Publisher's Synopsis
New Edition: 2023. This updated book includes an addendum which provides newly, covered historical context during the WW2 period. Also included are new "Book Club Discussion Questions" and "Classroom Activities for Students".
Follow the World War Two (WWII) hardship, heartbreak and heroism experienced by a young Polish-Lithuanian man and his strong mother. Against My Will: Lithuania to Freedom is a bold new novel based on a true story, that spans a generation, a world war and six countries.The story describes how one fourteen-year-old Lithuanian school-boy is taken from his family by the Nazis to become a child soldier. Follow his ordeal as he is captured by the Nazis, his later dalliance with the French resistance forces, the hardship of Prisoner Of War (POW) camps and relief in joining the Polish Freedom Fighters. Meanwhile, his distraught mother faces a rollercoaster journey of heart-breaking events behind the iron curtain as her husband, and four sons, one by one, meet their death, depart or disappear.
The plight of ethnically Polish families living in Lithuania during WWII has rarely been reported and shared with the world. Many of the documents and oral history around this period have not survived and what little information that does exist is not in English. The foundation of this previously unknown story is based on events that took place during WWII in Lithuania, Germany and France, and closing in the UK and Canada.
Although fictionalized the majority of the events featured were recounted to the author by surviving family members. This oral history, coupled with the author's extensive research into the period, provides both a dramatic storyline as well as insight into wartime and post-war Europe. Against My Will: Lithuania to Freedom - Who will survive? Will the boy ever see his mother again? How will he escape? Can the family be reunited? What is certain is that all of their lives are shattered, with momentous consequences and no option to turn the clock back.
