It’s 1939. There’s talk of war brewing overseas, but in the small town of Norcross, Georgia, Cora Cain’s only focus is what to make of her life. Her friends are moving on to college and the army, but due to her father’s debilitating depression, Cora is stuck running The Brunswick—a once grand hotel now keeping her family afloat as the general store.

The one excitement in her life is the budding romance with her new neighbor Thomas, but when she learns that he is German, she decides to hide the entire relationship from her war-hero father. 

What she can’t hide though is the bold request from her largest customer: could she use the old hotel to house fifty Jewish refugee children? Cora finds herself weighing duty to her father against her own dreams and soon learns she is not the only one facing impossible decisions.

In Vienna, eight-year-old Charlotte’s father is taken to the concentration camp Dachau, and her mother becomes despondent. When given the opportunity to join a Kindertransport to America, Charlotte wonders how her mother could send her away—but as Hitler’s plan becomes more apparent, Charlotte fears what will happen if she does not.

Based on true events in my hometown, THE BRUNSWICK wrestles with the best and worst parts of our families of origin and asks what we must hold on to—and what we must let go.

That’s the current draft of the back-of-the-book blurb! I’ve spent the last two years writing this novel, and I am currently in the beta reader phase as I query agents and pursue traditional publishing. I have loads of grassroots marketing ideas for this and can’t wait to get it out into the world.