Stone Mother follows a young girl in post-WWII Germany who initially is unaware of the horrors her family and country have committed, and when she discovers the truth must find a way to heal. What was the inspiration for your story?

First, a quick clarification: Marie, my protagonist, is indeed unaware of the horrors her countrymen committed. However, the “horrors” within the family are not linked to the Nazis. They reflect private digressions, though the argument could be made that abuse in the family is a crime against a fellow human being and thus a Nazi-like behavior; the Nazis’ mechanization of killing and the vast scope of their brutality, however, remains unique.

What was the inspiration? My own complicated life experience and that of my friends and classmates. My generation was kept in the dark about Germany’s recent past. We sensed “the uncanny” but could not grasp it. And, once enlightened, we had to struggle with a terrible history we had not participated in yet had to carry as a burden from that point forward.

What was your writing process to ensure you captured the essence of the characters?

That is a challenging question. The process of “creating” and/or “re-creating” characters is very complex and not always under the control of the author. Simply put, I wanted my characters to be fully alive and assigned them certain “roles” within the overall arc of the story. And yet, some characters took on a life of their own and “wrote their own story” rather than conforming to a preconceived script. That happened with the character of Monsieur de Remarque, for example. I took the memory of my sister’s classmate’s crush on a young French teacher (with whom I had never spoken) as an inspiration and gave him the vital role of a rescuer. I guess what I am saying is characters may reflect or be inspired by real-life people but are totally transformed during the creative process—especially when the author is what I call “in the zone.”

What do you think were some of the defining moments in Marie’s development?

There are many defining moments. First and foremost, the move from—i.e., separation from—her beloved castle and the sudden “absence of her beloved father.” Both events coincide. That is a terrible blow for 7-year-old Marie. She is assured that her father should get better in the sanatorium before too long, but in reality, his ‘recovery’ will take two long years.

The next defining moment is Marie’s experience of the “children’s home,” which pushes her into the lowest and most despised stratum of society—perhaps comparable to the experience of a black child during Jim Crow, or possibly a child wearing the yellow star of David under the Nazis, though Marie’s “enslavement” lasts only from Easter to Christmas. Mama does finally rescue Marie and her sister from that societal abuse, but not with enthusiasm. The children’s home experience also becomes the seed for Marie’s distrust of “institutions” in general, such as the church.

On the more positive side. Sophie’s entry into Marie’s life after her father’s return is another defining moment, this time a heartwarming experience that provides Marie with friendship and support under the care of Sophie’s mother who becomes the family’s housekeeper following Mama’s emigration to Canada.

Another defining moment is Marie’s visit to Canada where she experiences cultural shock and is forced to endure harsh conditions on the Alaska Highway. I won’t elaborate any further; readers will discover that passage of Marie’s life on their own.

The most decisive experience for Marie and her peers happens during a seminar organized by her prep school, when they learn the full extent of Nazi brutality and killings. Marie and her friends intuitively understand that it will take a lifetime of trying to come to terms with that reality.

That horrific clash with reality is also the first chapter I wrote decades ago. If you will, it is the driving force behind the entire novel though not the only one. Marie and her friends must from that point forward struggle with their faith: how could God allow this to happen? And they must struggle with the knowledge that “their own people” committed such an outrage. Young people of other nations who learn of the holocaust (that word did not exist when Marie grew up) can point to “others,” to “the Nazis,” and to “the Germans” who perpetrated such evil. Marie’s generation cannot. How would that feel to a young American?

What is the next book that you’re working on and when can your fans expect it out?

The next book is on the drawing board and slowly coming to life in individual scenes and chapters but will need much loving care before it can see the light of readers’ eyes. It is, in many ways, a sequel to Stone Mother. This time, Marie arrives in the  United States as a twenty-year-old, a student on an Ivy league campus who settles into and tries to decipher this country with the eyes and mind of a  newcomer. Wait until you read Marie’s observation on her first football game! She might as well have come from Mars. 

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