Discover this magical love story

John had served in the British Army for 30 years when he was posted to Germany in 1953. Erika was a German national and a secretary in Tax House, Lübbecke, Germany where John was based. John literally bumped into Erika in a corridor and for him, it was love at first sight. He pursued Erika by way of astonishingly wonderful love letters. Eventually, Erika succumbed. It was not an easy journey for them. It was only a few short years after WW2 when both their countries were at war. The Nazis had performed numerous atrocities that were still fresh in people’s minds. But their absolute love for one another endured through adversity. This is semi-biographical, some fact some fiction. Written from the point of view of Erika but actually by her daughter Susan who wanted others to know about the truly remarkable love letters between her parents.

“The story covers from 1900 to 1964,” explains the author. “It recounts my mother’s life far and beyond her relationship with my father, to paint a frank social history of Germany as Hitler rose to power – and the bitter feelings my mother had toward Germany in the aftermath of the Nazi atrocities. Paralleled to this is the chronicling of my father’s three-decade Army career, which included moving my mother to the UK for them to settle in the late 1950s.”

“This all started as a project for me to document their lives for my own daughter, who sadly never knew them. It’s amazing how much they packed into their short marriage; unfortunately, my father died in 1964 when I was just seven years old. But their story is a bold chapter in the wider history books and deserves to be preserved. I’m so pleased my parents carefully kept so many documents, because today they paint a vivid picture of their unique and tumultuous lives.”