Tag: the Berlin Wall

A Celebration of the Triumph of Freedom Over Tyranny

The festive atmosphere as the Wall came down in 1989 (image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Thirty-five years ago today, I stood in my apartment in Seattle and watched images like this on my TV with tears in my eyes. I’d been in East Berlin just weeks before and seen new friends there shy away from Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point to the West, while I passed through freely. My tears were tears of joy for them.

My forthcoming novel, The Last Grand Tour (publication date: January 28, 2025), takes place in Germany and nearby countries in the years right after the Wall fell, when there was hope and even belief everywhere that freedom would always eventually triumph over tyranny.

1989 was an extraordinary year, and that day, November 9, when the Wall came down, was the most extraordinary of all.

COMING ON JANUARY 28–My First Novel: The Last Grand Tour

On a foggy morning with geese drifting by, a seagull flying overhead, and otters playing just offshore, I’m pleased to announce that my novel, THE LAST GRAND TOUR, will be published on JANUARY 28, 2025.

Here’s a description of the book:

American tour guide Joe Newhouse wants nothing more than to reach Venice. Since moving to Munich after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he’s watched his business fail, his wife leave him, and his love for Europe diminish. Now he faces one last ten-day tour with a surly group that doesn’t want to be there. As he leads them through the mythic lands of Europe’s Romantic past, he finds himself disturbed by their stories of earlier lives, puzzled by their desire to be with a man who doesn’t arrive, and entangled in an illicit affair that promises to either save him or plunge his tour—and his life—into madness.

Soaked in the Romantic atmosphere and dark deeds of old Europe—as well as the freedoms and hopes of a new era—The Last Grand Tour takes us on a perilous journey through Hitler’s Berchtesgaden, Mozart’s Salzburg, and Mad King Ludwig’s Bavarian fantasyland before reaching its stunning climax in the murky waters of Venice. Along the way, it explores the often-shifting lines between fidelity and freedom, illusion and reality, regret and desire.

I’ll be posting a picture of the cover soon!