Just like a single candle can brighten a dark room, a glimmer of hope can sustain the soul in dark times. In her highly-anticipated second novel, Kristy Cambron shines a light on the resiliency of the human spirit in A Sparrow in Terezin (Thomas Nelson/April 7, 2015/ISBN: 978-1401690618/$15.99).
A Sparrow in Terezin shares the heart-wrenching truth of the Terezin concentration camp during WWII. Of the approximate 150,000 prisoners who passed through Terezin, nearly 90,000 were deported to extermination camps. Of the 15,000 children sent to Terezin, fewer than 100 survived. Despite the lack of basic sanitation, food and clean water though, an arts community thrived there, even among the children. “The art of these children refused to leave my heart,” Cambron admits. “The images are so heart-wrenching, they beg for a voice. It’s because of them that Sophie and Kája’s story was born.”
In parallel stories, readers are introduced in the present day to Sera James. With the grand opening of her new art gallery and a fairytale wedding just around the corner, Sera feels she’s stumbled into a charmed life – until a brutal legal battle against her fiancé, William Hanover, threatens to destroy her carefully planned future. Now, after an eleventh-hour wedding ceremony and a callous arrest, William faces a decade in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and Sera must battle the scathing accusations that threaten her family and hopes for a future.
In 1939, decades before Sera was born, Kája Makovsky narrowly escapes occupied Prague and is forced to leave behind her half-Jewish family. Kája is working as a reporter for the Daily Telegraph in England when she discovers the terror has followed her across the Channel in the shadowy form of the London Blitz. When she learns Jews are being exterminated by the thousands on the continent, Kája has no choice but to return to her mother city, risking her life to smuggle her family to freedom.
Connecting across a century through Holocaust survivor Sophie, who was a child in the Terezin concentration camp, Sera and Kája will discover a powerful kinship. In this tale of hope and survival, these two women must cling to their faith to protect all they hold dear – even if it means placing their own futures on the line.
Above all, Cambron hopes readers walk away from A Sparrow in Terezinencouraged that no matter what life brings them, they can find strength, courage and beauty in a life following Christ.
A Sparrow in Terezin is the follow-up to Cambron’s critically-acclaimed debut novel, The Butterfly and the Violin, which has garnered numerous awards, including being named to Library Journal Reviews‘ “Best Books of 2014.”
For more information about Kristy Cambron or A Sparrow in Terezin, visit www.kristycambron.com, become a fan onFacebook (KCambronAuthor) or follow her on Twitter (@KCambronAuthor).
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Sexual Content - 1/5
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Violence - 2/5
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Language - 0/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 0/5
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Summary
It's nearly impossible to imagine or even describe the horrors of such a place as Terezin; a cesspool of celebrated inhumanity, where the human spirit was dared to survive. Miraculously through the pages of \"A Sparrow in Terezin\" a tiny hope flickers, as small as one of God's sparrows seeking the freedom to fly; shedding light and blessings in the midst of horrific darkness. Kristy Cambron has penned a magnificent story that crosses oceans as well as generations; shadowing the lives of two women, whose heartaches serve to make them and those that they love much stronger. The first young woman is Kaja Makovsky, born to a Jewish doctor, who has to flee Nazi¬occupied Poland and quietly assume a new life in England. Naturally, a portion of her heart remains in Poland with her parents, whom she fears are in grave danger. When war follows Kaja to England and she inadvertently learns of mass exterminations by the Nazis, she begs a young man, Liam Marshall to aid in her clandestine return to Poland. Sera James Hanover faces great uncertainty, even on her wedding day. When her husband is arrested shortly after their vows, she is heart broken, but determined to aid in his defense. Family secrets plague the Hanoverfamily and Sera travels all the way to England in an attempt to understand the widening rift. What she discovers and how she handles it will most certainly change a family's future forever. Ironically, the person who so gently lends answers is one of God's \"sparrows\" from Terezin. What a beautifully written story that will be a treasure to read for many years to come; may we never forget!
Violence: This is story set deep within the bounds of Nazi¬occupied Poland the Terezin prison camp. Conditions are dire and people are treated inhumanely, but the descriptions are not graphic in detail.