-old twins and the five year old once or twice a week.
Yes, they’re all stand alones. If readers are interested in WWII, which I realize some are not, I’d say start with THE PLUM TREE. Otherwise, WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND seems to be a favorite. It’s based on Willard State Asylum and the 425 suitcases left behind by the patients who checked into the institution but never checked out.
It sounds like you are very involved with supporting your family. Who supports you? Have you ever been part of a writing group, or are you friends with other authors who offer encouragement, or is it your family you turn to when your writing hits a roadblock? Or do you just go it alone?
How involved do you get in the creation of the audio versions of your novels? I “read” The Lies They Told in audiobook format and thought the narrator, Elisabeth Rodgers, was superb.
It’s loosely based on Elan, which was one of the first troubled teen schools in the U.S. I think readers will be shocked by what happened there. Sadly, it’s still happening today because those types of schools are unregulated.
I’ve never been part of a writing group, and because I live in a very rural part of NYS, I don’t know any local traditionally published authors. Luckily, I get a lot of support from my writer friends online! Sometimes I run ideas by my husband, but for the most part I go it alone. The first person to read my manuscripts is my agent, who always has great feedback.
I haven’t been involved in that at all with previous books, but they did ask me to okay Elisabeth Rodgers for THE LIES THEY TOLD. No screenplays in the works yet. Fingers crossed it will happen someday!
But THE LIFE SHE WAS GIVEN was fun to write because I always wanted to write a story similar to FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC and it was fun learning and writing about a circus sideshow. It’s really hard to pick which of my novels was the most challenging because they all seemed really difficult at the time, especially because there was so much research involved. As far as choosing the one I’m most proud of, that’s hard too because the topics I write about always seem to open people’s eyes to little known historical injustices. At the same time, I get many stories from people who’ve had experience with those injustices, either on their own or through relatives. Just last night at a signing, a woman thanked me for talking about Catholic orphanages in THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR because she grew up in one. But if I had to pick the novel that made me the proudest, I’d have to say THE PLUM TREE because other Germans who lived through the war have thanked me for telling their story. And it’s made so many others realize that being German at that time did not make you a Nazi. As a matter of fact, at the peak of the Nazi party, only 10% of the German population were members of the Nazi party.
My children were 28 and 26 when THE PLUM TREE was published. Luckily I don’t need a side-gig right now, but I’m very busy and involved with my six grandkids! I babysit the 20 month-old twins and the five year old once or twice a week.