5 Star Review
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Editorial Book Review:
By Solange Roe
Helena P. Schrader skillfully captures the tension, bravery, and humanity of the Berlin Airlift, therefore transporting readers to a turning point in history. Based on painstaking research and enhanced by Schrader's award-winning narrative, this gripping book presents a perceptive and moving picture of a crisis almost altering the path of the Cold War.
Berlin is under siege, and about two million people live there and are on verge of starvation. The only hope resides in the before unheard-of airlift operation for air-delivery of necessary goods. Against this background, erstwhile adversaries who attacked Berlin USAF Captain J.B. Baronowitz and RAF Flight Lieutenant Kit Moran find themselves flying sorties to bring milk, wheat, and children's shoes. Their metamorphosis from fighters to lifesaver captures the central idea of the book—that of atonement and reconciliation.
Two brave woman pilots who risk all to operate an air ambulance, saving starving and abandoned children and delivering them to safety in the West, parallel their story. The story has a great emotional depth from their bold flights and the heartbreaking sequences of child rescue. Personified as "General Winter," winter grips tightly and the stakes climb sharply, endangering the airlift's success as well as the lives depending on it.
Rich in detailed characterization and a strong awareness of the historical setting, Schrader's story is both exciting and moving. She deftly catches the camaraderie and tenacity that bind former adversaries under a shared goal. The tension of the book is obvious, its speed unrelenting, and its portrayal of the logistical and personal difficulties of the airlift is genuine and striking.
Not just a work of historical fiction, "Cold War" is a tribute to the strength and bravery of those who fought against the flow of violence and hunger. Shrader's description of the Berlin Airlift will fascinate and educate readers. It shows how politics, the weather, and people's efforts were all intertwined in a way that was almost certain to fail. This book is a history lesson and an exciting story about bravery, friendship, and the human spirit.
About the Author
Helena P. Schrader
Helena P. Schrader, award-winning historical novelist, offers nuanced insight into historical events and figures based on sound research and an understanding of human nature. Her complex and engaging characters bring history back to life as a means to better understand ourselves. Her motto is: Understanding ourselves by Understanding the Past. Helena’s chief areas of expertise are Aviation, the Second World War, Ancient Sparta, and the Crusader States.
Helena's current project in the three-part "The Bridge to Tomorrow Series," which shows how the West stopped Russian aggression without war during the Berlin Crisis of 1948/1949. The series goes beyond the political chess game and logistical achievements of the Berlin Airlift to explore the social and psychological impact of this pivotal historical event. The characters -- women and men, British, American, German and Ukrainian -- enable the reader to see the unfolding events through different perspectives. As the reader gets drawn into their lives, the historical tensions rise, and the trilogy accelerates the pace to that of a thriller. "The Bridge to Tomorrow Series" is about winning a war with milk, coal and candy bars.
The first book in the series, "Cold Peace," has already won four literary accolades including GOLD for Military Fiction in the Historical Fiction Company's 2023 Book Awards, Gold in the 2024 Feathered Quill Awards, runner-up for the Historical Fiction Company's prestigious BOOK OF THE YEAR award in 2023, an Indie BRAG medallion and a Maincrest Media Award.
Helena holds a PhD in history from the University of Hamburg, which she earned with a ground-breaking biography of a leader of the German Resistance to Hitler, and served as an American diplomat in Europe and Africa. She grew up sailing the Maine coast, was a passionate horsewoman, and is now retired and living with her husband and two dogs.
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