Into the Darkest Day: An emotional and totally gripping WW2 historical novel
Page 35
The last six months he has discovered more than he has ever wanted to know—about his country, about the camps, about the fate of his family, and about who he is, or at least who he could be. The knowledge has transformed him, as surely as Jekyll into Hyde. Even if no one else sees it, he knows he always will.
And yet… there is Lily. There has always been Lily, the hope of her waiting for him, believing in him. But believing in the man he was, or the one he is afraid of becoming? Could she possibly be waiting for him as he is now?
And then the decision is taken out of his hands. The door opens, and she is there. He blinks and then drinks her in—those soft brown eyes, the gently curling hair. There is a streak of premature gray by her temple now. Her dress is worn and frayed, and she looks tired, but she is smiling, if just a little.
“I was waiting for you to come in,” she says. “But then I decided I wouldn’t wait any longer.”
“Lily.” He can’t say any more.
He can’t tell her of all the things he’s seen and felt and done. Of war, and Wobbelin, and the smug face of Henck, the matter-of-fact descriptions given in the Nuremberg trials that made him feel as if his soul could claw its way out of his body.
He can’t tell her about how he feels as if he has lost himself, forgotten something essential and elemental that everyone else takes for granted. A heart, perhaps? Maybe a soul.
He can’t tell her any of that, at least not yet, even though, as he looks at her, he realizes he will one day, he will want to, and she will understand. She will accept and forgive.
And even in this moment, when he has said nothing but her name, she understands already, and he doesn’t have to speak another word.
Lily steps forward, and then her arms are around him, drawing him in, like a tender mother with a child, but also a woman to the man she loves. His head rests on her breast and his shoulders shake, as, for the first time since he can remember, he weeps.
He is home.
If you loved Into the Darkest Day, you won’t want to miss Kate Hewitt’s equally powerful and emotional earlier novels, including Not My Daughter—a heartbreaking story of a mother’s love for her child.
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Not My Daughter
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Anna’s hands tense on Alice and she hesitates. In that endless pause, I see all I need to know. She doesn’t want to give Alice to me – not now, and not ever. And part of me doesn’t even blame her…
Milly always dreamed of being a mother. Adopted herself, she has always imagined a powerful intimate connection with a child of her own. So when she and her husband Matt are told they can’t have children, her dreams are shattered.
But then their loved ones offer the ultimate gift – Milly’s best friend Anna and Matt’s brother Jack will be donors so that Milly can carry a child and finally have a chance to be a mother. And with everyone accepting and open, Milly believes that nothing could could go wrong.
Except none of the four people involved are prepared for the feelings that will threaten their most important relationships as their precious, longed-for daughter Alice grows up and receives a heartbreaking diagnosis.
Then those who love her best will have to decide what it means to be a parent, and to make decisions with far-reaching and devastating consequences… for Alice, and for themselves.
A powerful, heart-breaking novel guaranteed to make you cry, for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, and Gracie’s Secret.
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Hear More from Kate
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Books by Kate Hewitt
Into the Darkest Day
A Hope For Emily
No Time to Say Goodbye
Not My Daughter
The Secrets We Keep
A Mother’s Goodbye
This Fragile Life
When He Fell
Rainy Day Sisters
Now and Then Friends
A Mother like Mine
Writing as Katharine Swartz
The Vicar's Wife
The Lost Garden
The Second Bride
The Other Side of The Bridge
AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
A Hope For Emily (Available in the UK and the US)
No Time to Say Goodbye (Available in the UK and the US)
Not My Daughter (Available in the UK and the US)
The Secrets We Keep (Available in the UK and the US)
A Mother’s Goodbye (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Kate
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Into the Darkest Day. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Sign up here!
When my editor first asked me to write a book set during the Second World War, I stumbled across the Ritchie Boys while researching ideas, and was immediately transfixed by their powerful story—Jewish refugees who returned to Germany to face those who had once tormented them. I owe a huge debt of gratitude and knowledge to two authors and their books about the Ritchie Boys—The Ritchie Boys by Bruce Henderson, and Witness to the Storm by Werner Angress, the personal memoir of a former Ritchie Boy from Berlin. I highly recommend both books for their powerful stories.
At the heart of my novel is the question of whether a moment should define us, and I hope as a reader you are encouraged that, no matter what the circumstances, forgiveness and healing can be found. Although I like to write about hard and often tragic situations, I do believe that redemption can be found in the midst of, and even through, suffering, as it was for Abby and Simon and Lily and Matthew.
I hope you loved Into the Darkest Day and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers—you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thanks,
Kate
www.kate-hewitt.com
A Hope For Emily
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Looking back, I wish I could find my way back to that moment. I’d snatch it and hold onto it and live in it for the rest of my life, if I could. When Emily could still throw her arms around me. Oh God, just give me that moment, or one like it again. That’s all I want.
From the moment Emily was born, reaching out with her tiny little star-shaped hand towards her mother, blinking with long eyelashes over soft blue eyes, she became Rachel’s whole world.
But Rachel’s worst nightmare comes true when a rare auto-immune illness leaves four-year-old Emily in a coma the doctors say she may never come out of. And Rachel has to make a heartbreaking decision – one that her ex-husband, Emily’s dad James, doesn’t agree with.
Terrified she’s going to lose her daughter for good, Rachel knows she must find a way to keep the hope alive for Emily. But there is only one person she can turn to for help to convince James––and it’s his new wife, Eva.
As an unlikely but powerful friendship develops between the two women, both Rachel and Eva will have to ask themselves––what is truly the right choice for the tiny, fragile little girl who lies between them?
A beautiful story that will break your heart into a million pieces, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain and Susan Lewis.
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No Time to Say Goodbye
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It hit me, the reality of it, in a way it hadn’t before like a sledgehammer straight to the chest. Laura was gone. She was never coming back. I’d never see her again; she’d never hum in the kitchen, she’d never pull Ruby onto her lap and tickle her tummy as she buried he
r face in the sweet curve of our daughter’s shoulder.
Nathan Ross loved his wife Laura with all his heart. But now she’s gone, taken from him in a seemingly random act of violence. Laura was the glue that held their family together. And for Nathan, life without her feels almost meaningless.
As he tries to find hope in the darkness, his three young daughters express their grief in different and challenging ways – with one set on a path of self-destruction that could devastate their family all over again. Desperate to understand his own heartbreak better, he reaches out to others who had known Laura. Including her new friend Maria, whose light and warmth are exactly what their grieving family needs, and who is soon helping out and providing emotional support for them all.
But the picture Maria paints of Laura is unfamiliar to Nathan – of a wife who felt ignored, a mother who felt she couldn’t do enough – and he struggles to reconcile it with his own memories of the woman he loved. Is it possible he didn’t know his wife after all? And can he trust Maria? He can’t escape the feeling that she’s keeping something from him.
Maria is hiding a secret with the power to rock Nathan’s family to its core. Because it is about what happened the day that Laura died…
An insightful and powerful novel guaranteed to break your heart, about how the unthinkable can sometimes help us see the world in a powerful new way. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, and Susan Lewis.
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The Secrets We Keep
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My whole body aches. I trawl memories of her, now so precious… my darling child. I can’t lose her…
When Tessa arrives at the little house by the lake with her two children, it is an escape. The rental house may be a bit small – but it’s theirs for the summer. A place to hide…
However, their isolation is disrupted by the family from the big house next door. Three children and their glamorous mother Rebecca – who seems determined to invite Tessa into their lives.
Rebecca, however, is harbouring a dark secret. And when it becomes too much for her to bear, Tessa seems to be the only person she can turn to.
But as powerful bonds form between the two families, choices will be made that can never be undone. And as the summer comes to an end, nothing can keep everyone safe. And one family will pay the ultimate price…
A gripping, powerful emotional page turner with a heartbreaking twist, for fans of Jodi Picoult, Emily Bleeker and Diane Chamberlain.
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A Mother’s Goodbye
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‘My arms ache with the need to reach and hold my precious child, and then to never let go. But I can’t. I know I can’t.’
Heather is devastated. There’s no way she can keep her baby. She can barely pay the bills as it is. But when she meets Grace, a wealthy, single career woman, who wants a baby more than anything, Heather believes she has found the perfect adoptive mother.
As Grace and Heather’s lives become entwined, they are tested to breaking point, though neither can deny the other’s love for the child. But just when they think they are learning how to live with each other, they receive devastating news that turns their fragile world upside down.
Will either mother know what is the right thing to do for the child they both love?
An absolutely gripping, emotional drama with a tear-jerking twist. If you love Jodi Picoult, Kelly Rimmer or Diane Chamberlain, this will warm your heart, make you cry, and stay with you forever.
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Acknowledgments
I must admit it was a bit daunting to start Into the Darkest Day, as I was writing a historical genre I’d never tried before. The research alone felt like enough to overwhelm me, and so I have many people and books to thank for helping me with facts and inspiring me with true stories. Thank you to Bruce Henderson, Werner Angress, Virginia Nicholson, Megan Westley, and many others for their books of impeccable research. Thank you also to the staff at the Imperial War Museum who answered some of my questions and directed me to appropriate books and exhibits. Thank you also to my dear husband Cliff, whose WW2 expertise helped me thrash out some issues, especially concerning battles and armies. Now I know the difference between a platoon and a battalion! It was also fun, if sometimes harrowing, to watch Band of Brothers with you.
I also must thank my old friend Greg Evans, to whom this novel is dedicated. He contacted me out of the blue a few years ago, to tell me a true story he’d heard that he thought would make a good novel, about an American GI and a British woman who had a wartime romance, and how he gave her his Purple Heart medal, and then how, years later, his family didn’t want it back. That’s all Greg knew, but it was enough to spark this story, so thank you, Greg, for the initial idea!
I also want to thank the Bookouture team who are all so amazing and generous with their time and expertise. Firstly, my lovely editor Isobel, who was so understanding when I went through a time of personal tragedy in the midst of this novel. Thank you for your patience! Thank you also to Kim and Noelle, who are so unfailingly wonderful with their marketing efforts, as well as Alex H, Alex C, Leodora, Peta, Radhika, and many others whose time and talents invested in this book I’m not even aware of! I wouldn’t want to be with any other publisher.
Lastly, thank you to my family and friends who have supported my writing in so many ways—to Jenna, who is always patient and willing to listen to me brainstorm or moan, and to my non-writing friends who always gamely ask what I’m working on—Jo, Cat, Amanda, Jane, Julie, Abby, Georgie, as well as many others. Thank you finally to my wonderful family—Cliff, Caroline, Ellen, Teddy, Anna, and Charlotte—yes, I’ve named you all this time! Are you all amazing or what? As Grandad would have said, Does a chicken have lips? Love you!
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Kate Hewitt, 2020
Kate Hewitt has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-509-0
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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