Joanna Johnson

I've always loved immersing myself in historical fiction novels and learning about the history of various events and countries around the world. I was fascinated especially with World War II and how different places endured the challenges that wartime brought. When I learned that my husband had distant relatives in Estonia, a country I had never heard of, I wondered what they suffered through as well. After learning of their years of yearning for freedom and the escape that many people made during World War II, I considered writing a book about it, but life got crazy, and that idea was pushed into the background. On our sixth anniversary, we had stillborn twin girls. As we were grieving them, my mom's cousin randomly told me that I should write a book and she would illustrate it. I don't think she knew I had previously considered writing a novel about Estonia's resistance and escape, but with her encouragement, the vision of a book came back into focus. I started reading through stories from people who had escaped Estonia and researched more about WWII in Estonia. I had always envisioned writing a children's book but as I researched, I knew that I wanted to write the story as a historical fiction novel. Four months after losing our twins, we got pregnant with our son. I knew if I wanted to finish the book, I would need to do it before his birth. I outlined the timeline of events and set aside a portion of each day to write a chapter. Writing the book was such a healing process for my grief. I was able to channel the pain and fill my hours by connecting to the characters in this story of courage and strength. I finished right before my son was born and as the busyness of life with a newborn started, my finished book sat for almost 20 years. In the last few years, I started to feel like I needed to publish my book. I'm so excited that my dream is now my reality!