Ronald H. Balson, “The Girl from Berlin” and Steven Hartov, “The Soul of a Thief”

In Conversation with John Lemley, Host and Producer of John Lemley’s City Cafe and High Tea, WMLB-AM, 1690

Community Partner: Holocaust Survivors Support Fund

RONALD H. BALSON, The Girl from Berlin: A Novel

In the latest novel from Ronald H. Balson, internationally-bestselling author of Once We Were Brothers, an old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the Tuscan hills by a powerful corporation claiming they own the deeds, even though she can produce her own set of deed. Catherine and Liam’s only clue is a bound manuscript, handwritten entirely in German. Hidden in its pages is a story long forgotten about a woman named Ada Baumgarten. How is she connected to the conflicting land deeds of a small Italian villa? As they dig through the layers of lies, corruption, and human evil, Catherine and Liam uncover an unfinished story of heart, redemption, and hope―the ending of which is yet to be written.

STEVEN HARTOV, The Soul of a Thief: A Novel

In New York Times bestselling author Steven Hartov’s gripping war drama, Shtefan Brandt, adjutant to Colonel Erich Himmel of the Waffen SS, has made it through the war so far in spite of his commander’s habit of bringing his staff into combat. Shtefan is a Mischling and one of the thousands of German citizens of Jewish descent who have avoided the death camps by concealing themselves in the German army. He is in love with Gabrielle, the colonel’s French mistress. Either of those facts could soon mean his end. Atmospheric and intense, The Soul of a Thief captures the turbulent emotional rush of those caught behind the lines of occupied France, where one false step could spell death.