Across A Starlit Sky follows a young pianist in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam who risks everything for a Jewish family and a forbidden love. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I read The Diary of Anne Frank many, many years ago. More recently, I became aware of the amazing loyalty and support of Otto Frank’s employees, particularly Miep Gies, his secretary, who kept the family and others hidden. While memoirs and other works of non-fiction describe the occupation of Amsterdam and the onderduiken, my research revealed a lacuna in fiction. Many of the most popular WW2 novels take place in France (Kristin Harmel, Pam Jenoff, and others), while fewer stories unfold in the Netherlands.

The Portugal timeline was a bold structural choice alongside a WWII story. When did you know Amelia’s story needed to be part of this novel — and what did she give Mirjam’s story that a single timeline couldn’t?

If I am honest, the story was inspired by a vacation in Portugal, rather than Amsterdam. I visited Belmonte and learned about the 500-year history of the Jewish community and the conversos. Then I visited Coimbra, the university, and the Fonte dos Amores, where I learned the story of Pedro and Ines. This planted the seed of forbidden love in my mind as a central theme. I also learned that the Esnoga in Amsterdam was a copy of the synagogue in Lisbon, destroyed by an earthquake in 1755. The Esnoga was built by Jews who escaped the Inquisition to the Netherlands. These connections and more sparked in my mind the idea of the dual-timeline story. Amelia’s story began to take shape before Mirjam’s, but very quickly, I saw how the two stories and timelines could be woven together under the common denominators of persecution, love, and survival. Amelia’s forbidden love affair opened the door to a similar storyline for Mirjam. The descriptions of the secret converso lifestyle helped to plant the seeds of speculation about Mirjam’s ancestry, and Amelia’s interest in the stars enabled a thematic thread to wind its way across the centuries and link them.

The book is deeply interested in hidden identity — faith kept secret across generations, names and histories buried for survival. What drew you to that particular form of inheritance and concealment?

The Story of Esther is familiar to most Jews. She is the arch-heroine, the hidden Jew, the savior of her people. I was particularly satisfied by the way I was able to enmesh her in the story. Jews have been forced to conceal their identity throughout various eras of history where being visibly Jewish meant risking livelihood, freedom, or life. As Mrs. Meijer tells Mirjam, “Unfortunately, in almost every generation a Haman rises up and tries to oppress us.”

Even in modern times, secret Jews continued to hide their identity. Practicing Judaism openly in Spain continued to be illegal until 1967, when the Spanish government granted non-Catholics the right of public worship. The Alhambra Edict of 1492 was only revoked in 1968. For generations in Russia and the former Soviet Union, Jews actively hid their identity to avoid intense state-sponsored antisemitism, discrimination in higher education, and restricted career opportunities.

In WW2, the Nazis did not offer their victims the opportunity to convert to save themselves. Some who survived, however, did so by procuring false documents, sending children to convents, or even hiding in plain sight. The Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitors were willing to spare heretics who converted to Christianity. Many Jews died or fled rather than betray their faith. Others continued the traditions in secret in order to survive without giving up their beliefs.

While hidden identity is a common theme in the two timelines, it is not exclusive to these two eras.

Despite the heavy historical material, the novel remains deeply interested in tenderness, rescue, and human connection. Why was that emotional openness important to you?

In essence, the story is an historical romance, the tale of star-crossed lovers, against the background of fear and unspeakable danger. I wanted to show that despite all the horrors going on around them, there was still the opportunity for love to reign supreme, for a happy ending. In the darkest of times, hope, warmth, friendship, and generosity of spirit can triumph.

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