Back to Bremen

One Girl's Journey to Freedom Through the War-Torn Ruins of the Third Reich

Editions:ebook, Hardcover, Paperback

Edith Röpke, her seven siblings, and their mother have learned to be silent and live inconspicuously….

It is 1939. On the cusp of World War II, the city of Bremen holds its breath with quiet unease. For years, the Jews have been excluded from everyday life, persecuted at the hands of the Nazis. Now, all of Germany will suffer for their Führer’s mad ambitions. In his quest for an Aryan utopia, Adolf Hitler invades Poland and Britain declares war on Germany.

As Bremen’s ports and factories bear the brunt of payloads from RAF Wellington and Lancaster bombers, Edith‘s childhood is shaped by unrelenting Allied bombing raids, streets strewn with dead bodies, and the ever-present reminder to trust no one outside the family.

Seen through Edith’s eyes as a child and through her memories as an adult seventy years after the war’s end, Back to Bremen depicts her harrowing nine-week journey through war-torn Germany. It’s the story of the fear of a child and the sheer determination of a mother risking it all so she and her children can return home. Most of all, it’s a vivid reminder of how war creates countless victims, but hope can make heroes of the most common among us. (206 pages)

Published: March 23, 2017

Publisher: Otterford

Genres:

Historical

Tags:

About the Author

Cecelia Wilson

For more than a decade, Cecelia Wilson has been the Feature Writer for Searcy Living magazine. Over the years, she has penned articles introducing readers to governors, senators, Grammy Award-winning musicians, and individuals from all walks of life. In addition to writing articles, books, and youth plays, Cecelia is a singer, pastor’s wife, play director, and acts in community theaters, commercials, film, and television. Born and raised in Batesville, Cecelia graduated from Batesville High School and earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Cecelia lives in central Arkansas with her husband, Dennis, but manages to check in often with her grown son and daughter, Cody and Cheyenne.

Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County

Washington County has nearly two centuries of stories to tell, and many of them have been forgotten.
In this follow-up to Forgotten Fayetteville, local historians J. B. Hogan and Susan Parks-Spencer uncover more of the people, places, and events that shaped Fayetteville and the surrounding county. Explore the violent early years of Evansville, revisit the shocking murder that led to the execution of the Burnett family, and discover what made April 1864 one of the deadliest months in Washington County history. You’ll meet John Rollin Ridge, the first Native American novelist, learn the story of Rebecca Brown Tollett’s life in slavery, and examine the tragic lynching of Reverend Anthony Bewley.
From vanished towns and frontier churches to forgotten cemeteries, pioneering families, and overlooked chapters of Native American, Black, and immigrant history, these stories reveal a richer and more complex past than many realize. Woven together, they form a portrait of the lives, triumphs, and tragedies that shaped this corner of the Ozarks and the communities that call it home.
Whether you’re a lifelong resident, a newcomer, or simply a student of Arkansas history, Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County invites you to look beyond familiar landmarks and rediscover the people and events that helped shape the Ozarks.

Owl Dreams

SARAH BIBLE HAS spent most of her life cleaning up after her mother, Marie. College in faraway New Mexico was supposed to be her escape.
When her boyfriend is sent to prison back in Oklahoma, Marie spirals and is committed to a psychiatric hospital. But before Sarah can bring her home, she is abducted by a mysterious Choctaw psychiatrist named Hashilli, a man rumored to be a shapeshifting witch who can steal your face as easily as your identity.
The police dismiss Sarah’s fears. Every lead disappears into a maze of false names, missing records, and dead ends. And the deeper Sarah digs into southeastern Oklahoma, the stranger the world becomes.
Her only allies in this quest are an imprisoned ex-con, a schizophrenic patient who may know more than anyone realizes, and Big Shorty, an enigmatic cemetery caretaker locals whisper about like he’s already dead himself.
To save her mother, Sarah must orchestrate an impossible breakout, unravel a web of kidnapping, murder, and identity theft, and hunt a predator who hides behind borrowed lives.
From the backroads of Choctaw country to the wild Kiamichi Mountains, Owl Dreams is a haunting supernatural thriller filled with danger, dark humor, folklore, and desperate people fighting for one last chance at redemption.

Almost the End of the World

The Apocalypse Called. It Wants a Do Over.
Seventeen-year-old Corey Walker was fully prepared to die. An asteroid the size of Texas—Perses—was supposed to wipe out everything. No college apps, no student loans, no awkward graduation speeches. Just… boom.
Then the last-minute save actually works. Earth survives. So does Corey.
Yay?
Turns out, staring down extinction leaves scars. The government’s toast, the economy’s in a coma, and nobody knows what to do next. Turns out, staring down extinction leaves scars. The government’s toast, the economy’s in a coma, and nobody knows what to do next. Corey returns to Augustus Boarding School at the insistence of his mother and finds a weird new student cult—The Refuge—targeting the most scared and vulnerable on campus, including those closest to him.
When Corey meets the fiery Paige, he finds himself with an ally against The Refuge. She’s the first person who makes him feel awake again. Together, they start pushing back. That’s when things get messy. Fast.
Now, Corey’s a reluctant leader, with enemies, followers, and a target on his back. Whether he likes it or not, he’s being forced to answer the question everyone’s been avoiding:
If the world didn’t end… what now?