Trains and Tulips is Published!

 IT’S HERE!!! It’s release day for Trains and Tulips: A Novel of the World War II Dutch Resistance!

After nearly five years of researching, brainstorming, planning, writing, and editing, this story is now out in the world!

I’ve wanted for quite a while to publish a book around Christmastime! All of my previous books were published in the spring or summer, but I love, love, love Christmas: the decorations, the carols, making and buying gifts for my loved ones, the good food, and most of all, remembering how Light came into the world. (There are also a few Christmas scenes in the book!)

And one of the reasons I chose today (December 5th) as launch day is because today is the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas, the celebration of Saint Nicholas. On Sinterklaas, the Dutch enjoy good food, family time, games, and exchanging gifts. (Celebrating Sinterklaas also comes into the book!)

When I first began this book, I had no idea it would take this long to publish it, but as always, God’s timing is perfect! I know this book is so much better than it would have been if I had published it sooner.

And today, I thought I’d share with you a bit of the inspiration behind this story.

The setting. I’d tossed around the idea of writing a World War II story for a few years and thought of several different countries I’d be interested in writing about, but it was after watching the movie Return to the Hiding Place that I knew I wanted to write a book set in the Netherlands.

The characters. The first character I created for this book was Pieter Knies. After watching Return to the Hiding Place and then reading Hans Poley’s book of the same name, I was intrigued by the fact that only 15% of the college students in the Netherlands signed an oath of allegiance to the Nazis when ordered to do so. 85% of the Dutch students chose to risk forced labor and imprisonment rather than pledge their loyalty to the Nazi regime. I knew I wanted to include a university student in my story, and decided on a theology student (Dietrich Bonhoeffer was probably some inspiration there!), and Pieter Knies, a quiet, thoughtful student of theology who dreams of becoming a pastor but finds his peaceful life upended by the war, was born.

I decided Pieter needed a friend who would be instrumental in getting him involved in the Resistance, and I dreamed up a cheerful, curly-haired farm boy named Gerrit Vogel.

I also wanted Pieter to have a sister and settled on the name Marit for her.

And while I almost never write romance, it seemed Gerrit and Marit were just meant to be together, and I was inspired by the true stories of two young engaged couples in the Dutch Resistance: Hein Sietsma and Diet Eman, and Piet Hartog and Aty van Woerden. One of the things I loved about their stories is that while they were in love and dreamed of a future together, they were willing to risk their futures and their very lives to rescue the Jews and stand against the evil of the Nazis.

Elsje DeLong was the main character in a piece of flash fiction I wrote for a contest about a teenage girl who claims a Jewish baby as her own after I read a true story of a girl who did the same. That 1,000-word story earned an honorable mention in the contest, and one of my writer friends who read it told me she liked it so much she would read a whole book based on that story premise. So I decided to expand Elsje’s story and make it part of Trains and Tulips.

David Meijer was the last to join the cast of five main characters. I knew Gerrit needed a Jewish friend to get him started in the work of rescuing Jews, and eventually, I decided if I was going to write about the Holocaust, I wanted to include a Jewish perspective. You can hear that six million Jews were murdered during World War II, but whenever you actually put a face and a name to some of those people, when you remember that each of those people was someone’s mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister, brother, daughter, or son, it hits you a lot harder. David and his family were created to represent some of the millions of Jews who suffered under the Nazis. I’m not Jewish, but I’ve been fascinated by Jewish culture and traditions ever since I was quite small, and I have a great love for the Jewish people. David’s point of view was definitely the most challenging for me to write, but I think it added a lot to the story.

The plot. In some ways, the plot is character-driven; it tells the story of each of these characters. However, it’s very fast-paced and action-packed. Also, there were many real events I wanted to include, and these events became the anchors of the story’s plot; the dates for these real events are fixed, and the rest of the story is built around those events. Two of my favorite real events that come into the story are the liberation of Dachau concentration camp and the liberation of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Here are real historical photos of both those events:

The title. I told you how I first came up with the idea for this story after watching the movie Return to the Hiding Place. Well, my musician/singer/songwriter sister, Sophia, was inspired to write a song after watching that same movie. Her song is called “Running Through a Field of Tulips.” I knew I wanted to include “trains” in the title of my book, and after Sophia shared her song with me, I knew that Trains and Tulips was the perfect title for this book. The title represents both darkness and light. In the Netherlands during World War II, the trains were used for evil purposes, to transport thousands of innocent Jewish men, women, and children to their deaths. So, in the title, “trains” refers to the darkness and evil that the Resistance sought to stop. And “tulips” refers to the beauty that is still there to be found, even in sadness and suffering. To me, flowers will always be a symbol of beauty and hope, and how God can bring good out of what man means for evil.

The themes. When I first started writing this book, I didn’t intend for the goodness of God to be the main theme, but somehow, as I brainstormed and wrote, the truth that God is good–always–became the main message of the story. It’s a truth that has given me hope and peace in my own life and a truth that sustained many of the real members of the World War II Dutch Resistance. And it’s a truth that naturally runs throughout this novel. Another of the themes in this book that I am deeply passionate about is the value of human life. During World War II, the Nazis murdered approximately six million Jews, including an estimated 90% of Europe’s Jewish children. They also killed thousands of children and adults with disabilities, and many others who did not fit their ideal of the perfect Aryan. While today, we thankfully don’t have concentration camps and gas chambers, I do see a disturbing disregard for human life with the wide acceptance of abortion, euthanasia, and doctor-assisted suicide. And anti-semitism and crimes against Jews are also on the rise. In writing about World War II, I hope to share the truth that every life is precious.

Reading the feedback and reviews from my early readers has me so excited, humbled, and thankful! And I’m so excited to see how God continues to use this story! This is the sixth novel I’ve written that my mother has read aloud, but it’s the first one to make anyone in my family cry! (They also laughed, too, in case you were wondering.) I did intersperse some humor throughout the book!

Between my Kickstarter campaign earlier this year and other pre-orders, I sold just over fifty copies of the book. Those fifty-some copies are going all over the United States, and to Mexico, Austria, and the Netherlands!

Fifty books sold may not seem like a huge number, but when I published my previous books, I sold about five to ten copies between pre-orders and the first month or so after launch, mostly from family and friends. So this is huge to me!

And I’ve been so excited to see the reviews from my early readers! My launch team is just a dozen people, but it includes readers from all over the United States, plus Canada, Australia, and the UK! You can read some of their reviews on Goodreads!

As always, remember, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it,” (1 Thess. 5:24).

All for Him,

Savannah Jane

P.S. You can grab a copy of Trains and Tulips on Amazon here or at Barnes and Noble here. Or order a signed copy directly from me here. The paperback on Amazon has black and white illustrations, but if you order directly from me, you’ll have the option to get a paperback edition with full-color illustrations, or a special-edition hardcover!

P.S.S. Wondering about the book’s appropriateness, content, etc.? Check out a content guide here!