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[English language release 5/19/2024 | German language release 6/15/2024]

In 1954, 14 year old Rosemarie Döderlein vanished in Montreal on the way to the neighborhood bakery, just weeks after emigrating from Germany. After 68 years of fruitless searching and wondering, her sister Vera learned the truth about what happened.

Vera’s novel tells the story of her family’s life in Germany: the impact of war, the hope for a better life in Canada, the crushing reality of a tragic loss, and how it is that a family moves forward afterward. Publishing this novel represents the final act of closure on this lifelong arc. 

www.MissingGermanGirl.com

FROM THE BACK COVER

I was 11. She was 13.

Unsophisticated. Innocent.

We emigrated from Germany leaving familiar cobblestone streets and meadows to a new vision of flashing neon signs, new languages and cars driven by thousands on the streets of Montréal. A few weeks later, Rosemarie vanished on the way to our neighborhood bakery.

Where did she go? Was she hoodwinked? Kidnapped? Murdered? How could she not hear our pleading words or know how to reach our outstretched arms?

For almost 70 years her red play purse, prayer books and 50’s play jewelry were at my fingertips waiting for that special ring at the door, only to be left with the tragic, cold sound of silence and restless dreams. In 2022, sophisticated DNA-based tools and research revealed shocking truths of what happened with Rosemarie.

Some scenes are fictionalized.

Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vera is 81 years of age and is “proud as a peacock” to have published this one novel in her lifetime that she considers an honor to her entire family. She is grateful to have been a recipient of the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program Scholarship in 2015, which helped jumpstart the writing of this novel.

In Vera’s younger years, she worked as an executive secretary in Southern California. She was married to her late husband for almost 20 years, is the mother to two children, and “Oma” (grandmother) to four grandchildren. She enjoys movies, cooking, gardening, sewing, knitting, and crossword puzzles in her free time.