Today is Release Day for The Glovemaker's Daughter

The Holocaust and World War II are incredibly difficult topics to write about and hard to immerse myself in for months at a time. However, I have a reason for doing what I do…an ongoing reason.

My imagination is vivid, and I say that as a broad statement. What I mean is, I can see scenes, settings, people, and a reality I haven’t lived through. In fact, I read an article recently (here) that made me take a step back and think about this topic because evidently, not everyone thinks this way. It’s not that I assumed everyone thinks the same, but I never thought about how differently we all absorb and process information. I’m still not sure how to compare my imagination to someone else’s, but I know I can conjure the best nightmares any night of the week. I’ve always been this way.

This ability has made my research come to life in ways I never would have expected. I visualize what I don’t always want to visualize, and I remember these images hours/days later. But I take in the knowledge so I can write about it the same way I see it in my mind’s eye. Reading about a time that I wasn’t alive for is hard enough to comprehend sometimes, but on the other hand, I’ve gone through my entire life stating I’m a visual learner. I understand what that truly means now…even when standing on simple cobblestones that people walked across hundreds of years ago.

When I have the opportunity to travel to some countries where my stories take place, the images I’ve conjured in my head from online/ book research play out in front of me on modern day streets. I can imagine what life must have been like years before I was born, and while it’s unnerving, it’s also a gift as I feel like I can connect with my family members who I never got to know.

The Glovemaker’s Daughter takes place in Paris, one of the most beautiful cities in the world (in my opinion). Though during World War II, Paris was a nightmare for many. The process of writing this story has made me think about how I, a common person, would react if my home streets became a place where I didn’t belong—where I’m not wanted. I wasn’t sure until I put myself in Raya Pascal’s shoes.

The setting, though in Paris, is like one I grew up in, a family-owned shop where I spent many of my formative years. It was a part of my life and who I am. I connected to this as a foundation for the story to allow me to ponder the life choices Raya had to make.

What would I sacrifice for those I love?

How strong would I want to be?

I say want because I’m not sure I could survive much of what anyone in Europe went through during World War II. I know I live a simple life in comparison. However, until we’re put into a situation and forced to face an unthinkable circumstance, we don’t actually know how strong we are or what we will do to survive. It was the same for my characters, making the writing process of this book both fulfilling, heartbreaking, and scary.

I hope you enjoy The Glovemaker’s Daughter, and experience all the emotions and sensations I poured into the descriptions. I hope the characters come to life for you like they did me.

If you read The Glovemaker’s Daughter, please let me know what you think by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Bookbub!

Thank you for all your support!

Shari