The Ringmaster's Daughter: A beautiful and heartbreaking World War 2 love story
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This selflessness in the face of persecution called out to me as a story which needed to be explored. Whilst the inspiration was drawn from Althoff, the characters and their journey are based on my imagination, coupled with a historical understanding of that time. I do not pretend to be a historian; instead, I hope I have widened the scope of historical reality through my characters’ lives and personal experiences, their loves and losses. In this vein, any historical inaccuracies are entirely mine.
My interest in World War II history stemmed from the stories I was told as a child by my Polish grandfather, who had been forced into the Wehrmacht at a young age, then escaped to England to join the Polish army in exile. The stories handed to me begged to be explored, to breathe life into those ghostly voices of the past, to let them speak and tell their own tales.
These are characters who have come to mean a lot to me, so thank you for spending your time with them – I hope you have found it worthwhile. If you have a moment, and if you enjoyed the book, a review would be much appreciated. I’d dearly love to hear what you thought, and reviews always help us writers to get our stories out to more people.
I hope too that you will let me share my next novel with you when it’s ready.
It’s always fabulous to hear from my readers – please feel free to get in touch directly on my Facebook page, or through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thank you again for your time,
Carly Schabowski
Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank my wonderful agent Jo Bell, who has never stopped believing in my writing and is always on hand to cheer me on! My editor, Kathryn Taussig, has been great – encouraging me every step of the way and spotting my errors with a keen eye!
My family and friends also deserve a huge thank you for putting up with me during the writing of this book, through my writerly tantrums and my constant need to talk over the plot and characters. I could not have done this without your support.
Also, a thank you to Alison, who helped with the French translations!
Lastly, I want to thank Rebecca, who took me to my first circus – all I can say is that it was not what we expected!
Published by Bookouture in 2020
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Storyfire Ltd., 2020
Written by Carly Schabowski
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-129-0
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.