Looking Out the Window: Sherri Stewart Traveled to the Netherlands to Research A Song for Her Enemies, her latest book. She'll Give Away an e-Book
A Warm Welcome to Sherri Stewart
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Hi Sherri, tell us a little about yourself.
I am a learner, and I like to learn unusual things. For example, I study three languages every day: Dutch, French, and Welsh. Why? I traveled to the Netherlands for A Song for Her Enemies, and we stayed in Haarlem where the story takes place, as well took side trips to Amsterdam and the concentration camp, Vucht. I will be returning to the Netherlands—God willing—in September to research the sequel to A Song. My son and I were supposed to travel to Wales last August but had to cancel due to stupid COVID. But the Welsh language is so stunning, I can’t stop practicing it every day on Duolingo.
Tell us about your latest book.
After Nazi soldiers close the opera and destroy Tamar Kaplan’s dream of becoming a professional singer, she joins the Dutch Resistance, her fair coloring concealing her Jewish heritage. Tamar partners with Dr. Daniel Feldman, and they risk their lives to help escaping refugees. When they are forced to flee themselves, violinist Neelie Visser takes them into hiding.
Tamar’s love for Daniel flowers in hardship, but she struggles with the paradox that a loving God would allow the atrocities around her. When Tamar resists the advances of a Third Reich officer, he exacts his revenge by betraying the secrets hidden behind the walls of Neelie’s house. From a prison hospital to a Nazi celebration to a concentration camp, will the three of them survive to tell the world the secrets behind barbed wire?
A Song for Her Enemies is the story of a talented young opera singer and the bittersweet love that grows amid the tyranny and fear of World War II. Set against the backdrop of neighbors willing to risk their lives in the German-occupied, war-torn Netherlands, A Song for Her Enemies is an inspiring and beautiful novel celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the determination of Christians in the face of persecution. It is a novel for everyone seeking to understand the pain of the past and be inspired to embrace hope for the future.
Buy A Song for Her Enemies here
What do you love about this book? And what do you hope readers will tell others about it?
A Song for Her Enemies has my heart. In fact, I can’t imagine writing a book that’s more important to me. As a young adult, I loved Corrie ten Boom because she was a hero with warts, and she shares her journey of dealing with those warts in many of her books. She was a middle-aged single woman who grew up in a devout family, so she had a strong biblically-based upbringing with a love for Jewish people. When Jewish refugees came to her Haarlem doorstep, she took them in, knowing that she would suffer the same fate as her guests if the Nazis discovered who hid in her bedroom closet. She ended up being sent to three concentration camps, but that wasn’t the end of her story. When she was released, she spent the rest of her life traveling the globe to declare that God’s love was greater than the deepest pit of despair. Since I was writing fiction, I couldn’t tell Corrie’s story, but I could tell the story of someone like her, seen from the viewpoint of two of her guests. Readers of all ages and faiths need real heroes like Corrie—not superheroes but real people who rise to the challenges that face them.
In three words describe your style of writing.
Faith-based historical romance
How do you get to know your characters?
For A Song for Her Enemies I read every book that Corrie wrote. The main ones I used for were The Hiding Place and A Prisoner and Yet. I traveled to Haarlem and toured her house, then visited the other places in the book: Amsterdam’s oldest restaurant, Silveren Spiegel, which in my book was a favorite restaurant where Nazi officers met to drink and dance. Tamar, who was a young opera singer, was forced to sing for the drunken officers. I visited Vucht, which was a Dutch concentration camp—a way station for prisoners who would end up in Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, and Ravensbrück.
Do you put yourself in your books?
Yes. In A Song for Her Enemies, Tamar is a naïve young woman, whose major goal in life is to become Haarlem’s lead soprano. And she gets her chance when Margot, the lead in La Traviata, throws a temper tantrum during rehearsal and refuses to perform, so Tamar, her understudy, gets her chance. When I was in my early twenties, I was totally devoted to my profession—at that time I was French teacher—and I wasn’t aware of or concerned about the world around me. Fortunately, two strong Christian mentors helped me stop living for myself and develop a love for the Bible and for God’s kingdom. Tamar finds a mentor in Neelie Visser, who takes her and her boyfriend into her home, when her family’s house and business are looted, and her parents are missing.
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on a sequel to my book, A Song for Her Enemies. The new book is a historical romance about a married couple of Messianic Jews—Tamar and Daniel—who survived the holocaust in the Netherlands and now must deal with forgiveness, injustice, and starting a normal life in post-war Haarlem.
Sherri likes to share recipes of her books' locations. Find one for a great Dutch dish here
Bio: Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passion is traveling to the settings of her books, sampling the food, and visiting the sites. She loves the Netherlands, and she’s still learning Dutch, although she doesn’t need to since everyone seems to speak perfect English. A recent widow, Sherri lives in the Orlando area with her lazy dog, Lily, and her son, Joshua, who can fix anything. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and pix in her newsletter. Subscribe here
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