Occupied
Norway, 1944. Anni endures the war alone, aiding the resistance while longing
for news of her sailor husband. Her daughter, Ingrid, is her joy, and Anni is
determined to keep her safe. But when a German official is billeted at their
home, danger escalates, and Anni faces an agonising dilemma.
London,
1952. Ingrid has been trying to understand her mother’s mysterious
disappearance at the war’s end. Clinging to Anni’s promise that she would
always come back for her, Ingrid sets out to discover what happened all those
years ago.
Purchase
Link - http://tinyurl.com/2n6sr5b6
Author
Bio –
Anna Normann
is the pseudonym of authors Anan Singh and Natalie Normann, and it all happened
because of a bet. Sometime in the nineteen eighties, while watching a movie
with a so-so plot, they started arguing about improving the plot and how they
could write a better story than that mess. And then Anan’s wife said ‘I bet you
can’t’ …
Since then,
they have published seven books together in Norwegian, exploring different
genres. Their first novel, set in WW2, won a competition in 1995 for ‘Norway’s
best entertainment novel’.
Social Media Links –
https://linktr.ee/NatalieNormann
From
the beginning of the Occupation, people needed to escape. The Jews who before
the war had escaped Nazi persecution in other countries, Norwegan Jews who
suddenly found themselves in a dangerous situation, and as the war progressed,
resistance fighters, but also pilots from Allied planes chrash landing. People
all over the country helped at best they could, creating escape lines, helping
each other, and risking their lives.
One
such pilot is a genuine shock to Anni. She's never seen anyone like him before.
***
But he was a refugee, and she was the only one who could
help him. Nina was too young, and Martin would never forgive her if something
happened to his daughter. The responsibility was all hers.
Anni took a
deep breath and pushed open the barn door.
Inside she
was met by the usual dusty, stuffy air, smelling strongly of dried hay and
goats. She climbed up the ladder to the hayloft. 'Hello?' she called
softly. 'Don't worry. I'm a friend.'
The only
sounds she heard were the creaking of the wood in the ladder when she put
weight on it, and the rustling of the hay when she stepped off the last step.
Anni imagined she could sense someone holding their breath. Someone who was
terrified, or ready to pounce on her. Either way, he didn't know who she was.
She cleared
her throat. 'Please don't be scared. I'm the daughter-in-law of the woman who
owns the farm. I'm a friend,' she said in English, hoping there wasn't a gang
of Nazi soldiers hiding in the hay.
There was
some rustling in the hay, but still no response.
Anni tried
again. 'My friend told me you were hurt. I can help.'
She pulled
aside some of the hay, and peeked inside Lars' secret boyhood room. The
daylight streamed through cracks in the wall, enough that she could see a man
lying under a blanket, facing the wall in the corner.
The man
turned his head and Anni couldn't hide her surprise.
'Oh, dear,'
she muttered.
He stared at
her. 'You speak English,' he said.
'Yes, I do.
Are you in pain?'
He tried to
sit up and flinched. 'I've been worse. Thank you.'
Maybe not
British, Anni thought. But not quite American either. She had rescued both.
She put down
the bag Nina had given her, and started taking out the contents.
'How on
earth did you end up here?' she said, smiling at him.
It was a
valid question, and it would hopefully take his mind off what was to come.
'I'm a
fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and I crashed my plane,' he
said, smiling now, clearly enjoying how shocked she was. 'Technically the Nazis
shot me down, but I crashed it when it hit the ground,' he added.
He had
short, black hair, darker eyes than any she had ever seen, and the colour of
his skin would make him stick out like a sore thumb in town.
'You look
like you probably shouldn't be here,' she said, raising her eyebrows.
'I wasn't
supposed to be here, but I also wasn't supposed to crash, of course,' he added
with a lopsided grin.
'Honestly, this is probably the last place
someone like you should be,' Anni said.
'There's no
hiding me,' he said, laughing when she gasped. 'I've been in this country for
two weeks now, and everyone I've met have been wonderful, but they all started
out with the same shocked expression on their face you had.'
'I'm glad
people have been looking after you. Hopefully, this will be your last stretch,'
Anni said.
