March 10, 2024 • 22 mins
Rebecca Connolly didn't choose to write her beautiful new book, it chose her. Learn why and fall in love with this true story in our latest episode of the Book Drop Mic. You'll be glad you did. And we promise you'll want to add Hidden Yellow Stars to your reading list before our discussion even ends.
Buy Rebecca's book:
https://shadowmountain.com/product/hidden-yellow-stars/
Learn more about Rebecca:
https://emilyhuey.com/
Learn more about Jason:
http://www.jasonfwright.com
About the book:
Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium.
Belgium, 1942.
Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army?
Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier.
Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can.
But with the Gestapo closing in and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy and is threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden--even if it might cost them their own lives.
This podcast is brought to you by InkVeins, your source for book publicity, promo, press releases and more. Text 540-212-4095 for more information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello there, my friends, welcome, welcome to the
Book Drop Mic brought to you byInkvanes.
We are, of course, your sourcefor book publicity and promotion
and press releases.
And did you know, did you know,did you know, that my new
middle grade novel, scar to Coda, is available for pre-order on
Amazon?
And let me just tell you, folks, I have now listened twice to
(00:26):
the audio, the narration byKirby Haybourne.
It is so ridiculously good.
And did I cry?
Yes, I did.
Did I cry?
Even the second time I listenedto Kirby reading my book.
Yes, yes, I did, maybe harderthan the first time.
The audio looks like it'sslated for April 1, in the
hardcover for April 23.
(00:48):
And if you're on NetGalley, youcan request a copy right now,
and there's a giveaway onGoodreads for a copy that I
think runs for another couple ofweeks.
Okay, I don't always know myguests personally.
I don't always know where theylive.
I don't always engage inpromotional pranks with my
(01:13):
guests when they have a new bookcome out.
I don't always eat pizza inIndianapolis with my guests, but
I have with today's guest.
Today's guest has a brand newbook called Hidden Yellow Stars
and my friends.
It might be one of the mostimportant books of the spring
(01:34):
season.
Her name is Rebecca Conley, orBecky, what are we calling you
now?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I don't know.
It depends on if it's you orsomeone else.
Rebecca is fine.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh, rebecca, but can I call you Becky or some of the
other?
Things that I call you whenyou're not, okay, good, good, oh
, I think I'm for the airwavesfor the airwaves, for the
airwaves.
We have had some, some funadventures together and my boys,
who traveled with me toIndianapolis when we did that
signing, still talk about thattrip to get pizza with my friend
(02:10):
Laurie Paisley, who I'm sure islistening, and and how much fun
that was.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
doing Good, life is good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I am well.
I don't have a brand new bookout this week like you do, which
is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, it never gets old.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, you don't sound that excited.
Becky Conley.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, you know, we live in this happy little bubble
of pseudo ignorance, while thepeople that we've asked to
review our books leave us reallynice notes, and then we wait
for the other shoe to drop oneother people that don't
necessarily like us leavereviews.
I'm happy at the moment becausethe good reviews are rolling in
.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, we were talking before, before we hit the
record button, about what astrange season it is when a when
a book first drops, becausethere's this kind of natural
kind of anxiety about whatpeople are thinking.
Are they, are they loving it asmuch as you think they will, or
are they just?
You know it's your baby and sodo they love your baby as much
(03:11):
as you love your baby?
And, and yeah, you know that,eventually, even if 99% of the
reviews are really positive thebest books ever written in
history and this is true go onAmazon and pick any classic, a
book that you absolutely love,look at the reviews and then go
look at the one star reviews andyou will find people that hate,
(03:31):
you know, old Yellow orwhatever, like all the great
books have, have negativereviews, and so inevitably
someone will come along and sayI didn't like hidden yellow
stars, and when they do BeckyConnelly, we will find them and
key their cars.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I've often thought about, you know, maybe
sidelining as a as a writer'shit squad.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, the writer's hit squad People.
That's the name of the novel.
We will one day co-write thethe writers His squad.
I love that.
All right, we're gonna talkabout the book, but I I maybe
some folks listening have goneback and listen to our longer
discussion on the previous show,right where you are, but I
suspect for a lot of folks thatare new to me and to this
(04:19):
platform and to this show inparticular, where we talk about
books and a little shorterconversations, tell us a little
bit about Becky Connelly.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
All right.
Well, I live in the great stateof Indiana.
Most people just drive throughit.
If you know where it is, whodoes you?
There's a lot of corn, butthere's also a lot of good
people.
I Am a full-time writer now,but I was an athletic trainer.
That's what my my education isin.
So I've done my work in sportsmedicine and orthopedic medicine
(04:50):
and and things like that, sobeen around the block a little
bit and I am just really happyto be living the dream.
It's more stressful than peoplethink it is living the dream,
but it's fun too.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
It is.
It is more stressful when youtell people that you're right
full-time.
They just imagine oh, what alife.
You get up and you have a bighot cup of cocoa and you go sit
in your Recliner under a blanketand you get out your laptop.
Or, if you're old school, youryour pad and your ink pen and
(05:25):
you just sit and tell storiesall day long.
Isn't it lovely?
Yeah, that's not.
That's not really.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That's not how it is.
No, most of the time you lookat your bank account when you go
.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I know, I know I have to write something.
Yes, right, it's all about,that's all about content.
What can I generate today Whileyou?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Money.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I know, isn't that wild that would that we're in a
business where we have to To eat.
We have to create something andhope that other people like it,
like with the baby.
We, just we go create these,these things that we love so
much, these little Book babies,and then hope that people will
adopt them.
Yeah, yeah yeah, speaking ofbabies.
(06:11):
Oh, I knew this was gonna behard, having some of that I love
and admire on the show as I doBecky Conley that we would not
actually Get anythingaccomplished.
All right, I do want to talkabout this book.
I had the pleasure of doing alittle bit of press for the book
(06:32):
and working on the release alittle bit and Talking to some
people at your publisher aboutthe book and the impact that the
book has had, even justInternally on that team at
Shadow Mountain Publishing, andyou probably know this.
But the book has touched a lotof people who Aren't just new to
it because it dropped this week, but have known for many months
(06:54):
that's what's coming.
Tell us about.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Tell us about hidden yellow stars and and the why,
why this book and why you so, tosum it up, hidden yellow stars
is the story of two women inBelgium who are part of the
clandestine organization thathide Jewish children from the
Gestapo.
There's a lot of roundups goingon and they have the
(07:21):
opportunity to get thesechildren out of these homes a
lot of times before the roundupsso that the parents have a
better chance than of hiding.
And there's a reallycomplicated notebook system for
tracking each child, which isreally cool, but I won't get
into it because that's totallynerding out.
But it's a true story and Ifound reports when I was doing
(07:44):
research, reports from peoplethat worked with them, people
that ran the organization, fromthese women themselves, and just
hearing them tell their ownstory.
It was just absolutelyincredible what they went
through and the good that theydid and the dangers that they
faced constantly.
(08:04):
And it was just one of thosestories that it just kind of
grabbed me by the heart and Ihad to write it.
There was no choice in thematter.
There was the will thepublishers say yes, but it was
in every respect.
It was a.
This is a story I have to tell,and it all started because my
(08:27):
dad found the obituary for oneof the women in the book.
She passed away in 2022, at theage of 100.
And so the timing was just wasjust remarkable, you know, and
the obituary had just a blipabout what she actually had done
(08:47):
.
And so I went and looked alittle bit deeper and it was
just amazing.
She and her partner and theirco-workers, they saved almost
3000 Jewish children in.
Belgium from the camps.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And it's incredible, it's incredible, it's absolutely
incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And those 3000 people then had families and children
and they had families andchildren and thousands and
thousands and thousands ofpeople have been able to live
and work and contribute andlearn to love, and all of that
because of these women.
It's remarkable and I love.
(09:27):
You said to me when I wasworking on some of the press
stuff.
You said this book chose me,like this book chose me, which
is a little different than howsomeone like you might approach,
particularly with historicfiction.
I mean, you could, you couldwrite a book every day.
There's so many great storiesout there and you probably get
pitched all kinds of interestingstories where someone will say,
(09:49):
becky, there's this great, truestory of throwing the blanket,
I think you should write it.
Well, you can't, you cannotpossibly choose them all.
So talk to me about thatfeeling of sort of saying, well,
this one's come to me, thisone's knocked on my heart and
said write me.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, just looking into the story, I just, the more
I found, the more I was justnodding and saying, yes, I know
this story, I know where youknow where it's going to go, I
know what to do with it, I knowyou know.
I just felt like I knew thesewomen and I have.
(10:27):
I have Jewish ancestry throughmy paternal grandmother and so I
was a little bit touched by it.
Anyway, my family comes fromHungary, not from, not from
Belgium, but I was feeling veryin touch and in tune with them
and reading through some of thestories.
A lot of the, a lot of thechildren were hidden religious
institutions which at the timewould have been predominantly
(10:50):
Catholic, which is another partof my religious heritage, and so
I've got my, my Jewishbackground and the Catholic
background there and in someplaces they're working in
beautiful concert and harmonytogether and in other places
there's dissonance and I justfelt so drawn into all of it and
it was just, it was justextraordinary.
(11:12):
And one of the greatest findswas a memoir written by a man
named Professor Shal Hurrell.
He was one of the hiddenchildren and he has a memoir
called A Child Without Shadowand it's his story about the
entire thing and I was able toget in touch with him and he's
still alive and speaking of theimpact of saving lives,
(11:35):
professor Hurrell went on tobecome a world class pediatric
neurologist in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
You know how many lives has he saved and touched
because of his work, because hewas saved.
So he and I are good friendsnow and he gave me some
wonderful insight and somewonderful stories.
And Ida Sterna, one of thewomen in the book, she died.
She died in the in the 60s.
She had a lot of injuriesduring her imprisonment, but
(12:04):
Andre Galen lived until she was100 and she stayed in touch with
people, and so he had storiesupon stories about her, and so
they were just so alive to me.
And I was able to find some ofthe details of my own Jewish
(12:25):
heritage, my Jewish relatives,because of the research that I
was doing and when I toldProfessor Harrell that he says
so you're in this book too.
And that was just that was justbeautiful.
But even though it's not mycountry, that it is my story
because they are my own and Ithink that's a beautiful
(12:50):
statement for the book that Ithink a lot of us can see
ourselves in it.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Why are stories like this, why do they resonate so
well with readers?
All these years later?
Books about World War II, booksand movies, and whatever about
the Holocaust, these kinds ofstories there seems to be no end
(13:18):
to the curiosity and theappetite for it.
Why do you think?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
that is Well.
I think it's because hard timesnever stop, they just change
and we crave light and hope inhard times, in dark times and I
think, knowing a setting as darkas the Holocaust in World War
(13:43):
II, if we know we're going toget a story of victory and hope
and light that is set in thatbackdrop, that's just going to
give us more fuel for whateverthe dark or hard times that we
are facing or will face or haveface.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
If these two women and I know there are other
players in the book, of course,but these two really the stars
of the story in the book and inreal life, which is another
question I'll ask you in aminute but if these two women
were listening to this episodetoday, what would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I would tell them thank you.
Thank you for what they did,but also thank you for making
the reports that they did sothat it was possible for the
rest of us to know what they did.
And thank you for the examplethat they set, and I mean the
lives that they changed, butalso the lives that they went on
(14:50):
to live afterwards.
I mean they were changed bythese experiences and the world
was only improved by all thatthey did.
So it would be all gratitude,and then I would just hope and
pray that they approved of how Iportrayed them.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I think they would.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I hope so I tried.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So to that other question if you had to create a
pie chart of your time on thisproject with research talking to
this professor, for example,reading other source material,
(15:36):
watching documentaries, whateveryou might have done and then
just sitting at your laptop andwriting, like actually pushing
the story forward, laying downthe narrative that is now in the
book, as opposed to researchitself.
What does that pie chart looklike as a percentage?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
In this case it was probably about half and half,
because, as I was just gettinginto the writing, then there
were more things that had to golook up.
But the initial research took acouple of months to make sure I
laid things out in the properchronological order and then had
(16:19):
a decent understanding of itall.
And then I'd be like well, Idon't really know this, you know
, and some things you don't know, until you're in the middle of
writing the story, all of asudden you know you're writing
about Belgium in.
I can't remember what yearsthis book takes place in right
now, but 1943, let's say so.
I'm, you know, I'm like I don'treally know what Belgium was
(16:39):
like in 1943.
But um, but then I have anotherreport of somebody else who was
living in that time and who cantell me what Belgium was like
in 1943.
So then I would just get acouple of notes like okay, break
it back in.
So writing and research wasabout 50-50.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And how long did you spend from from the day you?
Well, from the day your dadpushed you that link and said
hey, check this out until theday you finished that first full
draft, not the publicationEight months.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh about eight months .
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And were you writing other things during this time,
or were you really sort of oh,you were Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, I was.
I was writing other things atthe time too.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Okay, look at this multitasking, becky Connelly.
I can barely write one thing ata time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's a reason why.
There's a reason why I have totake many naps now.
I can't cordon my brain offlike I used to.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Well, it's remarkable how prolific you are, and I'm
just so fascinated by this, justthis world of historic fiction
where you're well that's, maybethat's the better question is
what percentage of the book isis fictionalized.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
All of the situations are true.
All of the children that theyreference or work with are true.
The dialogue is probably 90%made up.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
But all of the.
Fine, necessity, obviously yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Fine necessity, yeah, and the details about the
rescue specific children.
All of that is from document.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You must have felt enormous pressure to honor these
people.
I don't just mean the heroes, Imean the families that the, the
children of the children, ofthe children that are alive
today, like this professor, isjust the pressure to know that
you were honoring their legacyand their story Right.
(19:01):
Did you have you had alphareaders, beta readers?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
or alpha readers, beta readers, sensitivity
readers.
It was really important to methat in a story like this, that
everybody's, everybody's faithand tradition was was honored
and represented correctly, andthen that I took very little
(19:28):
creative license with with thesepainful circumstances.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, and, and as you're doing all of that, you're
also working on other projects,which just boggles my little
brain.
It's my brain is boggled thatyou're able to do that.
Speaking of what is what's nextfor you, miss Conley.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, there is a cozy mystery coming down the pipe.
I'm in revisions for that rightnow.
I don't actually have a releasedate for it yet, but that's a
new one for me, not somethingI've done before, but it's been
a really fun adventure and itshould be really fun when that
one is ready to really talkabout.
(20:13):
But yeah, cozy mystery.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And then do you have another, because you've had now
three spring releases sort of inthis genre.
You have another one in thepipeline for 2025 or not yet
there's no date on it yet.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
We are finalizing the details, but we have the
subject and we have thecharacters.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Oh, okay.
And then, most importantly, howdo we get Netflix to buy
Hidniyolo Stars and to bringthis story to an even wider
audience?
How do we do that, beckyConnelly.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I don't know.
I don't know, but I did justsee that they are making a movie
about Nicholas Winton, who didextraordinary things for Jewish
children in Czechoslovakia.
So I think if we could just tapinto the people that made that,
maybe they'd want to do anotherone.
Yeah, because I mean, that's afabulous story that I love very,
(21:22):
very much from history, andhere's another one that would
pair along just beautifully.
So, if anybody knows, I thinkBleaker Street is the production
company that put that one on.
So if anybody knows BleakerStreet, Bleaker Street.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Bleaker Street, if you're watching, if you're
listening, if you're Netflixanyone?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
If you know anyone, if anybody knows Kenneth Branagh
, I think Kenneth Branagh woulddo a great job directing.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes, at.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Kenneth.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Branagh yeah, absolutely yeah, this would just
be so.
I can see the trailer.
I can see the little threeminute trailer promoting this
down the road.
Well, patience right, patienceRight.
You are a remarkable person andI'm thrilled that we've had a
(22:05):
chance to chat and to catch up.
It's been too long.
I just think you're the best.
I admire more than your talent,it's just such a gifted
wordsmith.
I just admire the good personthat you are and it's a
privilege to know you and toassociate with you, and I hope
that you have many, many, many,many, many, many more books than
(22:27):
the pipeline.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Thank you, same to you.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
All right, you be good, would ya?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, I'll try, you try.
Ha ha ha, looking forward tothe next western episode.
Hello there, my friends, welcome, welcome to the
Book Drop Mic brought to you byInkvanes.
We are, of course, your sourcefor book publicity and promotion
and press releases.
And did you know, did you know,did you know, that my new
middle grade novel, scar to Coda, is available for pre-order on
Amazon?
And let me just tell you, folks, I have now listened twice to
(00:26):
the audio, the narration byKirby Haybourne.
It is so ridiculously good.
And did I cry?
Yes, I did.
Did I cry?
Even the second time I listenedto Kirby reading my book.
Yes, yes, I did, maybe harderthan the first time.
The audio looks like it'sslated for April 1, in the
hardcover for April 23.
(00:48):
And if you're on NetGalley, youcan request a copy right now,
and there's a giveaway onGoodreads for a copy that I
think runs for another couple ofweeks.
Okay, I don't always know myguests personally.
I don't always know where theylive.
I don't always engage inpromotional pranks with my
(01:13):
guests when they have a new bookcome out.
I don't always eat pizza inIndianapolis with my guests, but
I have with today's guest.
Today's guest has a brand newbook called Hidden Yellow Stars
and my friends.
It might be one of the mostimportant books of the spring
(01:34):
season.
Her name is Rebecca Conley, orBecky, what are we calling you
now?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I don't know.
It depends on if it's you orsomeone else.
Rebecca is fine.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh, rebecca, but can I call you Becky or some of the
other?
Things that I call you whenyou're not, okay, good, good, oh
, I think I'm for the airwavesfor the airwaves, for the
airwaves.
We have had some, some funadventures together and my boys,
who traveled with me toIndianapolis when we did that
signing, still talk about thattrip to get pizza with my friend
(02:10):
Laurie Paisley, who I'm sure islistening, and and how much fun
that was.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
doing Good, life is good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I am well.
I don't have a brand new bookout this week like you do, which
is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, it never gets old.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, you don't sound that excited.
Becky Conley.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, you know, we live in this happy little bubble
of pseudo ignorance, while thepeople that we've asked to
review our books leave us reallynice notes, and then we wait
for the other shoe to drop oneother people that don't
necessarily like us leavereviews.
I'm happy at the moment becausethe good reviews are rolling in
.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, we were talking before, before we hit the
record button, about what astrange season it is when a when
a book first drops, becausethere's this kind of natural
kind of anxiety about whatpeople are thinking.
Are they, are they loving it asmuch as you think they will, or
are they just?
You know it's your baby and sodo they love your baby as much
(03:11):
as you love your baby?
And, and yeah, you know that,eventually, even if 99% of the
reviews are really positive thebest books ever written in
history and this is true go onAmazon and pick any classic, a
book that you absolutely love,look at the reviews and then go
look at the one star reviews andyou will find people that hate,
(03:31):
you know, old Yellow orwhatever, like all the great
books have, have negativereviews, and so inevitably
someone will come along and sayI didn't like hidden yellow
stars, and when they do BeckyConnelly, we will find them and
key their cars.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I've often thought about, you know, maybe
sidelining as a as a writer'shit squad.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, the writer's hit squad People.
That's the name of the novel.
We will one day co-write thethe writers His squad.
I love that.
All right, we're gonna talkabout the book, but I I maybe
some folks listening have goneback and listen to our longer
discussion on the previous show,right where you are, but I
suspect for a lot of folks thatare new to me and to this
(04:19):
platform and to this show inparticular, where we talk about
books and a little shorterconversations, tell us a little
bit about Becky Connelly.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
All right.
Well, I live in the great stateof Indiana.
Most people just drive throughit.
If you know where it is, whodoes you?
There's a lot of corn, butthere's also a lot of good
people.
I Am a full-time writer now,but I was an athletic trainer.
That's what my my education isin.
So I've done my work in sportsmedicine and orthopedic medicine
(04:50):
and and things like that, sobeen around the block a little
bit and I am just really happyto be living the dream.
It's more stressful than peoplethink it is living the dream,
but it's fun too.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
It is.
It is more stressful when youtell people that you're right
full-time.
They just imagine oh, what alife.
You get up and you have a bighot cup of cocoa and you go sit
in your Recliner under a blanketand you get out your laptop.
Or, if you're old school, youryour pad and your ink pen and
(05:25):
you just sit and tell storiesall day long.
Isn't it lovely?
Yeah, that's not.
That's not really.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That's not how it is.
No, most of the time you lookat your bank account when you go
.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I know, I know I have to write something.
Yes, right, it's all about,that's all about content.
What can I generate today Whileyou?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Money.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I know, isn't that wild that would that we're in a
business where we have to To eat.
We have to create something andhope that other people like it,
like with the baby.
We, just we go create these,these things that we love so
much, these little Book babies,and then hope that people will
adopt them.
Yeah, yeah yeah, speaking ofbabies.
(06:11):
Oh, I knew this was gonna behard, having some of that I love
and admire on the show as I doBecky Conley that we would not
actually Get anythingaccomplished.
All right, I do want to talkabout this book.
I had the pleasure of doing alittle bit of press for the book
(06:32):
and working on the release alittle bit and Talking to some
people at your publisher aboutthe book and the impact that the
book has had, even justInternally on that team at
Shadow Mountain Publishing, andyou probably know this.
But the book has touched a lotof people who Aren't just new to
it because it dropped this week, but have known for many months
(06:54):
that's what's coming.
Tell us about.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Tell us about hidden yellow stars and and the why,
why this book and why you so, tosum it up, hidden yellow stars
is the story of two women inBelgium who are part of the
clandestine organization thathide Jewish children from the
Gestapo.
There's a lot of roundups goingon and they have the
(07:21):
opportunity to get thesechildren out of these homes a
lot of times before the roundupsso that the parents have a
better chance than of hiding.
And there's a reallycomplicated notebook system for
tracking each child, which isreally cool, but I won't get
into it because that's totallynerding out.
But it's a true story and Ifound reports when I was doing
(07:44):
research, reports from peoplethat worked with them, people
that ran the organization, fromthese women themselves, and just
hearing them tell their ownstory.
It was just absolutelyincredible what they went
through and the good that theydid and the dangers that they
faced constantly.
(08:04):
And it was just one of thosestories that it just kind of
grabbed me by the heart and Ihad to write it.
There was no choice in thematter.
There was the will thepublishers say yes, but it was
in every respect.
It was a.
This is a story I have to tell,and it all started because my
(08:27):
dad found the obituary for oneof the women in the book.
She passed away in 2022, at theage of 100.
And so the timing was just wasjust remarkable, you know, and
the obituary had just a blipabout what she actually had done
(08:47):
.
And so I went and looked alittle bit deeper and it was
just amazing.
She and her partner and theirco-workers, they saved almost
3000 Jewish children in.
Belgium from the camps.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And it's incredible, it's incredible, it's absolutely
incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And those 3000 people then had families and children
and they had families andchildren and thousands and
thousands and thousands ofpeople have been able to live
and work and contribute andlearn to love, and all of that
because of these women.
It's remarkable and I love.
(09:27):
You said to me when I wasworking on some of the press
stuff.
You said this book chose me,like this book chose me, which
is a little different than howsomeone like you might approach,
particularly with historicfiction.
I mean, you could, you couldwrite a book every day.
There's so many great storiesout there and you probably get
pitched all kinds of interestingstories where someone will say,
(09:49):
becky, there's this great, truestory of throwing the blanket,
I think you should write it.
Well, you can't, you cannotpossibly choose them all.
So talk to me about thatfeeling of sort of saying, well,
this one's come to me, thisone's knocked on my heart and
said write me.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, just looking into the story, I just, the more
I found, the more I was justnodding and saying, yes, I know
this story, I know where youknow where it's going to go, I
know what to do with it, I knowyou know.
I just felt like I knew thesewomen and I have.
(10:27):
I have Jewish ancestry throughmy paternal grandmother and so I
was a little bit touched by it.
Anyway, my family comes fromHungary, not from, not from
Belgium, but I was feeling veryin touch and in tune with them
and reading through some of thestories.
A lot of the, a lot of thechildren were hidden religious
institutions which at the timewould have been predominantly
(10:50):
Catholic, which is another partof my religious heritage, and so
I've got my, my Jewishbackground and the Catholic
background there and in someplaces they're working in
beautiful concert and harmonytogether and in other places
there's dissonance and I justfelt so drawn into all of it and
it was just, it was justextraordinary.
(11:12):
And one of the greatest findswas a memoir written by a man
named Professor Shal Hurrell.
He was one of the hiddenchildren and he has a memoir
called A Child Without Shadowand it's his story about the
entire thing and I was able toget in touch with him and he's
still alive and speaking of theimpact of saving lives,
(11:35):
professor Hurrell went on tobecome a world class pediatric
neurologist in Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Oh my.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
You know how many lives has he saved and touched
because of his work, because hewas saved.
So he and I are good friendsnow and he gave me some
wonderful insight and somewonderful stories.
And Ida Sterna, one of thewomen in the book, she died.
She died in the in the 60s.
She had a lot of injuriesduring her imprisonment, but
(12:04):
Andre Galen lived until she was100 and she stayed in touch with
people, and so he had storiesupon stories about her, and so
they were just so alive to me.
And I was able to find some ofthe details of my own Jewish
(12:25):
heritage, my Jewish relatives,because of the research that I
was doing and when I toldProfessor Harrell that he says
so you're in this book too.
And that was just that was justbeautiful.
But even though it's not mycountry, that it is my story
because they are my own and Ithink that's a beautiful
(12:50):
statement for the book that Ithink a lot of us can see
ourselves in it.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Why are stories like this, why do they resonate so
well with readers?
All these years later?
Books about World War II, booksand movies, and whatever about
the Holocaust, these kinds ofstories there seems to be no end
(13:18):
to the curiosity and theappetite for it.
Why do you think?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
that is Well.
I think it's because hard timesnever stop, they just change
and we crave light and hope inhard times, in dark times and I
think, knowing a setting as darkas the Holocaust in World War
(13:43):
II, if we know we're going toget a story of victory and hope
and light that is set in thatbackdrop, that's just going to
give us more fuel for whateverthe dark or hard times that we
are facing or will face or haveface.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
If these two women and I know there are other
players in the book, of course,but these two really the stars
of the story in the book and inreal life, which is another
question I'll ask you in aminute but if these two women
were listening to this episodetoday, what would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I would tell them thank you.
Thank you for what they did,but also thank you for making
the reports that they did sothat it was possible for the
rest of us to know what they did.
And thank you for the examplethat they set, and I mean the
lives that they changed, butalso the lives that they went on
(14:50):
to live afterwards.
I mean they were changed bythese experiences and the world
was only improved by all thatthey did.
So it would be all gratitude,and then I would just hope and
pray that they approved of how Iportrayed them.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I think they would.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I hope so I tried.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So to that other question if you had to create a
pie chart of your time on thisproject with research talking to
this professor, for example,reading other source material,
(15:36):
watching documentaries, whateveryou might have done and then
just sitting at your laptop andwriting, like actually pushing
the story forward, laying downthe narrative that is now in the
book, as opposed to researchitself.
What does that pie chart looklike as a percentage?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
In this case it was probably about half and half,
because, as I was just gettinginto the writing, then there
were more things that had to golook up.
But the initial research took acouple of months to make sure I
laid things out in the properchronological order and then had
(16:19):
a decent understanding of itall.
And then I'd be like well, Idon't really know this, you know
, and some things you don't know, until you're in the middle of
writing the story, all of asudden you know you're writing
about Belgium in.
I can't remember what yearsthis book takes place in right
now, but 1943, let's say so.
I'm, you know, I'm like I don'treally know what Belgium was
(16:39):
like in 1943.
But um, but then I have anotherreport of somebody else who was
living in that time and who cantell me what Belgium was like
in 1943.
So then I would just get acouple of notes like okay, break
it back in.
So writing and research wasabout 50-50.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And how long did you spend from from the day you?
Well, from the day your dadpushed you that link and said
hey, check this out until theday you finished that first full
draft, not the publicationEight months.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Oh about eight months .
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And were you writing other things during this time,
or were you really sort of oh,you were Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah, I was.
I was writing other things atthe time too.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Okay, look at this multitasking, becky Connelly.
I can barely write one thing ata time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
There's a reason why.
There's a reason why I have totake many naps now.
I can't cordon my brain offlike I used to.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Well, it's remarkable how prolific you are, and I'm
just so fascinated by this, justthis world of historic fiction
where you're well that's, maybethat's the better question is
what percentage of the book isis fictionalized.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
All of the situations are true.
All of the children that theyreference or work with are true.
The dialogue is probably 90%made up.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
But all of the.
Fine, necessity, obviously yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Fine necessity, yeah, and the details about the
rescue specific children.
All of that is from document.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You must have felt enormous pressure to honor these
people.
I don't just mean the heroes, Imean the families that the, the
children of the children, ofthe children that are alive
today, like this professor, isjust the pressure to know that
you were honoring their legacyand their story Right.
(19:01):
Did you have you had alphareaders, beta readers?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
or alpha readers, beta readers, sensitivity
readers.
It was really important to methat in a story like this, that
everybody's, everybody's faithand tradition was was honored
and represented correctly, andthen that I took very little
(19:28):
creative license with with thesepainful circumstances.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, and, and as you're doing all of that, you're
also working on other projects,which just boggles my little
brain.
It's my brain is boggled thatyou're able to do that.
Speaking of what is what's nextfor you, miss Conley.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Well, there is a cozy mystery coming down the pipe.
I'm in revisions for that rightnow.
I don't actually have a releasedate for it yet, but that's a
new one for me, not somethingI've done before, but it's been
a really fun adventure and itshould be really fun when that
one is ready to really talkabout.
(20:13):
But yeah, cozy mystery.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And then do you have another, because you've had now
three spring releases sort of inthis genre.
You have another one in thepipeline for 2025 or not yet
there's no date on it yet.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
We are finalizing the details, but we have the
subject and we have thecharacters.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Oh, okay.
And then, most importantly, howdo we get Netflix to buy
Hidniyolo Stars and to bringthis story to an even wider
audience?
How do we do that, beckyConnelly.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
I don't know.
I don't know, but I did justsee that they are making a movie
about Nicholas Winton, who didextraordinary things for Jewish
children in Czechoslovakia.
So I think if we could just tapinto the people that made that,
maybe they'd want to do anotherone.
Yeah, because I mean, that's afabulous story that I love very,
(21:22):
very much from history, andhere's another one that would
pair along just beautifully.
So, if anybody knows, I thinkBleaker Street is the production
company that put that one on.
So if anybody knows BleakerStreet, Bleaker Street.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Bleaker Street, if you're watching, if you're
listening, if you're Netflixanyone?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
If you know anyone, if anybody knows Kenneth Branagh
, I think Kenneth Branagh woulddo a great job directing.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes, at.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Kenneth.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Branagh yeah, absolutely yeah, this would just
be so.
I can see the trailer.
I can see the little threeminute trailer promoting this
down the road.
Well, patience right, patienceRight.
You are a remarkable person andI'm thrilled that we've had a
(22:05):
chance to chat and to catch up.
It's been too long.
I just think you're the best.
I admire more than your talent,it's just such a gifted
wordsmith.
I just admire the good personthat you are and it's a
privilege to know you and toassociate with you, and I hope
that you have many, many, many,many, many, many more books than
(22:27):
the pipeline.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Thank you, same to you.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
All right, you be good, would ya?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, I'll try, you try.
Ha ha ha, looking forward tothe next western episode.
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