Chafing at the rules of the amber guild, Peter, an apprentice during the waning years of the Thirty Years’ War, finds and keeps a forbidden piece of amber, despite the risk of severe penalties should his secret be discovered.
Little does he know that this amber has hidden powers, transporting him into a future far beyond anything he could imagine. In dreamlike encounters, Peter witnesses the ravages of the final months of World War II in and around his home. He becomes embroiled in the troubles faced by Lioba, a girl he meets who seeks to escape from the oncoming Russian army.
Peter struggles with the consequences of his actions, endangering his family, his amber master’s reputation, and his own future. How much is Peter prepared to sacrifice to right his wrongs?
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INTERVIEW
Writing interview questions
Why did you choose to write your book in this era?
I have always been interested in the years of the Thirty Years War in Germany, a period that is not often the subject of fiction. Meanwhile, my decision to write a time-slip book, that is, a story set in 1644-45 and 1944-45, was driven by my personal connection as a result of my mother’s and other maternal relatives’ stories about the region (near Gdansk, Poland) and their experiences during World War II.
What is the most surprising thing you discovered while you were researching this era?
In the book, my protagonist makes reference to the legend of an amber amulet called the Bear of Happiness. According to the legend, a long, long time ago, in a land along the Baltic Sea, a hunter caught a wild bear. After his successful hunt, he carved a tiny bear amulet out of a piece of amber. As long as the hunter carried his little bear with him, he never lost heart or feared anything when encountering trials on his journey. Eventually, the hunter lost his amulet, and his long and fruitful life came to an end. The amber bear vanished forever, but people still believe in its power to this day, calling it the Bear of Happiness.
In 1887, an amber amulet was found in a peat bog near Slupsk, Poland. Almost 4 inches long, 1 inch wide, almost two inches high, it is dark reddish gold and translucent. Its rounded body, shortened stubs for legs, ears, a snout with two holes for the nose, and round eyes, gives it the appearance of a bear cub. As bears go, this is an odd one. It can’t even stand on its own. You can only see it properly if you hold it in the palm of your hand.
Citizens of Slupsk decided that this was the bear of the legend, their very own Bear of Happiness. Eventually, however, this precious amulet ended up in a museum in Szczecin, Poland.
Meanwhile, to my delight I discovered that the town of Slupsk in Poland, not entirely reconciled to the loss of their bear, has craftsmen create a copy of the amber bear every year, and this same copy is then auctioned off. The proceeds go to charity; thus, the Bear of Happiness continues to spread smiles today.
Can you share something about the book that isn’t covered in the blurb?
If there is anything that sticks in my mind above all else, it is the resilience and enduring beauty of a region along the Baltic Sea southwest of Gdansk, Poland. It is in some respects a lost world where the very names have been erased and many of the former physical traces such as buildings and cemeteries are gone or altered beyond recognition. This region has endured and suffered greatly through many devastating wars. In the Thirty Years’ War, Pomerania lost as much as 60% of its population. In World War II, the entirety of the population was evacuated, killed, or forced out in 1945 and the subsequent two years. The people who now populate the land have themselves experienced a painful dislocation in that they had been forcibly evicted from their homes farther east and brought to this region where they had to rebuild their lives from scratch. These people love their home, and it is beautiful.
If you had to describe your protagonist, in three words, what would those three words be?
Naïve, stubborn, and creative
What are you currently working on?
I am in the planning phase of a trilogy featuring Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror, sister of two kings of England, and mother of King Stephen of England, and a powerful steward of her estates in Normandy.
Personal interview questions
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I love to read and to garden.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I used to dream of joining a group of Romanis, known for the skill with horses, and travel all over Europe on horseback, hardly a viable career choice. But to answer your question more seriously, I always thought I would end up writing in one form or another. It turned out to be true. I worked as an anthropologist and as a translator before turning to writing. All three call on some of the same skill sets.
What’s for dinner tonight? What would you rather be eating?
I will prepare a bowl of pasta with homemade tomato sauce and a salad. What could be better than that?
What’s your favorite food?
Well, if you ask me, I would love once more to return to one of the meals my mother used to make in the winter months when I was a child. Pea soup warmed us up, and it was followed by something she called “children’s questions with sugar”—a mess of old bread mixed with apple slices and eggs, fried in a pan, and served with fruit compote, and we were allowed to sprinkle extra sugar on everything.
What is the best part of your day?
Definitely the first hour in the morning, when I drink my coffee and read for a little while before getting ready to face the day.
Either or
Tea or coffee: Tea
Hot or cold: Hot
Movie or book: Book
Morning person or Night owl: Morning
City or country: Country
Social Media or book: Book
Paperback or ebook: Paperback
Malve von Hassell is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell's memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich - Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994). She has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. She has self-published two children’s picture books, Letters from the Tooth Fairy (2012/2020) and Turtle Crossing (2021), and her translation and annotation of a German children’s classic by Tamara Ramsay, Rennefarre: Dott’s Wonderful Travels and Adventures (Two Harbors Press, 2012). The Falconer’s Apprentice (namelos, 2015) was her first historical fiction novel for young adults. She has published Alina: A Song for the Telling (BHC Press, 2020), set in Jerusalem in the time of the crusades, and The Amber Crane (Odyssey Books, 2021), set in Germany in 1645 and 1945. She has completed a biographical work about a woman coming of age in Nazi Germany and is working on a historical fiction trilogy featuring Adela of Normandy.
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