Submitted by Susanne Bacon
Imagine you are living on a peaceful small island, and overnight you are overrun and occupied by an enemy force. Imagine also that your government knows about it, but prefers to officially ignore it. Furthermore, imagine that the hostile forces are getting cut off from their supply line. No, this is not science fiction. This is the scenario of a war theater in Europe that was hushed up for many decades and is therefore hardly known about.
Just in time for the 70th anniversary of V-Day, Lakewood resident Susanne Bacon has published a carefully researched historical novel on the German occupation of the British Channel Islands, which lasted from mid-1940 through 1945. “Islands on Storm” presents the intricate intertwining of fear and love, opportunism and resistance, resilience and change that was created in utter isolation,” Bacon says. The German journalist traveled to Guernsey in 1999, mainly to explore the subtropical landscape and prehistoric sites. “I brought back a new and insatiable hunger for history and the idea for a novel.”
“Islands on Storm” is about a young woman traveling to a (fictitious) Channel Island in order to get over a failed love story. Incidentally, she discovers an art fraud, a fake cholera grave, a Russian passport, and a German poem with a strange dedication. As she tries to find a connection between them, she stumbles into a story of sacrifice and human passion.
“It is very important to me that the history of these brave Channel Islands gets known more widely,” states Bacon, who also volunteers as a docent and trustee for the Steilacoom Historical Museum. “It is an encouragement to stay true to oneself and to be resilient. The up-coming 70th anniversary of the Channel Islands’ Liberation Day made it imperative for me to release the novel now, 15 years after I actually finished writing it.”
“Islands on Storm” is available as an AuthorHouse soft cover edition (388 pages), online via AuthorHouse book store and Amazon as well as at any local bookstore (ISBN: 978-1-49697-248-4; $ 23.95). There is also an E-book version (ISBN: 978-1-49697-265-1; $ 3.99).
