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Hitler and Mars Bars

by Dianne Ascroft

338 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-1955; ISBN 1-4251-4591-4; US$23.22, C$23.22, EUR15.86, £11.99

A remarkable child and era…the moving story, simply told, of a German boy's journey through loss, loneliness, fear, uncertainty, love and hope in war-torn Germany and post-war rural Ireland.

About the Book

Erich's first home is Goldschmidthaus, a Children's Home near Essen. He lives for visits with his beloved mother and longs for the day he will live with her. He is distraught when, after a heavy bombing raid, her visits abruptly cease.

After the war he finds himself, with hundreds of other German children, transported across Europe to escape the appalling conditions in their homeland. Operation Shamrock brings Erich and his brother, Hans, to a new life in Ireland but with different families.

During the next few years Erich experiences the best and worst of Irish life. Living in a string of foster families, he finds love and acceptance in some and indifference and brutality in others. At Daddy Davy's he finds a loving home and is re-united with his brother. But his brief taste of happiness is dashed by circumstances he cannot control.

This is the story of a German boy growing up alone in Ireland. He dreams of finding his mother. He yearns for a family who will love and keep him forever. He learns his brother is his ally not his rival. Plucky and resilient he surmounts the challenges his ever changing world presents.

Set in Germany's industrialised Ruhr Valley during the Second World War and post-war rural Ireland this book evokes a little known episode in German and Irish history. It is a moving tale of a German child caught in war's vicelike grip and flung into a new land to grow and forge a new life.

Reviews

It's a riveting story… But most of all we get the human stories. As a novel it is extraodinarily well researched. It could form the basis of a revealing film script… Beautifically written with a strong human story running through it, it's an ideal read for these summer days.

Brian D'Arcy
BBC broadcaster, Sunday World columnist, author, journalist

Although writer Dianne Ascroft's new book has only been released to the general public for little over a week, she has already achieved critical acclaim for the novel… The novel was recognised by the Ireland's Own magazine's book deal competition when Dianne won the best book section.

Tyrone Constitution, 29 May 2008

Ascroft, through her sensitive research, has produced an insightful novel which acknowledges the past, but also the strain of change that was present at the time… [She] has localised the global context of her subject matter, in this unique window into 1940s Ireland.

East Cork Journal, 5th June 2008

An endearing story… Ascroft is superb in telling the story from Erich's point of view. It's a poignant and nostalgic look at a bygone and more innocent age…. The story is both vivid and moving…

News Letter (Belfast), 21st June 2008

About the Author

Dianne Ascroft was born in Toronto, Canada in 1960 and earned a B.A. in History at the University of Windsor in 1984. She has lived in Scotland and Northern Ireland since moving to Britain in 1990.

She has written historical articles and music personality interviews and profiles for Irish and Canadian newspapers and magazines and was a contributor to an Irish local history book, The Brookeborough Story. Her competition entry, The Contest, was shortlisted and broadcast on Downtown Radio, Belfast in their 1998 Short Story Contest.

She lives with her husband and pets - a pair of cats and a pair of goats - on a small farm in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Curiosity about the past has inspired her long-standing interest in history and genealogy and her love of historical fiction. Her hobbies also include Celtic music, quilting, hiking and travel. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society. Visit her website at www.geocities.com/dianne_ascroft