March 2022 Newsletter
Hello:
I hope this finds you well. If you are reading a good book and would like to share it, let me know and I’ll post it on Facebook.
I will be at the Daviess County Public Library, 2020 Frederica St, Owensboro, KY 42301, this coming Thursday, March 31. My presentation on “Stealing Renoir” is free. It will also be available on a Zoom link. This is the link.
I ran across some interesting information while I was researching clues for my next novel, “Stealing Picasso.”
The Nazis burned 25,000 books in 1934. Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud were targeted, along with other, less prominent Jewish authors. Work by other authors such as Ernest Hemmingway and Helen Keller were also considered, “degenerate.”
The ERR, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, Hitler’s task force for looting Europe, stole books and archival material from approximately 6,000 libraries! Thousands of these books were marked with the letter J, for Judenbücher — Jewish books. The J was erased after the war and replaced with the letter G, for Geschenk — gifts. It’s estimated that five million books were taken from Jewish Libraries and collections. Twenty-million is the estimate for the number of books stolen in all of Europe.
Part of the inspiration for Stealing Renoir came from learning that Russian museums have an estimated 200,000 works valued at $6.4 billion that they stole from the Nazis after the Nazis stole it from occupied countries during World War II. The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts prefers the term, “Twice Rescued”
For those of you have seen my presentation, “Portrait of Jeannne Samary” is now at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. I’ll talk more about this on Thursday. I hope you can join me in person or online.
“Let The Earth Breathe:” Anne and I will be at the Garden Club of Kentucky Convention on Wednesday, Wednesday, April 6 from 8:00 am – 7:00 pm at the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Expo Center, 830 Phillips Ln, Louisville, KY 40209. Come by and say hello. This is also a good opportunity to ask questions, buy a book, or get a book autographed.
It’s always Gardening Season, but Spring is the traditional planting time. We have several more presentations for “Let The Earth Breathe.” This is the link to a list of upcoming presentations.
I’m midway through Chapter 20 of “Stealing Picasso.” Part of the joy in writing is the research, and there are always inspiring surprises. For example: a small, tattered black suitcase was uncovered, containing Yiddish scrolls from Ethiopia dating to the 1800’s. They are tiny, like the seferino, a small Jewish prayer book Rodrigo carried in the lining of his coat, which was part of the inspiration that led me to write “Mystery Island.” You can read the first chapter on my website. Here's the link.
Here is the link to my recent videos. They are short, 5-6 minutes.
Reviews on Amazon are a big deal and really help me out. If you haven’t already, please take a minute or two and review one—or all of my books. The links to each book are below. You will have to scroll down the page to reach the review section.
Thank you! Happy reading.