Padlocked is an epic historical and visionary novel that follows the lives of a group of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, life-altering circumstances as Nazi Germany invades Poland in 1939.
Teenaged Agata is separated from her sister in Warsaw as the Nazis encircle it. Agata made a vow that she would return to take Elsa to safety, but soldiers and barbed wire prevent her from entering the newly established Jewish sector. When she discovers her sister was taken by train to a work camp near Krakow, she navigates her war-torn country in search of her. Her quest will force her to confront a Hell on Earth to find her.
Max searches for belonging when he joins the Jungdeutsche Partei, or the Young German Party. Once bullied as a child, Max’s new affiliations promote him to a position where he can dictate life or death and settle scores. In order to thrive under Nazi occupation, he makes daily choices that impact the friends and family he once loved.
Two foreign photojournalists, an American and a Spaniard, are trapped between armies at Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen, along Poland’s western border with Germany. It is Hank’s last overseas assignment, and he’s been counting the days until he can go home to North Carolina to be with his family. Rafe fled Spain after the dictator, Francisco Franco, targeted his family. His experience with Guernica has convinced him that the rise of fascism in Europe is not one of ideology but a war between good and evil. They will find themselves embedded with the Polish, Nazi, and Soviet forces at varying times, forcing them to face moral and ethical decisions in their struggles to survive.
While they don’t know one another at the start of their journeys, each will make decisions that have the power to transform them and place them on paths that ultimately converge on January 27, 1945, as the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates to Auschwitz-Birkenau for all the world to witness.
This is ultimately a story about the strength of love, courage, faith, and resilience in the face of unimaginable hatred and obsession with power, and how every decision we make places us further along specific paths.
My Review:
Wow. I just finished reading Padlocked. Wow. This is a story that will take your breath away in so many ways. It is gut-wrenching and disturbing but there is a glimmer of hope that clings to every page.
It starts out with a bang. Literally. Padlocked is set against the backdrop and horrors of WWII but is told with a rather unique twist. Four individuals who come from very different walks of life, meet by circumstance, and go their own way only to find they all end up at the same place. Sort of. Their journeys are unique and formidable but really make you hope that there is something called karma.
The research that had to have gone into this is impressive. The horror and trauma of that war are well depicted in an upclose and personal way for these four individuals. It gives you a unique perspective of all sides of the war.
This story was engaging from beginning to end with a unique twist. Once I started reading it I couldn’t stop. It is a brilliant story and one that I highly recommend.
Excerpt from Padlocked
Hank locked eyes with Agata’s. His eyes were wide, soft, and sad, somehow a mixture of compassion and having seen too much. “You must understand that you are unlikely to find your sister.”
“Perhaps,” she answered, tilting her chin upward. “But I must die trying, if that is my fate.”
“The Nazis are taking anyone who isn’t German. It no longer matters if they are Jewish, political dissidents, or what they call undesirables. You must be German to get through.” He hesitated before adding, “A woman is in particular danger.”
As Rafe translated, Agata prepared to leave. “Perhaps,” she said. “But, again, I must try.”
“Can I get your name and your picture?” Hank asked.
Agata hesitated.
“If your family searches for you later, it could be helpful,” Rafe said.
“And if the Germans find your camera and your notes?”
“We will only have a picture on the camera and a name and date on a pad.”
“Not the location?” Agata asked.
“No.”
“And if you are tortured?”
“To give up information on you?” Rafe smiled. “Are you a spy they are after?”
“No. Not a spy. Agata Heinrich.”
Hank held up the camera. “Your picture?”
She nodded. The cigarette had long ago burned down, but she still held the stub in her hand. She stared directly into the lens without blinking, her expression immobile. It was an odd feeling to have her photograph captured here in this peculiar village, and a strange feeling to know it might be seen around the world: a lone young woman wandering between Warsaw and Kraków, searching for her sister. Perhaps, Elsa might see it.
Hank and Rafe shook her hand and offered again to take her east with them. She declined and turned to go. Then, abruptly, she turned back around.
“You asked earlier if I knew what happened here.”
“Yes,” both men said in unison.
She pointed toward the traffic circle in the middle of the village. “Take the road to the northwest. You’ll see woods about a mile beyond the village. They slaughtered them there.”
“Who?”
She shrugged. “I suppose it was the Nazis. Who else could it be?”
“Why?”
“Why?” she repeated. “If you were a Nazi, why not?”
As she turned her back on them and began to walk, she heard activity behind her. A moment later, their vehicle’s engine sputtered to life. The sound of the engine grew fainter as they sped away from her, and she realized that she had never felt so alone in her entire life.
Other novels by this author that I have reviewed:
April in the Back of Beyond
Exit 22
Vicki’s Key
Secrets of a Dangerous Woman
Dylan’s Song
The Pendulum Files
About the Author
My full name is Patricia McClelland Terrell, and I have been writing under the pen name p.m.terrell ever since a publisher presented me with my first fiction book cover. The graphic designer had also entered my name in lower-case letters; my editor hated it, and I loved it. It’s been p.m.terrell ever since.
I began writing when I was nine years old, inspired by a schoolteacher and elementary school principal. Scott-Foresman published my first book, a computer instructional for universities, in 1984. Scott-Foresman, Dow-Jones (Richard D. Irwin branch), Palari Publishing, Paralee Press, and Drake Valley Press have published 27 books to date.
Before embarking on a full-time writing career, I founded McClelland Enterprises, Inc., in the Washington, D.C., area in 1984, specializing in workplace computer instruction. I opened another business, Continental Software Development Corporation, in 1994, which focused on custom application development, programming, website design and development, and cybersecurity.
I was honored to be the first female President of the Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers. Since moving to North Carolina, I served on the boards of the Robeson County Friends of the Library and the Robeson County Arts Council.
I launched The Book ‘Em Foundation with Waynesboro, Virginia, Police Officer Mark Kearney, and assisted in Virginia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina events before establishing the Annual Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, chairing it for several years before turning it over to Robeson Community College in Lumberton, NC.
Padlocked is available in all eBook formats, trade paperback, hardcover, and large print editions.
Website: https://pmterrell.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmterrell.author/
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/padlocked/id6759671735
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/padlocked-pm-terrell/1149563468
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GPWWNBFN
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/padlocked-2
In France: https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9781935970569_9781935970569_10020/padlocked
In Germany: https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1078388459
All other eBook formats: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1977075
