Lana's War

October 12, 2020
The daughter of a Russian noble joins the French Resistance in the suspenseful latest from Abriel (The Light After the War). In 1943 Paris, Lana Hartmann witnesses a German officer execute her husband for trying to hide a Jewish child. After suffering a miscarriage, Lana is approached by Henri, a member of the French Resistance, to pose as a White Russian, the name given to former Russian nobles allying with Hitler to defeat Stalin’s regime. Desperate to help save Jewish children from being sent to death camps, Lana travels to Nice under her maiden name and poses as the girlfriend of Swiss industrialist, and French Resistance member, Guy Pascal, whose status helps Lana ingratiate herself with Russian nobility and attract attention from German officers including Alois Brunner, the one who killed her husband. The ever-present danger from their Resistance activities bring Guy and Lana closer as they give in to their mutual attraction, and the plot thickens when Guy reveals the source of his own animosity toward Brunner. While an abrupt conclusion will leave readers wanting more, Lana’s quest to avenge her husband’s death is enhanced by vivid details of the German occupation of France. Abriel’s fast-paced revenge story will please fans of WWII fiction. Agent: Johanna V. Castillo, Writers House.

November 1, 2020
Romance and danger blend with extravagant dinner parties in this historical drama that moves from Paris to the French Riviera during World War II. The young Countess Lana Antanova is recruited by the Resistance in Paris to infiltrate the social circles of Gestapo operators. After witnessing her husband's ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to save Jewish orphans, Lana takes a fateful leap by traveling to play out her cover story as Guy Pascal's mistress. Pascal, a wealthy Swiss Resistance member and owner of the villa Cap Ferrat, proves mysterious but resourceful, and the pair quickly discovers plans to systematically deport all Jews in the area. The effort is being led by none other than her husband's killer, SS Captain Alois Brunner, whom Lana must get close to quickly. Rubbing shoulders with fellow Russian aristocrats and seducing German officers comes naturally to Lana, but her instincts for survival are tested when she develops a friendship with a local Jewish family. Lana's War combines the internal struggle to find love again and the consequences of hostilities reaching the idyllic French Riviera.

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