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Rituals and Prayers
Under Two Flags follows a young Jewish woman who leaves Boston for Berlin in search of an amazing new life, but instead finds herself in the throes of World War I. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
I discovered Josephine Marzynski’s memoir, With Old Glory in Berlin, when my brother showed up on my doorstep with an original 1918 edition he’d pulled from his bookshelf, and tucked alongside copies of our grandfather’s novels. Although Josephine’s name graced the cover, the foreword was written by the book’s editor, Eliot H. Robinson, our grandfather. As I read the book, it became clear he had done far more than edit. The voice, cadence, and style mirrored his fiction so closely that I surmised he had essentially ghostwritten the memoir.
Josephine’s voice — literally her singing voice — functions as both passion and protection. What does opera represent to you in this story?
Whenever Josephine dared to use her voice, on and off the stage, she spoke and sang of her passions. The arias I chose to include in different scenes underscored the tension and emotional responses of the characters. Josephine found her solace in the beauty of those arias. I sprinkled them in to give her comfort during dark times. For example, I had Josephine sing “Habanera” from CARMEN during her first class at the conservatory in Berlin. The aria is written for a mezzo-soprano, which was within Josephine’s range as a confident and strong woman. Within the libretto, the words mirror Josephine, “Love is a rebellious bird – that none can tame.” Her rebellious nature shines through even with the choice itself. She sings Bizet’s opera in its original French, a language forbidden in Germany at that time during the war.
Were there moments in your research that surprised you or changed the direction of the novel?
After reading Josephine’s memoir, With Old Glory in Berlin, I was struck by what Josephine didn’t include, namely, any reference to her faith. In my research, I discovered she identified as a Jewish woman. Whether she felt it wasn’t relevant or chose to omit it amid the growing undercurrents of antisemitism in 1918, we can’t know. But I found that silence fascinating. In moments of fear and homesickness, people often reach for the rituals and prayers of their faith to anchor them. It felt authentic that she would have done the same, so I wove those quiet expressions of faith into the story to deepen her emotional landscape and sense of identity.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
Although I can’t reveal too many details because I’m deep into the research phase, I can share that a hint of the historical event I’ll be writing about is alluded to in Under Two Flags. It’s also set during World War I, alternating between Boston and a foreign city. The expected release date is December 2, 2027. The date is significant in Boston.
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In October 1916, eighteen-year-old Josephine Therese Marzynski leaves Boston for Berlin to pursue her dream of studying opera at Germany’s most prestigious music conservatory. Living with family friends and immersing herself in German culture, she finds unexpected beauty and friendship in the heart of enemy territory.
But when America enters the Great War in April 1917, Josephine’s world transforms overnight-from welcomed student to enemy of the state. Trapped in Berlin as rationing tightens and suspicion mounts, Josephine must navigate daily police check-ins, bureaucratic interrogations, and the constant threat of internment. Her survival depends on German friends who risk their own safety to protect her, while she struggles with divided loyalties between her American identity and the people who have become her chosen family.
Based on the true story from Josephine’s memoir and set against the backdrop of a city slowly starving under the weight of war, Under Two Flags is a gripping tale of resilience, moral complexity, and the transformative power of music in humanity’s darkest hours. As Josephine fights to secure passage home, she confronts impossible choices that will test everything she believes about loyalty, survival, and the true meaning of patriotism.
Under Two Flags: A Novel of World War I
Under Two Flags by Janis Robinson Daly is historical fiction that reads like a staged memoir: Josephine Therese Marzynski, a young Jewish woman from Boston, goes to Berlin in late 1916 to study opera, only to find herself living inside the tightening grip of World War I, where suspicion, rationing, propaganda, and fear seep into everyday life. The book opens in 1918 with Josephine back in Boston, preparing to tell her story with the help of a publisher, framing everything that follows as a deliberate act of witness and persuasion.
What grabbed me first was how Daly builds Josephine’s inner life through concrete moments instead of speeches. The arrival sequence is a gut check. We watch Josephine get inspected like a threat, even while she’s carrying “harmless sheet music,” and we feel the private defiance of her sewing an American flag into her skirt and later hiding it in her pillowcase. The writing leans into bodily details, the hot embarrassment, the cold air, the nervous calculation of what to say and what to swallow. It makes the big theme of “patriotism” feel small and personal, like something you tuck into a hem and hope no one notices.
I also liked the author’s structural choice to treat the novel like an opera in itself, with an Overture, Acts, Scenes, and even musical notations sprinkled in. It could have felt gimmicky, but for me it mostly works because it matches Josephine’s mind. She hears life in cues and crescendos, and she uses performance as survival. There’s even room for humor when it fits, like the bitter, half-laughing talk among women who are stuck eating carrots over and over, trying to make scarcity feel normal for one more day. Those lighter beats do not erase the dread. They just make the dread more believable, because that’s how people cope.
What stayed with me after I closed it was the tension baked into the title. Josephine is always balancing, not just between nations, but between versions of herself: dutiful daughter, ambitious musician, “good girl” who knows when to wink and when to keep quiet. The book is also honest about how identity can be both shelter and target. She’s American, she’s Jewish, she has German roots, and none of those labels stay simple once the war machine starts deciding who gets to be “safe.” I appreciated the grounding too: Daly is upfront that this is fiction inspired by real events and tied to a memoir (With Old Glory in Berlin) connected to her own family, which adds a quiet sense of responsibility to the storytelling.
If you enjoy historical fiction, especially stories that zoom in on one woman’s day-to-day choices inside a huge world event, this one is worth your time. I’d recommend it most to readers who like war-era settings without wanting only battlefield scenes, and to anyone curious about the intersection of art and survival, like how a voice trained for opera can double as armor. If you want an immersive, human-scale WWI novel with music in its bones, you’ll heartily enjoy Under Two Flags.
Pages: 290 | ISBN : 978-1685137328
Global History and Politics
Jigsaw: Sonora follows a group of ideological extremists who travel back in time to WWI to alter history, and a group of temporal guardians must stop them before their plan unfolds. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Excellent question. Most of the attention given to World War I seems to center on what happened on the Western and Eastern Fronts in Europe. Outside of the Zimmerman Telegram, little attention is given to the efforts to keep the United States out of the war or keep many of their military assets occupied on the Southern Border. This book touches on that as well as the origins of the Influenza virus in that period and the attack on Wall Street, where a real one did take place in 1920.
What intrigues you about this time period enough to write such a thrilling novel in this era?
This time period influenced global history and politics for the next century, from World War II to the Cold War, to the growth of the United States’ influence, to the advance of the modern welfare state and labor movement, to the creation of modern nations and nationalist movements that are still with us today.
What was your favorite scene in this story?
The climax on the Zepplein Sonora. I do not want to spoil the climax for readers, so I will leave it there.
Can you tell us where the book goes and where we’ll see the characters in the next book?
Yes. The next book, Jigsaw: Shadow Ball is already out where our Time Traveling heroes have to save the creation of the Negro Leagues in the 1920’s and the integration of Major League Baseball in the 1940’s with Larry Doby and the Cleveland Indians. That adventure will be followed in 2026 with Jigsaw: Temporal Apocalypse, where our heroes have to stop the ultimate attempt to change reality in the post-World War I Era by disrupting events in Italy/Yugoslavia over Fiume and the Russian/Polish War.
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Renegade Novus Ordo operatives have formed Global Harmony and have launched Project Sonora, a plan to draw the United States out of World War One, start a continental war in the Americas, and unleash a genetically coded pathogen that would cause population segments to fall to the Influenza Virus.
The Temporal Guardians, led by Francesca and Noah must stop Global Harmony before the Forces of Evil can change history and destroy reality.
Educate Readers
Jigsaw: Powder Keg flips between timelines, ancient Persia, WWI and WWII Europe, post-Holocaust Italy, 1950s Alabama, and even Victorian England, while weaving together a massive, complex tale of shadowy global conspiracies, time travel, and supernatural battles. What was the inspiration that created the fantastic journey these characters go on?
I wanted to write a book that especially focused on the events leading up to Pre World War One not normally dealt with in great detail in general high school history textbooks. Jigsaw Powder Keg, like all my books, is designed to appeal to and educate readers from mature middle school level on up. The other historical and religious/mythological events covered in the book like those in Ancient Persia, Post Holocaust Italy, and 1950’s Alabama are also not regularly known and I wanted readers to be aware as well as see our major characters in action. The scene with the time-traveling dog, Nicki, uncovering the identity of Jack the Ripper, was kind of a back in pilot to my Adventures of Moly: Time Traveling Dog series.
I felt that the action scenes were expertly crafted. I find that this is an area that can be overdone in novels. How did you approach this subject to make sure it flowed evenly?
Great question. I generally outline the chapters and map the action sequences out before writing the first draft. For me, dialog is also a great mover of the action. I am also greatly aided by a very good line editor, Natalie Bavar, who is a great partner in smoothing out and polishing these scenes.
Did you find anything in your research of this story that surprised you?
That the photographer, Gordon Parks, who was being persecuted in 1950’s Alabama was not widely known. I actually found out about him while doing a reading activity with second graders in the elementary school where I am an Instructional Assistant and I thought after reading about him that this would make a great scene in the book with the Antonia and Rene characters.
Another area that kind of surprised me was that the Italian-Libyan War revealed to other powers at the time that the Ottoman Empire was truly “The Sick Man of Europe” and Italy’s defeat of it motivated other powers like Serbia to take advantage of that situation in the resulting Balkan Wars which also led to World War One.
Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Temporal Guardian Foundation and the direction of the next book?
The next two books in this story arc are out. The first is Jigsaw Sonora which deals with our time-traveling heroes thwarting an attempt by Global Harmony to take the United States out of World War One by staging a border war, an attack on Wall Street, and a Zeppelin bombing raid over Tucson with a bioweapon. The second, Jigsaw Shadow Ball deals with the Guardians saving the creation of The Negro Leagues and the integration of Major League Baseball with Larry Doby and the Cleveland Indians. The final book in this arc, Jigsaw: Temporal Apocalypse is coming out in 2026 and will deal with the end of World War One in Bulgaria and the post-war conflicts and incidents in Russia/Poland and Fiume.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Novus Ordo has not given up on its Mission to Shape Reality In its Neo-Fascist Image
Working with the Novus Ordo organization from the beginning of the Twentieth Century, they have launched Operation Powder Keg, an attempt to steer the course of World War One to their benefit.
But they did not factor in the involvement of Ahriman, the Devil who sees this as an opportunity to finally remake the world in his image.
They also did not consider the intervention of Francesca, Mariah, Noah, Bonomi, and other members of the newly formed Temporal Guardian Foundation.
Now the heroes from the Jigsaw Universe must race across 1903 Serbia, 1911 Italy, 1913 Macedonia, 1914 Sarajevo, and the Ancient Middle East to stop the plans of Novus Ordo and the Devil…
And save existence.
Poetic Justice
In the dwindling twilight of Roman dominion, Poetic Justice by Fiona Forsyth transports readers to Tomis, a remote outpost at the Empire’s edge, where the esteemed poet Ovid finds himself in exile. Initially dismissive of the locals as mere barbarians, Ovid’s attention swiftly shifts to a more sinister matter: a series of ritualistic murders, eerily escalating from animal to human sacrifices. As the macabre acts begin to mirror the unsettling themes of Ovid’s own verses, he forms an unlikely partnership with Marcus Avitius, the Governor’s advisor, in a bid to unravel the mystery. Together, they delve into the dark underbelly of Tomis, seeking to expose the chilling truth behind the violence.
As the inaugural installment of the Publius Ovidius Mysteries, Forsyth’s novel is an ambitious foray into historical fiction, ingeniously casting the ancient Roman poet Ovid as a central figure in a gripping murder mystery. Against the odds, the narrative captivates with its richly woven tapestry of historical intrigue and literary imagination. Forsyth demonstrates a profound command over the era, bringing Roman life’s societal and political nuances into sharp relief, thus enabling readers to immerse themselves fully in the period.
The depiction of Ovid and Avitius stands out, with both characters meticulously crafted and offering a compelling dynamic. They are supported by a cast of vividly drawn figures, each contributing to the unfolding drama and deepening our understanding of Roman society. Forsyth’s narrative prowess shines through in every element of the book, from the authentic dialogue and well-measured pacing to the underlying tension that simmers throughout, hinting at the lurking dangers in the shadows of Tomis.
Forsyth’s work is a testament to the power of historical fiction, demonstrating an ability to educate about a bygone era and entertain and engage through a story that is as thrilling as it is unlikely. Poetic Justice is a testament to the genre, proving that with enough skill and creativity, even the most obscure historical figures and moments can spring vividly to life, offering readers a window into the past that is both enlightening and profoundly entertaining.
Pages: 283 | ASIN : B0CP9HW9SJ
Destiny of Daring: Never Forget
Destiny of Daring: Never Forget weaves the harrowing tale of an Armenian family’s endurance during the Ottoman-perpetrated genocide and the ensuing political turmoil post-World War I. Set against this historical backdrop, the novel follows Cassie in contemporary times as she embarks on a quest to reconnect with her relatives from the Gulumian lineage, piecing together their ancestral saga of resilience. Central to her discoveries is the story of Nazeli, a survivor who assumes the identity of Emine to marry into a Muslim family, and her sister Nane. This narrative portrays a world marked by hostility and brutality yet punctuated by instances of hope, courage, and human kindness.
As the third entry in Cathy Burnham Martin’s Destiny Trilogy, the book gains depth and realism from its basis on true recollections. This grounding in reality brings a poignant authenticity to the narrative, sometimes intensifying the emotional impact of certain passages. Martin carefully delineates between the actions of the Ottoman government and its people, highlighting the distinction between a tyrannical regime and the individuals under its rule. While the novel is firmly rooted in historical fact, its dramatization, particularly in character dialogues, adds a unique layer to the narrative. The verbal expressions, passionately focused on denouncing the atrocities, emphasize the emotional intensity of the story. This narrative technique reinforces the gravity of the events, echoing their deep impact on the characters’ lives.
Destiny of Daring offers a lens into the struggles faced by the Armenian community during a tumultuous era. Its educational value is notable, shedding light on a period that may not be widely familiar to global audiences, thereby providing both a compelling and informative reading experience.
Pages: 254 | ASIN : B0CK558SZB
