While I was researching for Chateau of Secrets, I had the incredible privilege of having lunch at the home of Serge and Marie Charlotte in Normandy. Marie Charlotte’s parents had been the leaders of the local French resistance, and my friends and I relished her many stories about how they thwarted their occupiers during World War II.

Near the end of our lunch, Serge brought out strips of nylon—pieces of a parachute—from the Allied soldiers who’d parachuted into Normandy on D-Day. He presented each of us with a piece and thanked us, as citizens of America, for helping to free their beloved country.

I quickly explained that I didn’t deserve this honor. I didn’t have any relatives who fought on the beaches of Normandy. But Serge insisted. In his mind, we were ambassadors, and he wanted to show his appreciation for the heroes in our country.

It was a deeply moving moment for me. Even though it was completely undeserved, I accepted his gift with honor on behalf of the thousands of Americans who sacrificed everything to free someone else.

My desire, in turn, is to extend Serge’s generosity through my written words. Chateau of Secrets was written almost ten years ago to honor the people of Normandy, and now The Winter Rose, my latest time-slip novel set in France, was written to honor French and American heroes alike who sacrificed their lives to help children escape Southern France during World War II.

The Winter Rose follows the life of an American Quaker woman named Grace Tonquin who escorts a group of children across the treacherous Pyrénées between France and Spain. She returns home to Oregon with two of the children, but the echoes of her past and trauma from the Holocaust slowly tear their family apart. More than fifty years after the Tonquin family disappears, a woman named Addie begins to put the pieces of this broken family back together again.

It is such a privilege to partner with friends Sarah Sundin and Liz Tolsma to take a journey with readers this winter through the pages of our new books, all of them inspired by real stories that happened in France.

This event is finished, but for more details about the giveaway, please visit winterinfrance.com. Thank you for joining us on this journey!