ISBN: 978-1800166356
BLOK 42 is a Finalist for Best New Fiction 2024 by American Fiction Awards and a Finalist for Best Historical Fiction 2024 by Storytrade Book Awards.
BLOK 42 tells the gripping story of young lovers as they navigate the Nazi occupation of their beloved Poland and face evil foes and sinister and disturbing challenges in their plight to keep their family safe. Romance, espionage, kidnapping and sexual exploitation all contribute to the gripping narrative in this meticulously researched work of fiction. This is a unique saga which tells the long-ignored story of BLOK 42 to light and the sexual slavery that occurred there. This a must read for all students of the war and lovers of historical fiction.
Author’s note
My inspiration to write this story came several years ago when I was working on fundraising / marketing efforts for the United States Holocaust Museum. At that time, we purchased ad space within a program called Hitler’s Willing Executioners on American Heroes Channel. In this program, several men were interviewed and mentioned the “lucky women” who were camp secretaries or worked the “brothel.” Having visited Auschwitz twice and having read numerous books about concentration camp conditions, I was surprised to have not heard about the women who were forced to work as sex slaves. I discovered that no testimony from the women who survived this experience was ever recorded in English and most of the references to the camp were from men (such as Primo Levi, who referred to the brothel as “the puff”).
And so I embarked on a two-year quest to bring to life the story of the women of BLOK 42. While this is a work of fiction, it is based on the mostly untold true stories of women during wartime. The types of events depicted in this book did actually happen, and it is my sincere wish that my work celebrates and honors all the women whose stories have been lost to history but especially, those of the women of BLOK 42.