12-15-2025, 09:01 PM
Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Jan Wolinski's parents sent him to live in the countryside for his safety. The small hamlet is among the first overrun by the invading German forces who use it for their camp. Commandeering the Uncle's house, the military commander takes an interest in the young Polish boy which leads him on an unusual journey. Falling in love with his protector, he struggles to counter his feelings with what he knows is happening around him, but is powerless to change. A true story, told from the perspective of the original Nazi Boy, it reflects a little known trend towards homosexuality among the Nazi party and explores its effects on those involved.
Quote: The book did originally appear on Nifty, but it is listed at Goodreads, and is commercially available at sites such as Amazon and others. On those bases, it does meet the criteria for this forum.
As an aside, many, many fictional novels are significantly autobiographical. We all write best about what we know or have experienced. Whether we like a book or not is, as always, in the mind of the beholder.
To further illustrate my point, one of my all-time favorite authors is historical novelist, the late Patrick O'Brian (1914 - 2000), best known for the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. O'Brian wrote his first novel for adults in 1952, ("Testimonies") set in the Welsh valley of Cwm Croesor, where he lived in penury for three years from 1946 to 1949. While fiction, the setting and his living there greatly influenced the writing. Older residents of the valley still remember him, albeit as somewhat curmudgeonly, a trait he would exhibit throughout his long life. On a trip there some years ago I took the following pics:
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The tiny house "Fron Wen" where Patrick O'Brian and his wife first lived in Cwm Croesor. The same house features in O'Brian's first adult novel "Testimonies" as the house rented by the novel's protagonist, Joseph Pugh.
In 1949 O'Brian and his wife moved to the Catalan French medieval fishing village of Collioure on the Mediterranian coast, where he lived for almost the rest of his long life. O'Brian's second novel ("The Catalans", published in 1953) was set in this town. I'll resist the temptation to post my pics of Collioure!