Very few people can say they were born inside a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Disease, starvation, and much worse, prevented most prisoners from surviving. For infants, it was nearly impossible.
I became an anomaly. I shouldn’t be alive.
As a child, I didn’t know my life was different from that of others. I had nothing to compare it to, and I had no insight about the day I was born … until the moment I overheard the truth.
In a split second, I became a stranger to my reflection, my name, and my reason for being. I was not Annie anymore, and the people raising me were not my parents. Even the blue sky I cherished became an unfamiliar sight.
I felt utterly alone in a foreign world, but that changed when I met another person who was lost, like me. Fisher offered his hand to hold and began to prove his theory of, “When two missing people find one another, they can consider themselves found.”
Fisher enlightened me, and through him, I gained a deeper understanding of life. Now, I know there are two sides of the beautiful, blue sky. I’m on one side, and my lost loved ones are on the other, but at the end of it all, we’ll be together again under the one and only sky.
About the Author
Shari J. Ryan is a USA Today Bestselling Historical Fiction writer. Her desire to write stories revolving Jewish livelihood during World War II stems from being a descendant of two Holocaust survivors. After the passing of Shari’s grandmother, she pursued an active interest in learning more about the inherited stories she yearned to understand better.
Shortly after earning a bachelor’s degree from Johnson & Wales University, Shari began her career as a graphic artist and freelance writer. She then found her passion for writing books in 2012. In 2016, Shari began writing her first Historical Fiction novel, Last Words, a story about a lifelong journey through the eyes of a Holocaust survivor. With two character related books to follow, Shari quickly found a new passion to share untold World War II stories with a fictional setting.
A lifelong New England girl, Shari is happily married with two wonderful sons and a spunky Australian Shepard, who fits right in with the family.
Review
In 8th grade when we started learning about the Holocaust, I was intrigued. Years later I found out my great grandmother had escaped from a camp and my great grandfather was an American soldier that saved her. He brought her back to the US and the rest is history. So when I read the blurb, I just had to read this book. This is the first book I have read by Shari and I was hooked. I devoured this book in one day.
The Other Blue Sky is written beautifully. You’ll need a box of tissues. Secrets don’t stay a secret forever. But a mother will do whatever it takes to protect their own. I loved every second of this book and recommended it.
