Reading Getaway’s November Author Spotlight – Sharon Hart-Green by E. M. Duesel

COME BACK FOR ME tells the story of two young Jewish characters. One is a Hungarian Holocaust survivor Artur Mandelkorn who’s on a desperate quest to find his beloved sister, Manya, after they become separated during the war. Artur’s journey takes him to Israel where he falls in love with Fanny, a young woman who still bears the scars of her own tragic past. Intersecting Artur’s tale is that of Suzy Kohn, a Toronto teenager whose seemingly tranquil life is shattered by her uncle’s sudden death. As she struggles with her aunt’s growing depression and her parents’ collective secrecy, Suzy gropes for answers to her unanswered questions. As Suzy’s coming of age story reaches a climax, Artur’s quest for his sister leads to a shocking discovery.  Their stories come together in Israel following the Six-Day War, when the reader travels through time and place to arrive, ultimately, to the connections between generations.

       Encouraged by an English teacher at a young age, Sharon Hart-Green never forgot her love of writing. As she pursued her doctorate degree in Hebrew Literature, she published two academic texts, but her natural instincts for creative writing persisted and she missed the freedom “to write in a way that was more intuitive–to seek words and images that were drawn from the deepest regions of my unconscious mind.” While keeping a close eye on the historical facts, she joined the ranks of fiction writers who understand and tirelessly pour out their hearts writing stories depicting the souls of their characters.

       In Come Back for Me, Sharon connects between two narratives, a challenge which required hours of rewrites, editing, and purging; the kind that burden an author until it is just right. But the writing is only the first task in introducing a work to the world. Landing a contract with an agent is a complicated and daunting chore, which some authors never want or realize. Refusals and denials abound. But Sharon chose to take all of her worthwhile rejections and turn them into constructive criticism causing major revisions to her book – a testament to the significance of keeping an open mind as a creative. By “letting down my pride and paying close attention to the criticisms” she weathered the harshest pathway to authorship and found an agent and a publisher to promote her work.

       Read more about Sharon Hart-Green and her award-winning novel, Come Back for Me, at https://www.sharonhartgreen.com/. You may purchase the book on Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback format.

You Kicked Over My Sandcastle

We met in a sand covered land.

The water washed up onto an unknown shore.

Isolated together through happenstance,

but the land was ours to explore.

So, we began this unknown journey

that was foreign to both our souls.

A castle built of sand

which would last until we were old.

It wasn’t built on fairy tales.

It wasn’t built on romance.

It was built upon a sacred vow

and friendship upheld by chance.

Behind the back of the other,

another life was being led.

One that lurked outside the boundaries.

An omission of words unsaid.

We built a solid base

that reached three stories high.

Up to the sturdy curtain wall

to protect us from the night.

I mixed the sand with stones,

to craft the battlement with power and might,

But you removed those stones of strength

and replaced them with shale at night.

In the streaming sunlight

our castle continued to grow.

Steps laboriously sculpted to reach the bailey

where our children ran to and fro.

A moat dug deep around this dynasty

to embrace the dreams inside.

But alas the drawbridge didn’t suffice,

the inner enemy those dreams decried.

The final stage was upon us.

The keep seemed stalwart and fine.

But one soul of the castle was vulnerable

to his own cowardice and crime.

His other life took over

without any shame or remorse.

His boots began to crush the sand.

The lives he bludgeoned with force.

The aftermath was gruesome.

Our souls shredded with pain.

That the other so filled with betrayal

felt nothing but disdain.

You kicked over my sandcastle,

that I lovingly created with trust

to shield my children from brutality,

but you squashed it all to dust.

Why should I be so surprised

when the foundation was not true?

A sandcastle built on sand

Can be nothing but black and blue.       ~ Anna Moreland

WILDFLOWERS by E. M. Duesel