"COLD WAR" - Book II in the "Bridge to Tomorrow" Series Released

  Book II of the Bridge to Tomorrow Series is now available for purchase.

 

The Bridge to Tomorrow Series describes how the West stopped Russian aggression without war during the Berlin Crisis 1948/1949. This bloodless victory of democracy over tyranny has many lessons for the present day, which Helena P. Schrader, author of an acclaimed non-fiction book about the Berlin Airlift, seamlessly works into her trilogy of novels. The components of Bridge to Tomorrow go beyond the political chess game and logistical achievements to explore the social and psychological impact of this pivotal historical event. Schrader employs a diverse cast of characters -- women and men, British, American, German and Ukrainian -- to enable the reader to see the unfolding events through different, even conflicting, perspectives. As the reader gets drawn into their lives of the characters, the historical tensions rise, and the trilogy accelerates the pace to that of a thriller.

Cold War, the second book in the series, continues where Cold Peace left off:

Berlin is under siege. More than two million civilians will starve unless they receive food, medicine and more by air.

USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF Flight Lieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin. They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile, two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished and abandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on the side of Russia….

Based on historical events, award-winning novelist Helena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about how former enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how close the Berlin Airlift came to failing under the assault of “General Winter.” 

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Praise for Cold Peace, the first book in the Bridge to Tomorrow Series.

"Sharp research meets vivid storytelling in an absorbing novel of the postwar period." Kirkus Reviews

"...a wonderful mixture of hard historical facts...[and] raw portrayals of the human condition." Historical Fiction Company

“…a spellbinding work of historical fiction that brings a unique pocket of history to life with extraordinary detail and heart." Readers' Favorites

“…a very fast-paced, suspenseful, emotional, and riveting story that any reader will find almost impossible to put down.” Feathered Quill

“…war heroes and strong women find their collective purpose in a war-torn Berlin.” Foreword Clarion

"Compelling" - BlueInk Review

Helena P. Schrader is a former U.S. diplomat, who earned her PhD in Modern History from the University of Hamburg. She spent roughly one-third of her life in Berlin and first explored the pivotal events of the Berlin Airlift 1948-1949 in her comprehensive non-fiction study The Blockade Breakers. Schrader is the author of a score of novels, eleven of which have earned a total of 28 literary awards and 24 lesser accolades. Cold Peace was runner-up for “BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023” from the Historical Fiction Company, in addition to earning GOLD in the category wartime fiction from both Feathered Quill and the Historical Fiction Company and winning SILVER from Readers Favorites 2023, a Brag Medallion and a Maincrest Media Award.

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Why I Write Historical Fiction - A Guest Blogpost by Kimberly Burns

 Kimberly Burns writes historical novels based on the true lives of women of the Old West. Her debut novel The Mrs. Tabor won numerous awards. The Redemption of Mattie Silks is her latest book.

Any book that pleases and engages a single reader is a good book. Any genre that encourages a young person to pick another book has value. But, I love historical fiction.

A historical novel has the ability to put a reader in anyone’s shoes. When I open a historical novel I might find myself on the dust-choked streets of the Old West in a waist-pinching corset and calf-skin boots. Or I can prowl dimly lit corridors of a Scottish castle in dainty velvet slippers. Perhaps, I am shod in sturdy leather shoes with shiny brass buckles as I debate freedom and revolution with patriots in 1776 Philadelphia. I can be any place and at any time.

Historical fiction makes the events of long ago more relatable. Memorizing a list of dates and places for a history class provides little understanding of the impact of events. Joseph Stalin is believed to have said, “If only one man dies, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that is only statistics.” A novel can help us wrap our minds around sweeping epic events. The immersion into the human life and its daily activities, seeing the smaller picture that lays within the bigger picture, creates empathy. This improved perceptive can also help us better navigate current problems and situations.

The blending of facts with imagination forms a more compelling read than just a textbook. Historical fiction entertains while it educates. Storytelling has always been a part of the human experience; it is in our DNA. It’s how we have always shared our past, explained our culture, and taught the next generation.

I grew up in the high mountains of central Colorado hearing stories of the colorful characters that first inhabited the region. When I moved to the East Coast, I discovered that people didn’t know much about the pioneers and their adventurous lives. The white settlers who explored and made homes in the area were bold trailblazers, not just in the sense that they turned their backs on all they knew and trekked into the wilderness. The utter lack of infrastructure and civilization allowed—nay, required—that strict confining social dictates be thrown by the wayside. The old ways of thinking were smashed like a useless china tea set falling from the back of a Westward wagon and new more pragmatic norms were accepted.

Women in particular benefited from this societal blank slate. The need for labor gave Western women opportunities to create careers that their sisters in the East did not have. Females in the wilderness territories blazed trails in business, were pioneers of medicine, and ground-breakers in politics. Females in the new states of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado were voting before the turn of the twentieth century, decades before the 19^th Amendment was ratified. These gals were audaciously creating history but in small ways that was rarely reported to the outside civilization.

So many fascinating stories, never well recorded, are being lost, fading from our collective memory. I want to share these tales of personal courage and societal innovation that would otherwise become a forgotten footnote. We can learn from these tenacious, fearless role models. But only if we know of them.

I want to read and write about common people caught in challenging situations and how they rose to meet them. The books that line my shelves educate me, entertain me, and help me to develop a sense of empathy that will serve me in the modern world. These novels inspire me. This is why I write historical fiction.

 

                        Find out more at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09G4S8N2L