Is This a Dream?

Behind the podium about to give a talk on my novel
The Last Daughter of Prussia.
I really feel as if this is a dream.

  I'm standing behind a podium looking at a group of women—members of The Canadian Women's Club—who are listening to what I'm about to say. I'm a little nervous because in my dream this is the first time ever that I am going to talk about my novel in public. I introduce myself and begin to tell the story of The Last Daughter of Prussia, why I wrote it and so forth. Reaching down, I pick up the Advanced Reader Copy of the book itself, holding it up for my audience to see. The beautiful Trakehner horse whom I have named Shambhala canters out of the cover on finely chiseled legs, shaking her silky mane and looking at my audience with dark liquid eyes that tell a story of survival, love and loyalty.

The book in my hands. Is this really happening?

  I swallow and smile and suddenly it dawns on me.... this is not a dream! This book I'm holding is real. It's the result of many years of research, writing, re-writing and editing. Blood, sweat and tears if I were to use those well-worn words. Its pages have taken me on inner and outer journeys far too vast and deep to even attempt  to explain in the few minutes I have to speak. Those journeys were like lifetimes.

  I pause reflecting on how it all started—the night I woke up at 3am and was drawn by invisible threads to my computer where I entered a hitherto unknown word into the the search engine and suddenly saw a black and white picture of a long column of horses pulling carts full of sad and desperate looking grandfathers, grandmothers, women and children through snow drifts that had mounted up on a frozen lagoon. The novel was conceived right there. And in that weak moment,  I decided I would write about The Great Trek—the tragic evacuation out of East Prussia which took place at the end of WW2. I had no idea where my journey would take me. While making the flash decision I didn't even remember that my grandparents Walter and Edith von Sanden were part of that treacherous journey. I just knew—like we sometime know things— that it was my job to tell this story.

The photo that caught my eye in the dark of night
and evoked my
decision to write The Last Daughter
(the photo is of the internet)

  I look up. Oh God, how long was I quiet? My audience is waiting for me to carry on. I return to the moment and read an excerpt. When I finish the room is quiet. A voice says, "Can you read more?" That touches me and I end my talk by thanking everyone for listening, for being there with their hearts to hear a piece of this dark corner of history, one that that cost the lives of many innocent people yet was filled with hope and faith, love and the indomitable spirit of human beings.

  I see a woman rise and come to the podium. She takes my hand and kisses it. There are tears in her eyes. Mine too. She was just a child on The Great Trek. She thanks me for writing about her story, about this chapter that has remained hushed in the bones of Germans too ashamed to speak of their own plight because of the atrocities committed by Hitler.
  "When can I get your book?" she asks.
  I tell her that I will be launching it soon and give her the date.

The Save The Date announcement for The Last Daughter of Prussia.
I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have a friend in my life like my
talented inspiring graphic designer friend Paula Boyd Farrington who put
this announcement together in a blink of an eye.
Well it seems that way butI know how hard she works,
how committed to perfection she is.
A detailed invitation will follow shortly.

  I return to my seat. Everyone is clapping. It is a reality now. That actually was me standing up, talking, holding The Last Daughter in my hands. The hardback copies of the book are being printed as I write this blog and will be out in December. Wow.

  I look back at this blog that you, my readers, have so faithfully followed. This is the 56th post. In German there is a saying Gut Ding braucht Weile. It means good things take time. It's true. It's taken a long time but now the time is here.

Til my next post... and hope to see you at the book signing .

—Marina Gottlieb Sarles

Final Countdown

Hi Everyone,

I'm down to the final elements that make up the cover of The Last Daughter of Prussia. Here's how the process of publishing my novel is unfolding for me. We're so close. I'm waiting in excited anticipation for the final countdown.

The front cover of my SOON-TO-BE-PUBLISHED novel.
I am so excited!
I wanted to tell you that the ARC's are coming out next week.
I didn't actually know what this acronym stood for but now I do!
Advanced Reader Copy
So, the process goes like this...
As a marketing tool, publishers 
(in this case my wonderful publisher WILD RIVER BOOKS)
provide free copies of new titles to 
reviewers, booksellers, journalists and even celebrities.
This happens before the book is printed for mass distribution.
When a celebrity reader or journalist gives an endorsement,
that's added to the dust-cover and other promotional items.
Reader books are normally distributed three to six months
before the book is officially released to reviewers, bookstores,
magazines and in some cases libraries.
As you can see on the spine, 
The Last Daughter will be officially released in April 2013.
 However, for all my Bahamian friends and followers
we are planning an advance publication launch and booksigning 
right here in Freeport, Grand Bahama BEFORE Christmas.
Time, Date and Venue to be announced.
So please stay tuned.
For my friends who aren't here in the Bahamas,
maybe you'll come down for the launch and 
some R&R in the sea and sun.

Here are endorsements that I have already obtained 
and that have been used for the back cover.


I thank Patricia Clough, awesome author whose fabulous book and account 

of
 The Great Trek–the evacuation of East Prussia–stayed
 on my desk 

throughout my entire writing journey of The Last Daughter of Prussia.


I wrote to her hardly expecting an endorsement because she is so 
busy and well-known, 

yet she was kind enough to read my novel and write a beautiful comment.


Denise Rutzou is the president of the Australian Trakehner Society.


She is such a doll for writing this touching endorsement.


I feel like we struck up a friendship via e-mail and I've told her

 
I want to visit her in Australia one day to meet her 
and her beloved Trakehners.


And then there is Ian Hancock. What a learned man!


He has brought huge awareness to the Romanies
 and their little understood culture.
 

He has represented the Romani people at the United Nations and


served as a member of the U.S. HolocaustMemorial Council 
under President Bill Clinton.


I never in my wildest dreams imagined he would write an endorsement,
 

but again he took the time and I am ever so grateful.


Perhaps many established authors remember 
what it was like when they first started writing.


I have other amazing endorsements too.
 

Erhard Schulte, the Trakehner expert in Germany 

who 
never tired of answer my questions.


Dr. Christoph Hinkelmann, East Prussian Museum, Lüneburg, Germany


who took the time out of his busy schedule
 to read the novel, give super advice and comment.

Anne Hampson, Bestselling Romance Novelist 

who
 is also my dear friend and mentor.


The publisher has said that their beautiful comments
will definitely be used in the marketing of my book.


THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

And here you have the blurb that gives you
a taste 
of what the book is about
and hopefully whets your appetite to read more.

Until next time...

Marina Gottlieb Sarles

A Timely Tweak

Wow! How time flies! I realize that it has been quite some time since my last post. Just to fill you in, I was in Berlin recovering from arthroscopic hip surgery. All went well. My surgeon is a fabulous doc and amazing friend who considers food and wine therapy to be almost as important as physical therapy.

Me in the hospital in Berlin
with my wonderful friend and surgeon, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Noack.

Anyway, I didn't have a chance to write, but here I am, now and I want to share what happened just before I left for Europe. On the morning of my departure I took a last look at the cover of my upcoming book, The Last Daughter of Prussia. On a strong whim of intuition, I sent it off to the expert on Trakehners, Erhard Schulte, who is also the author of Trakehnens Pferde, Cadmos Verlag. For those of you who have been following this blog you know that Trakehners are beautiful horses whose lineage stems from East Prussia. Two of the main characters in my novel, Aztec and Shambhala, belong to that fantastic breed.

A stallion in Trakehnen.
Stallions there were treated like royalty,
housed in their own beautiful barns like the one in this photo. 

Stallions in the meadow
Taken from the book —
Von Memel bis Trakehnen, Rautenberg Verlag

Although the horse on the cover (see below) was striking, I knew in my heart it wasn't a Trakehner. This bothered me. After all, The Last Daughter of Prussia is about Trakehners and their struggle for survival as they flee over the ice in the last winter of WW2 with the avenging Soviet Army right behind them.

This was the first cover.
Though I think it is beautiful it was not accurate.
The horse is a coldblooded horse.
You can see that in the heavier tufted legs
and the head that is not as defined and elegant as
a Trakehner's head would be.

So... not to have a real Trakehner didn't feel right, especially as this book has been a labor of love and intense research. All through my writing of it I took pride in searching out details and references to historical information. I consulted with experts on subjects ranging from concentration camps, Romanies, fauna and flora, to seafaring barges and shipyards. I talked with people who were on the trek and women who were raped along the way. I even visited East Prussia (now Poland) twice, traveled to Guja to find my grandparent's estate and spent time in the Stutthof—that ghastly prison where so many innocent people were murdered. I walked the beach along the Nehrung where amber cobbles drift up like honey-colored stars and stuck my Bahamian toes in the freezing Baltic Sea, stopped to look across the Frisches Haff - the lagoon that was the only escape rouyte in winter, finally making my way to the Wolf's Lair—Hitler's hidden headquarters where von Stauffenberg almost managed to assassinate him. I went on these journeys for the sheer purpose of discovery.

Hitler's Wolf'sschanze where Claus von Stauffenberg
attempted to assassinate him.
Hitler had trees planted on the buildings to disguise them from the air.
It was a creepy place and so weird to think
that he had walked the very same paths we were on.
Photo (C) James Sarles

Stutthof Concentration camp in winter
(Photo-Property Stutthof Museum)
I wrote an article about visiting this place in Wild River  Review
It is a feeling that has never left me, one that haunts my memory and my heart.

The road along the Nehrung spit - the only way to Danzig.
Millions fled on this icy road in winter to try and get to the west.
Photo (C) James Sarles

Before reaching the road above, the weary refugees
 had to cross this lagoon—the Frisches Haff.
It was frozen but pitted with large craters
made by falling bombs, so many fell to their icy deaths
Photo (C) James Sarles

Me sticking my Bahamian toes into the icy Baltic Sea.
Photos (C) James Saarles

After all this, how could I not have an accurate cover? And time was running out. The book was almost going to press. Besides my publisher had already signed off on the design. Five minutes before I left for the airport Erhard Schulte wrote back. He too felt the cover needed a real Trakehner. Oh my God, now what? Where would I find the right image in high resolution? Would my publisher agree? All these thoughts raced through my head as I flew over the Atlantic. They were still with me the next day when the sleep inducing needle was placed in my vein and I was wheeled into the operating room. When I woke up, my husband was standing by my bedside. The first thing I said was, "Jamie, we have to find the right horse!"

That's what happens when you're consumed by a book you have written.

So, right there he pulled out his computer and sat on my hospital bed. Although I was half asleep, we scoured the internet. The creative muses must have been with us because in a short time we found the perfect horse! Thankfully my publisher Wild River Books was wonderful. They could have easily said, "It's too late, live with it!" But they didn't. They are just as dedicated to detail as I am and they honored my input, pulling it all together in that very last minute. I love them. I thank my lucky stars too, for Erhard Schulte, because he spoke the truth and when he saw the new image he immediately wrote to say, "Now that is a noble and sensitive warmblooded Trakehner. One that suits your book!"

Hallelujia!

And so here it is... the timely tweak.

The new cover of The Last Daughter of Prussia.
Can you see the difference in the  horse?
This one is so full of expression, grace and power.
I'm pleased.
The book will be sold in the Bahamas starting in December .
It will be in the USA in the Spring catalogue,
for sale then in bigger outlets.
Cover Design Tim Ogline

'Til next time,

—Marina Gottlieb Sarles

(c) All content and photos are the private property of the Gottlieb family, unless otherwise stated or linked,  and may not be used without permission.

(c) Privatbesitz Gottlieb Familie

Sharks, Novels and Nature

My first shark dive

  Before writing this blog entry today I wondered if diving with sharks had anything to do with writing a novel. As I thought about it I realized quite emphatically that the two are connected. Here's why. The urge I felt to write The Last Daughter of Prussia was a powerful one. That same feeling accompanied me on the shark dive I dared to go on yesterday. Both experiences weren't necessarily comfortable initially, but they were compelling. They pushed my envelope and made me feel alive. Also, I am a great lover of nature—nature is where my cells breathe new life, where my being gets activated on all levels—spiritual, emotional and physical. Writing has the same effect on me.

  In researching The Last Daughter I traveled to wondrous places. I dug up old photographs of East Prussia's fauna, forests, lakes and animals. I even journeyed there on several occasions to find inspiration and drink in the beauty of giant oak trees, rolling meadows blazing blue with cornflowers and lakes dotted with wild swans. Underwater yesterday, with sharks swimming overhead and in front of me, I felt  the same magical, if not childlike capacity to experience nature—only this time I saw the sea through the eyes of a shark—a creature that has probably elicited more fear in me than any other creature in the world (except cockroaches—and that's another story!) What most amazed and thrilled me was that even while the sharks bumped my shoulder or swam straight up to my face, I was not afraid. I loved it. I felt a movement inside me, a oneness with nature's magnificent creation.

  Watching the shark handler, Cristina Zenato (who by the way is unbelievable and made the whole experience totally safe) I was struck by the connection that we human beings can have to all living things if we just have respect and allow that connection to happen. I must say that as I viewed this bonding concert between (wo)man and beast my emotions ran the gamut. One moment I was laughing bubbles of delight, the next, I was overcome with mask-fogging tears at the sheer magnificence and power of the sharks connecting with another human in such a profoundly sensitive way.

Cristina Zenato and the reef shark connecting.
 This is just before she puts the shark in a trancelike state
 and lifts her ( it was a female) into a vertical position
If you're interested, check out this video of Cristina
(Make sure you watch it to the end)

 A thank you kiss for the tender display of inter-connecting species.

  Watching I felt ALIVE. Isn't that what we all want on some level? Writing too makes me feel alive. Like nature it is a form of creation.

That's me on the very left—in awe.

  In conclusion I want to say that what made the experience even more beautiful was the companionship (connection) of my husband Jamie and my two good friends, Elly Decter and Mike Morter. Together we shared the joy and excitement in rediscovering the mystery of the world we all live in. In writing don't we share the mysteries of the world we are creating? And isn't it in sharing that we all feel more alive?

  Until next time...
—Marina Gottlieb Sarles

All photos are the property of Unexso— Underwater Explorers Society—Freeport, Bahamas

One More Glimpse

Ingo the otter climbing up my grandfather's leg.

  I just couldn't resist posting this poem after last week's blog. Every verse is so powerful in imagery. I feel as if I'm there with Seamus Heaney, watching, waiting, holding my breath for one more glimpse of that beautiful creature and then ahh... the sheer joy of seeing that freshened pelt, those unique footprints on the warm stones.

The Otter by Seamus Heaney

When you plunged

The light of Tuscany wavered

And swung through the pool

From top to bottom.

I loved your wet head and smashing crawl,

Your fine swimmer's back and shoulders

Surfacing and surfacing again

This year and every year since.

I sat dry-throated on the warm stones.

You were beyond me.

The mellowed clarities, the grape-deep air

Thinned and disappointed.

Thank God for the slow loadening,

When I hold you now

We are close and deep

As the atmosphere on water.

My two hands are plumbed water.

You are my palpable, lithe

Otter of memory

In the pool of the moment,

Turning to swim on your back,

Each silent, thigh-shaking kick

Re-tilting the light,

Heaving the cool at your neck.

And suddenly you're out,

Back again, intent as ever,

Heavy and frisky in your freshened pelt,

Printing the stones.

Ingo under my mother's pillow in Guja, East Prussia before the war.
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Until next time...

—Marina Gottlieb Sarles

(c) All content and photos are the private property of the Gottlieb family, unless otherwise stated or linked,  and may not be used without permission.

(c) Privatbesitz Gottlieb Familie

Odyssey of an Otter

My grandfather's pet otter Ingo looking through the window
 in Guja, East Prussia before WW2
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

  Yesterday two dolphins dove under our anchored boat. The smaller of the two stayed in close proximity so I put on my mask and fins, slid into the water and swam toward it. What an adorable sight!. This bubbly little creature was doing somersaults on the sandy bottom in between playing with a gnarled branch, which it shook and tossed through the aqua colored water. When it saw me it stopped and swam closer, cocking it's head to look at me with that perpetual dolphin smile. Its demeanor, so playful and lively, reminded me of a character in my novel The Last Daughter of Prussia—an otter who splashes through my heroine's childhood memories with the same dolphin friskiness and zest for life as my newfound friend did yesterday.

Ingo in all his glory
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

  The otter's name in my novel is Ingo and as you can see from the photos in this post, he really did exist. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of listening to my mother and my grandparents talk about their lively pet otter. They told stories of how he shared their home in East Prussia, splashing in the bathtub, eating from their table and generally creating both havoc and happiness wherever he went. There was always laughter in their voices when they spoke of him.

Ingo in my mother's bathtub
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Ingo at the breakfast table.
Otters need to drink lots of water.
Ingo, who was no exception, took the liberty of
 drinking out of anyone' cup when he was thirsty.
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

  In my mind, Ingo surfaces larger than life. Because of that I felt he belonged in my novel, so I wrote him in as a character—as the beloved pet otter of my heroine, Manya. The real Ingo was my grandfather, Walter von Sanden's prized pet and so intrigued was he by Ingo's personality that he wrote a delightful book called Ingo—The Story of my Otter in which he recounts his experiences with this playful, headstrong creature. The book was recently translated into Polish by Grazyana Czausz and re-published.
* Side note: several weeks ago the East Prussian Museum put together an exhibition in both Polish and German in Olsztyn (Allenstein) Poland about my grandfather's work. This touches me deeply because his work has returned home to the land he so deeply loved. Though East Prussia is now Poland the earth has not changed.

Ingo in bronze

 Just a little more about Ingo. My grandmother,  Edith von Sanden—artist and poet—loved him so much that she sculpted him in bronze. She used to tell me how naughty he was, how he'd sneak into the milk shed and drink the milk from the metal milk cans. She'd laugh remembering how his love for raw eggs would drive him to the chicken coop where  he'd whine beseechingly until a soft-hearted farmhand finally rolled him one.

Grossmutti and Ingo in Guja before the war
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Ingo holding his precious egg bounty
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Here's Ingo sneaking into the milk shed
for some milk. What a prankster he must have been,
so full of life, so frisky and smart.
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

  Even though I never knew him, Ingo has a special place in my heart. I'm fortunate to have a bronze sculpture of him which sits on my cottage porch, high on a hill overlooking the turquoise Sea of Abaco in the Bahamas. How far he has come! His presence reminds me that pieces of the past do survive, and though people and animals may be displaced by the cruel hand of war, the stories of the soul are never lost.

Ingo contemplating the sea from my porch in Abaco, Bahamas
(Photo (C) Christine Matthäi)

  Gazing at the sleek contours of Ingo's body I cannot help but think of his odyssey from East Prussia to this New World. He represents the journey my mother made across the ocean, the trek my grandparents undertook over the ice in that final, bitter winter of WW2 when everything except life was lost. In some ways Ingo is also a symbol of my heritage, of the strength, and endurance it took to survive. And sometimes, when the setting sun warms his smooth head and a sparkle touches his eyes, I sense his playful spirit. Then, in my imagination, I plunge into the deep lakes and moving rivers of his forgotten world.

'Til next time,

—Marina Gottlieb Sarles

(c) All content and photos are the private property of the Gottlieb family, unless otherwise stated or linked,  and may not be used without permission.

(c) Privatbesitz Gottlieb Familie

Casting Characters

The Last Daughter of Prussia was inspired by writings and stories I gathered from my family, but there were also many images that breathed life, heart and substance into the novel. Along the way, in this blog, I have shared quite a number of photos with you. If it's true that a picture says a thousand words then I need not write as many today except perhaps to explain how certain images gave form to the storyline and the characters in it.

Let me start with some of the CHARACTERS who evolved in my imagination as I researched old photos, diaries and books...

It all began with this image of  the famous Trakehner Fetysz Ox.

Fetysz Ox was tragically shot by the invading Russian Army at the close of WW2.

However, because of him I started thinking about a story involving an adventurous woman who

wanted to save her beloved Trakehners from the same terrible fate.

I turned to my grandfather Walter von Sanden's books
to find out more about what happened during the invasion.
The story started to unfold in my mind as I realized my own family
had lived through the nightmare of the Great Trek.
In my book, the character Baron von Falken
has a great deal in common with my grandfather.
I incorporated the story of his arrest by the Nazis into one of the chapters.
The Nazis thought he was an accomplice
 to the July 20th assassination attempt on Hitler.
(In my novel the baron wears the same green hunting jacket!)
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

 Blacksmith Helling is a main character in the book
 and he is also a great hunter.
This pic is actually of a man named Hellwig— the forester who lived
 on my grandparent's estate in Guja, East Prussia
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

 Baroness von Falken plays a big role too.
In The Last Daughter she is a sculptress
with a difficult personality—moody and depressed.
This pic is of my grandmother Edith von Sanden in her art studio
 in Guja, East Prussia before the war.
She really was an artist
 and though not nearly as complicated as my novel's baroness,
for as long as I knew her, she walked with a definite air of melancholy.
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Manya von Falken
In the story, she is the bright, spirited horsewoman and heroine whose courage
leads her family and her Trakehners on the dangerous  trek.
 Much of her character is based on the strength and outspoken boldness
that I saw in my own mother, Owanta von Sanden who is depicted in this photo.
(Photo (C) Gottlieb Family)

Joshi Karas
In my story, he is the son of Roma Gypsies.
He is a musically gifted and educated hero.
While researching information on Gypsies in the Third Reich,
I came across this photo of Karl Stojka a gypsy
 who was deported to the Nazi camp in Birkenau along with thousands of
other Gypsies, most of whom were gassed to death. Thankfully, he survived.
I hope he didn't mind me using his likeness as an inspiration.

Shambhala
The mare in the novel truly is a Last Daughter of Prussia.
She is brave, enduring and loyal until the end.
Her mission is to take her human family across the ice.
 Never  once does she stop to consider whether those she struggles so hard
 to carry are German, Jewish, Gypsy or Russian.
There is no prejudice in her.
 She is pure of heart and cares only about survival.
The horse in his picture is actually a stallion (Pregel)
but he has such a sensitive, intelligent face and
when I see him I think of Shambhala.
(The photo was taken from Erhard Schulte's fabulous book—Trakehnens Pferde.)

Aztec

is my Trakehner stallion hero. 

Unlike Fetysz ox above who inspired the story, Aztec is jet black.

He is spirited and courageous beyond words
 and his role is pivotal in The Last Daughter of Prussia.
 (Again this pic was kindly shared by Erhard Schulte. It is the stallion Flaneur.)

Before I go, I want to say that there are other characters. Every story of this kind must have an antagonist or more simply said a villain. My villain's name is Golitsin. Although, I don't have a picture of him I clearly see him in my mind's eye. You'll just have to read the novel when it is published to get your own idea of what he is like.

Until next time,

Marina Gottlieb Sarles

(c) All content and photos are the private property of the Gottlieb family, unless otherwise stated or linked,  and may not be used without permission.

(c) Privatbesitz Gottlieb Familie