What was your favorite picture book as a kid?
Wow, that’s a hard question to answer. There were so many that I enjoyed. Dr. Suess, for sure. There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer, though I don’t know why because I’m a scaredy cat! But one I still have is The Children’s Bridge by Hilde Lorch. It’s somewhere between a picture book and a chapter book and is all about Christian children from around the world. I loved it. I guess God was already preparing me for my children who came to us through adoption from three different Asian countries.

What was the first “real” book (with chapters and without pictures) you remember reading?
It was either Winnie the Pooh or Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I loved both of those.

What was your most favorite book in high school?
Hmm. Favorite book I had to read in English class was probably A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. With such iconic beginning lines and ending lines, you can hardly go wrong.

What was your least favorite book in high school?
Even though I’m such a history buff, I didn’t care for The Red Badge of Courage at all. I don’t like fighting scenes.

What was the last novel you read?
A Love Discovered by Tracie Peterson. So classically Tracie and an enjoyable read.

What was the last nonfiction book you read?
I just read White Teacher, Black Mama by Anita D’Abbraccio and Tiffany Stevenson. Wow! It’s about a White teacher of kids with major behavioral and emotional issues and the Black mother who fought for her child to be helped. Anita and Tiffany worked together to help Oscar and became friends who now have shared many years of friendship, trails, joys, and sorrows. All of this is set against their background of faith. I met them recently at an author event, and they are amazing ladies. Tiffany told me about her son’s journey and that he got his college degree and is now working for a lawyer. She gave me goosebumps and brought me to tears. All in all, one of the most amazing and triumphant stories I have read in a long time.

Which book lived up to the hype (from the past 1-2 years)?
There was a lot of hype around Embers in the London Sky, and I loved that book. Sarah Sundin always lives up to her hype.

Which book do you love that needs more hype?
One would be The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels. Amazing book. She blew me out of the water. The other would be The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple by Joanna Politano. Took my breath away. The writing is exquisite. I have been busy, so I haven’t been on social media much, but I haven’t seen much about either of these books, and that’s a shame.

Next novel on your TBR (up to three).
That would have to be Darkness Calls the Tiger by Jaynre Tromp and To Catch a Coronet by Grace Hitchcock. Totally different styles, I realize, but they are both amazing authors. After I read Darkness Calls the Tiger, I think I’m going to need something a little lighter.

Next nonfiction on your TBR (up to three).
Those would be research books. I have the edits due in the next couple of weeks for hat I Left for You, but I still want to finish reading Scattered: The Forced Relocation of Poland’s Ukrainians after World War II by Diane Howansky Reilly. It’s about a little-known ethnic cleansing in southern Poland following the war. I can’t say too much more about it without giving away too much about my book. I also want to reread Firestorm at Peshtigo by Denise Gess and William Lutz. That one is for my book in Barbour Publishing’s series “A Day To Remember.” That one is about a little-know Wisconsin fire that took place on the same night as the Great Chicago Fire.

Tell us about your newest release/upcoming release.
What I Left for You. 1939: Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.

2023: Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.

Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son, daughter-in-law, and oldest daughter are U.S. Marines, and her youngest daughter, who has special needs, lives at home. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping.

Find her online at liztolsma.com. There you’ll find links to her books, non-spammy newsletter, podcast, and social media.

For more reading recommendations, check out:

Book Recommendations with Billie Jauss
Book Recommendations with Gail Scoates