Posts Tagged ‘biography’

Living Among The Dead by Adena Astrowsky

Posted: October 3, 2020 in giveaways
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Living Among the Dead:
My Grandmother’s Holocaust Survival Story of Love and Strength
Holocaust Survivor True Stories WWII Book 3
by Adena Bernstein Astrowsky
Genre: Biography, Memoir
This is the story of one remarkable young woman’s unimaginable journey through the rise of the Nazi regime, the Second World War, and the aftermath. Mania Lichtenstein’s dramatic story of survival is narrated by her granddaughter and her memories are interwoven with beautiful passages of poetry and personal reflection. Holocaust survivor Mania Lichtenstein used writing as a medium to deal with the traumatic effects of the war.
Many Jews did not die in concentration camps, but were murdered in their lifelong communities, slaughtered by mass killing units, and then buried in pits. As a young girl, Mania witnessed the horrors while doing everything within her power to subsist. She lived in Włodzimierz, north of Lvov (Ukraine), was interned for three years in the labor camp nearby, managed to escape and hid in the forests until the end of the war.
Although she was the sole survivor of her family, Mania went on to rebuild a new life in the United States, with a new language and new customs, always carrying with her the losses of her family and her memories.
Seventy-five years after liberation, we are still witnessing acts of cruelty born out of hatred and discrimination. Living among the Dead reminds us of the beautiful communities that existed before WWII, the lives lost and those that lived on, and the importance to never forget these stories so that history does not repeat itself.
*2020 Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal Winner in the Non-Fiction – Biography Genre!!
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Adena Astrowsky has dedicated her career to helping the most vulnerable of our society. She did this by prosecuting child sexual abuse cases and domestic violence cases within the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. She became the local expert concerning the prosecution of domestic violence related strangulation cases and taught extensively on that subject. Currently, she handles post-conviction cases on appeal and foreign extradition cases. Adena taught Sunday School at her temple for eight years, and in her last two years she co-taught “Character Development Through the Studies of the Holocaust.” Adena contributes articles to MASK (Mothers Awareness on School-age Kids) Magazine, often writing about children’s safety, drugs, law and order, etc. Once a month Adena volunteers at a local Scottsdale library with her therapy dog, Charlie, as part of the Tail Waggin’ Tales Program. Adena has also chaired events to raise money for the Emily Center of Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Adena’s greatest role, however, is as the mother of three very active children. She, and her husband, Brad, are kept very busy with their respective dance, theater, music, and athletic activities.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon giftcard – 1 winner,
ebook of Living Among the Dead – 3 winners!
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Josephine Baker’s Last Dance ~ Excerpt and Review

Posted: April 18, 2019 in fiction, Historical, reviews
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JOSEPHINE BAKER’S LAST DANCE

by Sherry Jones, Biography/Historical

304 pp., $11.00 (paperback) $11.99 (Kindle)

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JOSEPHINE BAKER’S LAST DANCE
by Sherry Jones
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 304
Genre: Biography/Historical
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My Review
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 I’d only known Josephine Baker as a famous Parisian singer and dancer. Then I happened to watch the movie which revealed her life from her desperate, dark beginning to her triumphant final scene, sharing her many romances, her fight for equal rights and the oppression of the Nazis, along with her drive to affect change, leaving me breathless and in tears. Sherry Jones managed to do the same in her novel, adding her own touches to make the story even more in depth and thrilling. You may know the singer and dancer, but this slightly fictional account of her life reveals insights into her thoughts and feelings and I found it fascinating.
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From the author of The Jewel of Medina, a moving and insightful novel
based on the life of legendary performer and activist Josephine Baker,
perfect for fans of The Paris Wife and Hidden Figures.
Discover the fascinating and singular life story of Josephine Baker—actress, singer, dancer, Civil Rights activist, member of the
French Resistance during WWII, and a woman dedicated to erasing
prejudice and creating a more equitable world—in Josephine Baker’s Last
Dance.In this illuminating biographical novel, Sherry Jones brings to life
Josephine’s early years in servitude and poverty in America, her rise to
fame as a showgirl in her famous banana skirt, her activism against
discrimination, and her many loves and losses. From 1920s Paris to 1960s
Washington, to her final, triumphant performance, one of the most
extraordinary lives of the twentieth century comes to stunning life on
the page.

With intimate prose and comprehensive research, Sherry Jones brings
this remarkable and compelling public figure into focus for the first
time in a joyous celebration of a life lived in technicolor, a powerful
woman who continues to inspire today.

Purchase Josephine Baker’s Last Dance in paperback,  ebook,  and  audiobook  formats on  Simon and Schuster’s website (available on Amazon,  Barnes and Noble,  BooksAMillion,  Indiebound,  Kobo,  and  other sites). Learn more about Sherry’s books  at  www.authorsherryjones.com

Just before she entered the stage door, a
drop of rain hit her on the head. No, that was not a bad omen, only a
reminder to do her best, to shine like the star she was, or would be.
Wilsie came running up—Mr. Sissle was there, but Mr. Blake had yet to
arrive. “You’ll knock ’em dead, Tumpy. Just do your dancing and forget
the rest.” Josephine didn’t need to be told that. She was ready.
She flexed and stretched her arms as she
walked with Wilsie across the stage, past the musicians gathering,
trumpets and saxophones and drums and a clarinet, down into the
auditorium, where a slender man spoke to a white-haired man at his side.
He turned his head very slightly and looked her up and down from the
corners of his shrewd, hard eyes. His mouth pursed.
“How old are you?” he’d said before Wilsie
had even introduced them. The stage door opened, and a very
dark-skinned man with a bald head hurried in, talking about “the damned
rain,” scampering down the steps, striding up the aisle, shaking water
from his clothes.
“Eubie Blake,” he said, smiling, holding out his hand to her.
“This is Tumpy, Mr. Blake, the one I told you about,” Wilsie said. “She’s here to audition for Clara’s spot in the chorus.”
The man with Mr. Sissle—the stage
manager—motioned to her and she followed him up the stage steps. Did she
know the songs? Could she dance to “I’m Just Wild about Harry”?
Josephine wanted to jump for joy. She pretended to watch as Wilsie
showed her the steps, which she already knew as if she’d made them up
herself. Josephine stripped down to her dingy leotard, tossed her
clothes on a chair, then ran and leaped to the center of the stage. This
was it. She bent over to grasp her ankles, stretching her legs, then
stood and pulled her arms over her head.
“Ready?” Mr. Sissle barked. The music
started, and she began the dance, so simple she could have done it in
her sleep. Practicing in the Standard, she’d gotten bored with it and
had made up her own steps, throwing in a little Black Bottom, wiggling
her ass and kicking her legs twice as high as they wanted to go, taken
by the music, played by it, the instruments’ instrument, flapping her
hands, step and kick and spin and spin and squat and jump and down in a
split, up and jump and kick and spin—oops, the steps, she didn’t need no
damn steps, she had better ones—and kick and jump and wiggle and spin.
She looked out into the auditorium—a big mistake: Mr. Blake’s mouth was
open and Mr. Sissle’s eyes had narrowed to slits. Don’t be nervous, just
dance. Only the music remained now, her feet and the stage.
When she’d finished, panting, and pulled
on her dress and shoes, Wilsie came running over, her eyes shining. “You
made their heads spin, you better believe it,” she whispered, but when
they went down into the aisle Josephine heard Mr. Sissle muttering.
“Too young, too dark, too ugly,” he said.
The world stopped turning, then, the sun frozen in its arc, every clock
still, every breath caught in every throat. Mr. Blake turned to her,
smiling as if everything were normal, and congratulated her on “a
remarkable dance.”
“I can see that you are well qualified for our chorus, Tumpy,” he said, and on his lips, the name sounded like a little child’s.
“You have real talent, and spark, besides. How did you learn to do that at such a young age? You are—how old?”
“Fifteen,” she said.
Mr. Sissle snorted, and cut Wilsie a look.
“Wasting my time,” he said. Mr. Blake looked at her as if she’d just
wandered in from the orphanage.
“I’m very sorry, there’s been a mix-up,” he said. “You must be sixteen to dance professionally in New York State.”
“I’ll be sixteen in June,” Josephine said. Her voice sounded plaintive and faraway.
“We need someone now.” Mr. Sissle folded
his arms as if she were underage on purpose. Mr. Blake led her toward
the stage door, an apologetic Wilsie saying she hadn’t known. Mr. Sissle
followed, talking to Mr. Blake about adding some steps to “I’m Just
Wild about Harry,” saying they should put in some kicks, that he’d been
thinking about it for a while. Uh-huh.
“Come and see us in New York after your
birthday, doll,” Mr. Blake said. “You never know when we might have an
opening.” He opened the door and let the rain pour in before shutting it
again. He looked at Josephine’s thin, optimistic dress. Where was her
umbrella? She hung her head. He stepped over to retrieve a black
umbrella propped against the wall and handed it to her. She took it
without even knowing, her thoughts colliding like too many birds in a
cage. She would have to stay in Philadelphia, she had failed—too young,
too dark, too ugly—she should have lied about her age, what had gotten
into her? Showing off, that was what.
And now Mr. Sissle disliked her, and she
would never get into their show; it didn’t matter how many times she
went back. As she stepped out into the rain with that big umbrella in
her hands unopened and felt the rain pour down her face; she was glad,
for now they would think it was water instead of tears, but when she
looked back, Wilsie was crying, too, in the open doorway.
Seeing the men watching from a window, she
stopped. They wouldn’t forget her; she’d make them remember. She walked
slowly, her silk dress dripping, while Mr. Sissle gesticulated with
excitement as he stole her ideas—authentic Negro dancing were the last
words she’d heard—and Mr. Blake looking as if he wanted to run out
there, scoop her up, and carry her back inside.
( Continued… )
© 2018 All rights reserved. Book excerpt
reprinted by permission of the author, Sherry Jones. Do not reproduce,
copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is
used for promotional purposes only.

 

 

 

Author and journalist Sherry Jones is best known for her international bestseller The Jewel of Medina. She is also the author of The Sword of Medina, Four Sisters, All Queens, The Sharp Hook of Love, and the novella White Heart.  Sherry lives
in Spokane, WA, where, like Josephine Baker, she enjoys dancing,
singing, eating, advocating for equality, and drinking champagne.Her latest novel is Josephine Baker’s Last Dance.Website: http://authorsherryjones.com
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Madam President by William Hazelgrove ~ Excerpt and Giveaway

Posted: October 17, 2016 in Excerpt, giveaways
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Historical biographies may not be my normal reading genre, but if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that you miss those hidden gems if you don’t read outside the box.

Madam President sounds like one of those gems.

Check out The Secret Presidency Of Edith Wilson.

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Madam President
Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson by William Hazelgrove

After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke in the fall of 1919, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, began to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the Executive Office. Mrs. Wilson had had little formal education and had only been married to President Wilson for four years; yet, in the tenuous peace following the end of World War I, Mrs. Wilson dedicated herself to managing the office of the President, reading all correspondence intended for her bedridden husband. Though her Oval Office authority was acknowledged in Washington, D.C. circles at the time–one senator called her “the Presidentress who had fulfilled the dream of suffragettes by changing her title from First Lady to Acting First Man”–her legacy as “First Woman President” is now largely forgotten.

William Hazelgrove’s Madam President is a vivid, engaging portrait of the woman who became the acting President of the United States in 1919, months before women officially won the right to vote.

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Praise

William Hazelgrove’s riveting style lets us into the backrooms of the White House to see how a woman who had only two years formal education was able to pull it off and do it for two years! A great read and ride!
~Robin Hutton New York Times Bestselling Author of Sgt Reckless

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Excerpt – Chapter One

The Cover-Up

President Woodrow Wilson lay with his mouth drooping, unconscious, having suffered a thrombosis on October 2, 1919, that left him paralyzed on his left side and barely able to speak. The doctors believed the president’s best chance for survival was in the only known remedy for a stroke at the time: a rest cure consisting of total isolation from the world.

His wife of four years, Edith Bolling Wilson, asked how a country could function with no chief executive. Dr. Dercum, the attending physician, leaned over and gave Edith her charge: “Madam, it is a grave situation, but I think you can solve it. Have everything come to you; weigh the importance of each matter: and see if it is possible by consultation with the respective heads of the Departments to solve them without the guidance of your husband.”

From there, Edith Wilson would act as the president’s proxy and run the White House and, by extension, the country, by controlling access to the president, signing documents, pushing bills through Congress, issuing vetoes, isolating advisors, crafting State of the Union addresses, disposing of or censoring correspondence, and filling positions. She would analyze every problem and decide which ones to bring to the president’s attention and which to solve on her own through her own devices. All the while she had to keep the fact that the country was no longer being run by President Woodrow Wilson a guarded secret.

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hazelgroveAuthor William Hazelgove

William Elliott Hazelgrove is the best-selling author of thirteen novels, Ripples, Tobacco Sticks, Mica Highways, Rocket Man, The Pitcher, Real Santa, Jackpine and The Pitcher 2. His books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly and Booklist, Book of the Month Selections, Junior Library Guild Selections, ALA Editors Choice Awards and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today and other publications. He has been the subject of interviews in NPR’s All Things Considered along with features in The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Richmond Times Dispatch, USA Today, People, Channel 11, NBC, WBEZ, WGN. The Pitcher is a Junior Library Guild Selection and was chosen Book of the Year by Books and Authors. net. His next book Jackpine will be out Spring 2014 with Koehler Books. A follow up novel Real Santa will be out fall of 2014. Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson will be out Fall 2016. Storyline optioned the movie rights. Forging a President How the West Created Teddy Roosevelt will be out May 2017.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter

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amazon or paypal$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway

Ends 11/8/16

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

 

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