The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, October 11, 2013 | 14 Oakville author releases second book in trilogy by Abigail Cukier Special to the Beaver Shelly Sanders hopes her grandmother and great aunt would approve of her historical fiction books inspired by their lives. "I would hope they would be OK with it. It's a different world now. I'd like to think they are glad they wouldn't have to hide any more and their story could be told in an appropriate manner," Sanders said. Even though Rachel's Promise is not really their story, Sanders says her grandmother and great aunt, whose names and traits she borrowed, lived a life parallel to the characters in the Rachel trilogy. Rachel's Promise, Sanders' second book, was just released. It follows Rachel's Secret and Rachel's Hope is due out next year. Rachel's Secret is the story of a 14year-old girl living in Kishinev, Russia. When a young Christian man is murdered, Rachel is forced to keep the murderer's identity a secret. Tensions mount as Christian distrust of Jews is fueled by prejudice and rumour. Rachel watches as lies and antiJewish propaganda leap off the pages of the local newspaper, inciting riots, called pogroms. Violence breaks out on Easter Sunday, 1903, and when it ends, the person Rachel loves most is dead and her home has been destroyed. As she struggles to survive, she receives assistance from a young Christian named Sergei, who turns on his father, a police officer complicit in the riots. Rachel's Promise continues the story told in Rachel's Secret. After her father is killed, Rachel and her family take the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia to board a ship to Shanghai. After a frightening journey, they reach China, one of the few countries that offered safe harbour to Jews at the time. There, she struggles to earn money to go to the U.S. Sergei has also left home, finding work in a St. Petersburg factory to support his mother and sister. But factory life in 1904 Russia is dangerous and Sergei joins workers rebelling against inhumane conditions. Shelly Sanders launches her new book Rachel's Promise. | photo by Michael Ivanin - special to the Beaver Cordially Invites You The Fielding Team of RE/MAX Aboutowne Realty and TM Real Estate Group are hosting an exciting event at the Bronte Harbour Banquet & Conference Centre on Thursday, October 17th, 2013. All Agents and Clients welcome! Please join us for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and an informative presentation on full ownership opportunities at the five star "The Fives Vacation Resort Property" in Playa del Carmen, Mayan Riviera. Separated by thousands of miles, the pair stay in touch through letters. As for Sanders' grandmother, Rachel and great aunt, Nucia, their lives were also threatened by a pogrom and fires burned as their family fled. They made their way across Russia to Shanghai. Nucia became a legal secretary and married the son of a rabbi. Rachel worked her way to California, where she graduated from Berkeley in 1930. She married a Canadian, a nonJew, settled in Montreal and hid her Judaism. Nucia came to Canada in the 1940s. "I always wanted to tell this story," said Sanders, an Oakville resident. "After I interviewed my aunt, it became a mission for me. And the more I delved into it, the more interesting it became." Sanders, who was a freelance journalist for many years for major publications, researched the first book for a year. She also read Russian novels to get a sense of pace and how people spoke. She was elated when the first novel was picked up by Second Story Press. Married for 21 years, Sanders has three children, ages 19, 17 and 13. She now works six days a week writing her books. Sanders is editing the third book, for which she received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. The author will use it to travel to San Francisco for a week in November to research where Rachel (the fictional and real) studied after coming from Shanghai. "I am going to walk the same streets. I will go to the synagogue where she goes in the book. I will look at old newspapers," she said. "This will make it more real and authentic." It wasn't until university that Sanders found out her grandmother was Jewish. Her own mother didn't find out until she was in her twenties. "I was raised without religion. I wish I had known sooner," Sanders said. "But she didn't want to relive it. I can't blame her. I will never know exactly what happened. That will be a mystery forever. "But the lessons of this book resonate today. We still have intolerance and prejudice. This is still a message that needs to be told today. History has not changed us the way it should have." So, if the Rachel trilogy teaches lessons to a new generation, perhaps Sanders' grandmother would approve after all. Rachel's Secret and Rachel's Promise are available wherever books are sold, including iTunes. For information, visit www. shellysanders.com. Don't miss these, and other great deals! Visit Proudly Canadian Follow us: @wagjag facebook.com/wagjag Buy Online: 50% off $25.00 For more information and to RSVP, please call Karen at 905-257-1058 $25 FOR $50 TOWARDS DINING AT LIVE BAIT ALE HOUSE Buy Online: 50% off $15.00 Buy Online: 50% off $25.00 Aboutowne Realty Corp., Brokerage Independently Owned And Operated $15 FOR $30 TOWARDS HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OR ADULT PRODUCTS AT THE LOVE SHOP $25 FOR $50 TOWARDS DRY CLEANING SERVICES FROM WRIGHT'S CLEANERS 67 Lakeshore Rd., W Oakville, ON L6K 1C9 1 How to buy a WagJag: Go to www.wagjag.com 2 Click buy on the offer and follow the instructions. 3 Receive your deal, tell your friends and enjoy! OFFICE: 905.338.9000 Real Estate Group Brought to you by