in her friend’s garden, herself an old lady now too, looking up to the darkening sky and remembering with fondness everything she had been through. Lizzie remembered the fear of that first night she was bombed and Jack’s steadying hand that had reached out to her in the darkness. She remembered the thunder of the bombs and the peace of the singing on Christmas Eve, she remembered flying above the clouds in a plane, and dancing in a frozen park with the man she had loved. Al Bowlly’s voice drifted into her memory, the words she still remembered by heart, about deep longing and moments that moved too slowly until they could be together again.
She hummed them to herself as she thought of him. Lizzie had only love left for Jack now, no more pain. Even though the moments had moved a lot more slowly than she could have ever imagined, she would see him soon, she mused; she didn’t have that many birthdays left herself. Lizzie thought about the people she had shared that time with, the daughter she had lost and the daughter she had found. But mostly she thought about her dearest friends Julia and Diana and how they had all found their own strength, forged in that furnace, become women of endurance in the most trying of times. She stared into that same dark endless sky and marvelled at the stars and the moon; as she remembered just what it had been like to fight for their freedom, night after night, under a sky on fire.
If you were swept away by Under a Sky on Fire, don’t miss Suzanne’s heartbreaking debut, A View Across the Rooftops. Set in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, it tells the story of a man’s bravery against all the odds.
Buy now!
A View Across the Rooftops
1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. An unforgettable story of love, hope and betrayal, and a testament to the courage of humanity in history’s darkest days.
As Nazis occupy his beloved city, Professor Josef Held feels helpless. So when he discovers his former pupil Michael Blum is trying to escape the Gestapo, he offers Michael a place to hide in his attic.
In the quiet gloom of the secret room, Michael talks of his beautiful, fearless girlfriend, Elke. Michael insists that not even the Nazis will come between them. But Elke is a non-Jewish Dutch girl, and their relationship is strictly forbidden.
Josef sees the passionate determination in his young friend’s eyes. Furious with the rules of the cruel German soldiers and remembering his own heartbreak, Josef feels desperate to give Michael and Elke’s love a chance. But then tragedy strikes, and Josef is faced with an impossible choice.
In the dark days of war, with danger and betrayal at every turn, no-one can be trusted. If Michael is to survive and get back to the woman he loves, it will be down to Josef – to find the hero inside himself, and do whatever it takes to keep Michael alive.
Even if it means putting his own life in mortal danger.
A heartbreakingly beautiful story about courage against the odds, perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, All The Light We Cannot See, and The Nightingale.
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Books by Suzanne Kelman
Under a Sky on Fire
A View Across the Rooftops
When We Were Brave
AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
When We Were Brave (Available in the UK and the US)
A View Across the Rooftops (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Suzanne
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Under a Sky on Fire. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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As I reflect on the three historical fiction novels that I feel privileged to have written about World War Two, I’m forever humbled by the incredible bravery of the men and women of this era. This book, though, more than any other, touched me on a profound level. Not only because it turned a spotlight on the work of women at war in Britain, but also because my own grandmother’s experience during the war inspired Diana’s story. Like Diana, she was working at night, flying the barrage balloons during the