1942. As war rips through the heart of Holland, childhood friends Josie van Rees and Eliese Linden partner with a few daring citizens to rescue Eliese’s son and hundreds of other Jewish children who await deportation in a converted theater in Amsterdam. But amid their resistance work, Josie and Eliese’s dangerous secrets could derail their friendship and their entire mission. When the enemy finds these women, only one will escape.
Seventy-five years later, Ava Drake begins to suspect that her great-grandfather William Kingston was not the World War II hero he claimed to be. Her work as director of the prestigious Kingston Family Foundation leads her to Landon West’s Ugandan coffee plantation, and Ava and Landon soon discover a connection between their families. As Landon’s great-grandmother shares the broken pieces of her story, Ava must confront the greatest loss in her own life—and powerful members of the Kingston family who will do anything to keep the truth buried.
Illuminating the story and strength of these women, award-winning author Melanie Dobson transports readers through time and place, from World War II Holland to contemporary Uganda, in this rich and inspiring novel.
Words From The Author
Financing the Enemy: How Americans Profited from Hitler
When I wrote Memories of Glass, I wanted to tell the story of three Dutch heroes who risked everything to rescue Jewish children from the Nazis. But in the midst of my research, I stumbled onto a different kind of story. A sad one about American companies and investors who made millions off Hitler’s war.
Allied soldiers fought relentlessly to stop the evil sweeping across Europe—concentration camps and persecution and death chambers. What I didn’t realize until I started researching my novel was that much of this evil didn’t stem from the heart of Germany. Much of it was financed by those living and working in the US.
In 1918 Congress passed the Webb-Pomerene Act, an export trade act permitting the creation of American trusts and monopolies overseas. As Germany rose from the ashes of World War I, investors around the world saw an opportunity to support their growth. These were ethical, legal investments to help Germans rebuild their businesses.
But it was very much illegal for American bankers to invest after the United States entered World War II. Treason, in fact, for them to support the Allies’ enemy. Instead of stepping back, some investors utilized banks across Europe to continue their work.
American corporations weren’t as secretive about the partnerships they had with Nazi Germany both before and during the war. Ford Motor Company, DuPont, IBM, General Motors, ITT, and Chase Bank legally contributed to Hitler’s rise. And Standard Oil collaborated with I.G. Farben, the company that ultimately distributed poisonous Zyklon B for the gas chambers. The company that boomed from slave labor at Auschwitz.
Stock in the Third Reich returned millions to its American investors as they profited under Hitler’s rule. For many years, this information was stashed away in classified government documents and business vaults. A lot of it, I suspect, is still hidden.
World War II brought out the best in some people. Unfortunately, it also siphoned the worst.
Proverbs 15:27 says: “Greed brings grief to the whole family.”In Memories of Glass, the greed of the Kingston family patriarch brings decades of grief to his wealthy descendants. Each of my characters has a choice, just like each of us have a choice in this life. Will we profit from the mistreatment of others or will we—like the heroine in my story—defend those who’ve been abused?
This book was published September 3, 2019 and is available at Tyndale.com.
About the Author
Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of nearly twenty historical romance, suspense, and time-slip novels including Hidden Among the Stars and Catching the Wind. Four of her novels have won Carol Awards, and Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana won Best Novel of Indiana in 2010. Melanie loves to explore old cemeteries and ghost towns, hike in the mountains, and play board games with her family. She lives near Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Jon, and two daughters.