In 1943 a section of the facility became an “exchange camp” where valuable Jewish inmates were held with the intention of exchanging them for German prisoners of war. One particularly twisty path led me to the gates of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. I tend to wander around haphazardly and have fallen down more than my share of rabbit holes. Unfortunately, my research is never straightforward. What kind of research went into the writing of THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SALZBURG? Were there any facts that surprised you?įor me, writing a novel always starts in the library or on a website dedicated to historical events. I love telling stories that highlight their brave feats. There are so many unsung heroes from that era. Hattie, Vera, and Elsa are composites of their real-life counterparts, but they also reflect other extraordinary women who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution. I soon began reimagining their brave feats into what ultimately became The Secret Society of Salzburg. In fact, they first learned of the persecution of Jews through their association with an Austrian conductor and his wife, Viorica Ursuleac.Īs I dug deeper into the lives of these incredible women, including Viorica, I started asking by myself, what if (an author’s favorite question). Like the fictional Hattie and Vera, the Cook sisters were civil servants with a strong passion for opera. Between 19, she wrote 112 romance novels as Mary Burchell for Mills and Boon, most of which were later reissued by my publisher Harlequin. What drew me to their story was my indirect connection to Ida. These daring British women orchestrated the rescue of 29 Jews from Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Several years ago, I stumbled across an article about Ida and her sister Louise Cook. | Great Britain - Social life and customs - 1918-1945 - Fiction.Are Hattie, Vera, and Elsa Mayer-Braun based on any real-life figures?Īctually, all three characters are loosely based on real-life figures. A shocking secret threatens to emerge something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Ghosts awaken and memories, long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time house-maid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again. Summer 1924: on the eve of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life.

The shifting fog / Kate Morton Book Bib IDīook, Online - Google Books

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