WWII Novel review: Night of Flames by Douglas Jacobson

Night of Flames A novel or World War II by Douglas W Jacobson

 

 

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: McBooks Press (October 1, 2008)

ISBN-13: 978-1590131664 

List print: $16.95

List electronic $9.95

From the Publisher:

Painting a vivid and terrifying picture of war-torn Europe during World War II, this tale chronicles the lives of Anna, a Krakow University professor, and her husband Jan, a Polish cavalryman. After they are separated and forced to flee occupied Poland, Anna soon finds herself caught up in the Belgian Resistance, while Jan becomes embedded in British Intelligence efforts to contact the Resistance in Poland. He soon realizes that he must seize this opportunity to search for his lost wife, Anna.

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My review:

Major Jan Kopernik of the Polish Cavalry Brigade, the 29^th Uhlans, says it best: “The German blitzkrieg was not just a military strategy – it was an all-out campaign of terror intent on the total destruction of his homeland.”

 

Night of Flames is a well-detailed fictionalized account of the Nazi campaign in Poland, and the eventual resistance. Anna Kopernik, an associate university history professor in Krakow, her husband Jan, a major in the army, and Anna’s father, Thaddeus Piekarski, give their first-hand account of life during this terrible time. From being front and center when Warsaw is bombed, to watching the Luftwaffe bomb farmers on the roads and rural villages, to the occupation of Krakow, to joining the resistance, each of them deal with the tragedy.

 

Thaddeus decides to be patient at home, believing the Allies will rescue the city soon. Jan leads his brigade into battle trying to defend a poorly prepared country that still depended on civilian telephone lines and beasts of burden to move equipment on their poor roads; Anna and her Jewish friends return to Krakow from a visit to Warsaw where the Nazi occupation edicts put them all in danger.

 

Anna and Jan do the best they can to live long enough, fighting for their homeland, to find each other again. Anna gets involved in the resistance when she escapes to friends in Belgium just before Jan comes to Krakow on business for the exiled government because of his ability to speak German. She's captured later, and Jan uses his connections, even his military orders, to try to find her.

 

Jacobson’s attention to detail shows his respect for the era, for the events, equipment, geography and technology of the time, even weather patterns and clothing and food. While perhaps circumstances seem aligned in perfect favor for the characters, the account is fiction, and fiction asks for the ability to take a leap of faith upon occasion.

 

Realistic to the point that I occasionally buzzed through detailed battle accounts, Jacobson’s Night of Flames will offer readers who enjoy well-documented World War II history a great few hours back in time. Some brutality, on graphic rape.

 

About the author:

 

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast. Doug has travelled extensively in Europe researching the courage of common people caught up in the most catastrophic event of the twentieth century. His debut novel, NIGHT OF FLAMES: A Novel of World War Two was published in 2007 and released in paperback and Kindle in 2008. NIGHT OF FLAMES won the "2007 Outstanding Achievement Award" from the Wisconsin Library Association. He is the author of THE KATYN ORDER, 2011. Doug has also published numerous articles on underground resistance actions in Europe and is currently working on his third historical novel set in Europe during World War Two. Doug and his wife Janie live in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

Douglas Jacobson, Night of Flames and the Katyn Order

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast who has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two, won the 2008 "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug's second historical novel, The Katyn Order, is a story of intrigue and danger, of love and human courage in the aftermath of one of history’s most notorious war crimes. TheKatyn Order received the 2011 "Honorable Mention Award" from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Doug writes a monthly column on Poland's experience during WW2, and has published articles on European resistance and escape organizations during the war. He lives in Elm grove, WI with his wife, Janie.

 

 

About Redbird (writer's studio), I owe Judy Bridges and the whole group most of the credit for what success I've had as a writer. From Judy's course (Shut-up and Write) plus five years of round tables, I learned the craft of writing creative fiction. Everything from creating scenes, to dialog, to point of view - and yes, even 8th grade grammar - were the fundamental building blocks that I got from Redbird. I believe I can tell a good story, and I know how to do the research, but as Judy said the first time she read my initial draft of NIGHT OF FLAMES, "If you want anyone else to read this that you don't have to pay, I can probably help you."

 

What I love about writing (over and above the research, which is also a passion of mine) is the mental exercise of creating a story and creating charcaters. I love to invent a character, then put he or she into a situation and let both the character and the story evolve as I write. I always (well, most of the time) have an outline of the story in my mind, or at least the fundamental historical events and the endpoint, but I'm flexible about how to get there and let it develop as I write.

 

The advice I would give to propsective authors is to find a place like Redbird where you can get the support of people who also love to write. Then the rest of it is just perseverence. First the perseverence to finish the work, then the perseverence to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Finally, the publication part is a combination of perseverence and luck. You've got to do the basics (query letters, etc.) and keep on doing it no matter how many rejection letters you get. Don't take it personally, its a business, and sooner or later you'll hit the right editor on the right day, and it will fall in to place.