Author interview with Renny deGroot author of "After Paris"

After Paris by Renny deGroot

Publication Date: July 8, 2016
Paperback & eBook; 364 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

From Shortlisted Author of the 2015 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, Renny deGroot comes a new Historical Fiction.

Liesbeth Zwart forges her identity with courage and aptitude while nursing in France during WW1. As Liesbeth Bos, she feels that identity melting away; the skills she needed as a nurse in Paris are of little use to her as a wife and mother in post-war Netherlands.

As she grapples to adjust to her new reality, she is confronted with a shocking discovery that sends her fleeing with her young daughter to start a new life in Canada. The New World forces Liesbeth to reassess her own life and beliefs, but will it be enough to save her fractured family?

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About the Author

Renny deGroot is a first generation Canadian of Dutch parents. She is a published poet, song lyricist and novelist. Her debut novel, Family Business, was shortlisted in the Literary Fiction category, for the 2015 Emerging Writer Prize. She studied English Literature at Trent University.

Her strong Dutch roots continue to influence her while the love of her Canadian homeland with its beauty and freedom, flavors all that she does.

Renny lives in rural Ontario, Canada with her Great Pyrenees and Chocolate Lab.

For more information, please visit Renny deGroot’s website. You can also find her on Facebook.

Hi Renny-

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

-I know that I’ve often wondered why World War II has so many books (fiction and nonfiction) written about it with WWI having a comparatively smaller catalogue. What made you focus on a WWI story?

It was a time that changed the world forever – like 9/11 has in our lifetime. I wanted to use that massive event to look at how it could change an individual. There are many amazing books that look at the emotional impact the war horrors had on the damaged soldier (my favourite being Mrs. Dalloway), but I wanted to look at how the individual’s role in society changed; the role of women especially changed and I wanted to look at that.

I chose the specific setting of a hospital in Le Pré Catelen in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris to open the novel because I have a one-hundred-year old photo album of that place taken during the war years and I found it inspiring.

-In your research for this book, did you come across anything that really surprised you?

The innovation in medical practices surprised me. The proverb: “Necessity is the mother of invention” really showed up in the advances that were made to address surgery and post-op infections. I found the medical diaries (those of nurses and doctors) and journals from the war fascinating.

Looking at the role of women in post-war Netherlands also surprised me – since the Netherlands had been neutral during WW1, women didn’t step into the jobs of men, as they did in England, France, etc. This meant that the change for women in Dutch society was quite different than in those countries who fought in the war.

- Do you see some of your own personality/attributes in Lisbeth?

There will always be a little of oneself in a character, but generally speaking I think Liesbeth is a little more lost than I ever recall being.

- Tell me about your writing process. Do you write at a certain time of day everyday or just when the creative moments hit you? Music in the background or quiet?

I am a morning person, so I like to write early in the day. I don’t write every day, but I think every day and that is a huge part of the creative process. I live in the country and love nothing more than taking the dogs for a hike through the woods and during that time I will have imaginary conversations or see my people taking certain actions – so that when I get back to the writing, I know where I want to go. I need classical music playing in the background.

-What’s up next for you?

I am starting to map out my next book which will take place in Ireland. There are so many stories to tell from that country, as it’s a place of great history, beauty and character.

Thank you to Library Educated for giving me this opportunity to talk about my book After Paris.!

Book review: "Galerie" by Steve Greenberg (HFVBT)

*Come back tomorrow for an interview with the author!*


This book covers many countries, many time periods but with a core group of characters. We follow Vanessa Newman from a young visiting camper in Wisconsin to a woman in Israel with a mysterious and fractured family. Her mother dies when she is young, so she is surrounded by the men in her family, her father and her Uncle Tomas. But they have conflicts and when one dies the other seems strangely relieved. Kinda weird, right? Vanessa begins to dig in her past, seeking answers and what she gets is a lot more questions, and danger!

In general I don't think the circumstances of Vanessa's family disconnectedness is unusual. When people see horrible things or are forced to participate in horrible things - things like drinking, drugs, isolation and guilt can be constant companions. And sometimes no matter how much time has passed they might never be ready to talk about their experiences.

One of the things that I thought was most thought provoking about this book was the argument between Vanessa and her husband (our narrator) about the difference between collaboration and survival during war time. (But that will come up in the interview tomorrow, so I will just let that sit.)

I also obviously love the fact that the book is set in Prague. Although not very many things that happen there are nice!

This book has something for nearly everyone: interesting locations, mysterious symbols, people stalked through the old cobbled streets of Prague, a pretty high creepy factor and murder most foul!

About the Author

Steven Greenberg is a professional writer, as well as a full-time cook, cleaner, chauffeur, and work-at-home Dad for three amazing young children, and the lucky husband of a loving and very supportive wife. Born in Texas and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Steven emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, following graduation from Indiana University in 1990. In 1996, he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, where he served for 12 years as a Reserves Combat Medic. Since 2002, Steven has worked as an independent marketing writer, copywriter and consultant.
You can find more information at Steven Greenberg’s website. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, April 5
Review at Library Educated

Wednesday, April 6
Review & Giveaway at Man of la Book
Interview at Library Educated
Thursday, April 7
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book
Review & Giveaway at The Maiden’s Court
Friday, April 8
Review & Giveaway at Singing Librarian Books
Monday, April 11
Guest Post & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews
Tuesday, April 12
Review at Eclectic Ramblings of Author Heather Osborne
Wednesday, April 13
Review at Flashlight Commentary
Thursday, April 14
Review at Bookramblings
Interview at Flashlight Commentary
Friday, April 15
Review at Book Nerd

Book Review: "In the Land of the Armadillos" by Helen Maryles Shankman (HFVBT)

A Spring 2016 Discover Great New Writers selection at Barnes & Noble.

A radiant debut collection of linked stories from a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, set in a German-occupied town in Poland, where tales of myth and folklore meet the real-life monsters of the Nazi invasion.

1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland’s towns and cities of their Jewish populations. As neighbor turns on neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland has become a moral quagmire—a place of shifting truths and blinding ambiguities.

Blending folklore and fact, Helen Maryles Shankman shows us the people of Wlodawa, a remote Polish town: we meet a cold-blooded SS officer dedicated to rescuing the creator of his son’s favorite picture book, even as he helps exterminate the artist’s friends and family; a Messiah who appears in a little boy’s bedroom to announce that he is quitting; a young Jewish girl who is hidden by the town’s most outspoken anti-Semite—and his talking dog. And walking among these tales are two unforgettable figures: the enigmatic and silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, Commandant of the forced labor camp who has grand schemes to protect “his” Jews, and Soroka, the Jewish saddlemaker and his family, struggling to survive.

Channeling the mythic magic of classic storytellers like Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer and the psychological acuity of modern-day masters like Nicole Krauss and Nathan Englander, In the Land of Armadillos is a testament to the persistence of humanity in the most inhuman conditions.

Wesley's review:

This was my kind of short story collection. When I finished it (a little bit past my bedtime *cough*) I just held it in my hands and savored the feeling of reading something that was just such a good read. It was like eating a Snickers bar on a day that if you DIDN'T GET SOME CHOCOLATE THERE WOULD BE HELL TO PAY.

Anyway.

This is my favorite kind of short story collection, when all of the  stories have a common theme or setting and has a thread of continuity through them all but it doesn't just tell the same story from a different angle over and over again.

I like the little dose of magical realism in a couple of the stories. For the people of Europe during WWII it must have really seemed like the end of the world was at hand; so who says talking animals would have been completely out of the question? (If you don't like magical realism, don't let this put you off. It doesn't show up a lot.) Even my magical creature, the golem, shows up in a story. I might have to update my guest post about golem that I just did for Book Bloggers International! 

I liked that there were some happy endings, but not so many to not be realistic. Because, not a whole lot of happy endings come out of WWII, but there were enough to keep me from despairing.

Each story I read I thought "this one will probably be my favorite". (With the exception of the Messiah one, that one I liked the least out of the whole bunch). But I think my two absolute favorites were "Super crotchety old man saves a little Jewish girl, also there's a talking dog" or "Legit ghost story I could tell around the campfire about mysterious animals in the woods" those aren't the actual titles obviously.

The more "humane" side of a couple of the German characters also made things complicated, in the best kind of way.

If you couldn't tell from the gushiness of this review, I very much liked this book. It gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me!

About the Author

Helen Maryles Shankman lived in Chicago before moving to New York City to attend art school. Her stories have appeared in numerous fine publications, including The Kenyon Review, Cream City Review, Gargoyle, Grift, 2 Bridges Review, Danse Macabre, and JewishFiction.net. She was a finalist in Narrative Magazine’s Winter Story Contest and earned an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers competition. Her story, They Were Like Family to Me, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Shankman received an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art, where she was awarded a prestigious Warhol Foundation Scholarship. She spent four years as as artist’s assistant and two years at Conde Nast working closely with the legendary Alexander Liberman. She lived on a kibbutz in Israel for a year, spending the better part of each day in an enormous barn filled with chickens, where she collected eggs and listened to the Beatles.

Shankman lives in New Jersey with her husband, four children, and an evolving roster of rabbits. When she is not neglecting the housework so that she can write stories, she teaches art and paints portraits on commission. In the Land of Armadillos, a collection of linked stories illuminated with magical realism, following the inhabitants of a small town in 1942 Poland and tracing the troubling complex choices they are compelled to make, will be published by Scribner in February 2016.