About the Book

Book: What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past Book Three)

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Fiction / Romance / Historical Fiction

Release date: December 1, 2024

A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939

1939
Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.

2023
Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son is a US Marine, and her oldest daughter is a college student. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

More from Liz

I stared at my computer screen in front of me. For years, I had been searching for my great-grandmother, Anna. I got no good information. Census records in the US weren’t helpful. Some listed her birthplace as Czechoslovakia, while others had it as Austria. I had heard before that she might have been born in Czechoslovakia before, but never Austria. There were no records that I had come across that listed the city or town where she was born.

Until that one day. While searching for my great-grandmother, I ran across a passport application recorded in Warsaw, Poland, for an Anna with the same last name, though spelled differently. Her birthday was listed as 1903, which matched the birth year I knew for my great-grandmother’s niece. As I read through the application, my heart was pounding. This Anna was born in the United States but went to Dubne, Poland, with her family in 1906. It was now 1923, and she wanted to return to the US, and she would be living with…

I started to cry when I saw who her sponsor was. My great-grandfather. The name and address were correct. There could be no doubt about it. It had taken me years, but I finally made the jump to Europe and discovered that my great-grandmother was not born in Czechoslovakia but in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is now Poland.

Of course, good little researcher that I am, I had to find out all I could about Dubne, the town they were from. That’s when I first came across the term Lemko. What on earth was that?

Lemkos are a Slavic people that settled in the Carpathian Mountains of Southern Poland, Northern Slovakia, and Western Ukraine. They are also known as Lemko Rusyns, Rusyns (especially those born in Slovakia, like my great-grandfather), and Carptho-Rusyns. The mountains kept the world at bay, and they developed their own language, customs, and form of Christianity. For the most part, they were very poor, many of them eking out a living from the rocky ground.

They lived in “black houses,” called that because the poorest people couldn’t afford to have a chimney built. The smoke from the cooking and heating fires stayed inside the house and covered the walls with black tar. If you look at the cemetery records from Dubne, you would be old if you lived into your fifties. Conditions were brutal.

The most the average Lemko could afford was one sheep or one pig. Since this was their most prized possession, they couldn’t take the chance of a wild animal or a neighbor taking it away, so it lived in the house with them.

With all of them. Up to eleven people would live in a two-room house. When I mentioned that in What I Left for You, my editor questioned if I had made a mistake. No, I didn’t. I have no idea how they fit all those people in there, but they did. As I was tracking one branch of our family tree, I kept coming up with people living in house 43. Over and over and over. They stuffed that house full. Grandparents, parents, and children all lived together. They may not have had much, but that forged the Lemkos into strong and resilient people.

I’m proud to be Lemko-Rusyn, and I’m thrilled to share this story with you. I infused Helena, the historical heroine, with as much of the Lemko spunk and spirit as I could. Last October, my daughter and I had the privilege to travel to Poland and Slovakia and see the Lemko homeland for ourselves. It helped me to write a better, richer story because I now understand where they came from and who they were. Enjoy Helena’s story and her journey during WWII and beyond. I hope you come to understand and appreciate the Lemko people as much as I have.

Interview with Liz

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always had a very vivid imagination. Even when I was young, I made up dramatic stories and had detailed dreams. So I guess it’s always been in my blood and been something I’ve wanted to do.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It depends on when my deadline is J. Ideally, I’d like at least nine months to write a book. With the contract that I just finished, I had about six. I’ve done books in four months, but that’s crazy and unsustainable.

What is your real-life work schedule like when writing? 

I used to have a nice schedule and a good routine, but my mom recently passed away, so I’ve been busy caring for my dad. We’re still settling into our new normal. I like to write in the morning and take care of everything else in the afternoon, but we’re going to have to see how things end up.

What are your favorite books to read?

Historical fiction. I love anything with history in it, especially if the story is based on real people or real events. I’m such a history nerd, it’s insane. And it has to be Christian fiction or a clean read. For me, a book needs to have a good, solid message for me.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I wrote my first book when I was in fifth grade. Seriously. It wasn’t very long. In school, we were studying tall tales like Paul Bunyan, and my teacher had us write tall tales. I loved allowing my imagination to run wild, and I was hooked.

How do you create your main characters? 

It depends on the book. Sometimes the characters will come to me almost fully fleshed out. Sometimes I have a difficult time getting a handle on them and have to sit down with them and try to discover who they are. Much of the time, I have some idea of what they’re like and just get to understand them more as I write the story.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

All of the marketing that has to be done with the release of a book. There is so much social media and many appearances and so on that aren’t what I’m trained in. If I had known my life would take this trajectory, I would have minored in business administration and marketing in college.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love to take my Jack Russell terrier for walks, go camping in northern Wisconsin with my family, work in my big perennial garden, and spend a pleasant afternoon kayaking on a lake.

What does your family think of your writing?

They’re very proud of me and very supportive. They’ve always been my cheerleaders. My husband is very good about picking up the slack when I’m under deadline, and I appreciate that a great deal. I couldn’t do this without my family supporting me.

Do you base your characters on real people?

 Sometimes. For What I Left for You, one of the minor characters is based on a real person, but for the most part, I didn’t base the characters on actual people in this book. Helena, the historical heroine, is a composite of the strong women I’ve known in my life.

Have you experienced writer’s block, and how do you handle it?

Yes, I’ve experienced writer’s block. A great way to get rid of it is to get up from my computer and do something else, whether it’s going for a walk or doing dishes or cleaning the house. That little bit of distance and the ability to think without the cursor flashing in my face is often enough to get my creativity flowing again.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

That I could actually write a full-length novel and get it published! For a long time, I doubted myself, but when I sat down and did it, I was amazed. I worked at the craft and learned as much as I could, and a publisher offered me a contract. That was one of the best days of my life.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’m over thirty books. I’d have to sit down and count them to know an exact figure. My favorite is usually the one I’ve just written. This one is very special because it’s about the ethnic minority group that my mother’s family is part of. I told Mom all about the book, but I never gave her an advanced copy to read. I’m so sorry that she’ll never get a chance to read it or see what I wrote about her in the acknowledgements.

Where can readers find out more about you and your books? The best place to go is my website, liztolsma.com. So much of that information is there, including my newsletter sign up. I promise that I don’t spam!! I’m also on all the major social media platforms except for Tic Toc, and I’m also on Goodreads and BookBub.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

In March, my installment for Barbour Publishing’s Day to Remember series releases. That title is When the Sky Burned, and it’s about the Peshtigo Fire, which happened on October 7, 1871, the same night as the Great Chicago Fire. Of course, people know more about the fire in Chicago than in Peshtigo (although, if you’ve gone through fourth grade in Wisconsin, you’ve learned about it), but it was much deadlier and cause more destruction than the Chicago fire. I’ve done a ton of research over the years, so I’m excited about this book.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, January 7

lakesidelivingsite, January 7

Lots of Helpers, January 8

Pens Pages & Pulses, January 8

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, January 9

Life on Chickadee Lane, January 9

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 10

Texas Book-aholic, January 11

Connie’s History Classroom , January 11

Locks, Hooks and Books, January 12

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 13

For Him and My Family, January 13

Stories By Gina, January 14 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, January 14

Holly’s Book Corner, January 15

Betti Mace, January 16

Jeanette’s Thoughts, January 16

Bigreadersite, January 17

Blossoms and Blessings, January 17

Pause for Tales, January 18

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, January 18

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, January 19

Lights in a Dark World, January 19

Cover Lover Book Review, January 20

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Liz is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon e-Gift card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54125