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| ISBN # 978-0-9748869-1-2 |
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Shadows on an Iron Curtain,
by M.J. Brett,
illustrates the clashing tensions that existed between the Soviet Union
and the United States from the end of World War II--the years of the
Cold War, as seen
through the naïve eyes of a young widow, Megan James. While
everyone knows of the Berlin Wall, few know of the Border that slashed
across a divided and dangerous Europe. During the 1970’s, the
2nd and 3rd Armored Cavalry troops and their support units defending this Border were on
constant Alert against the
threatening Soviet Army, thus increasing the pressure on soldiers,
their friends, and families. |
Megan’s naiveté brings her both comic
and tragic learning experiences and widely disparate
friends—fellow teachers Emily, a mother figure with an imaginary
“Ambassador,” sophisticated, rational Abby, flirtatious
Lila who cannot seem to understand the need for military security, and
notorious womanizing CAV pilot, Carl, who senses Megan’s
vulnerability and vows to protect her from her own fears. The women
soon learn the best kept military secret--that if the Soviets cross the
Border, as they constantly threaten, their officer friends must hold
for forty-eight hours before help, probably nuclear, will
come—i.e. a potential suicide mission. |
Constant Border ‘Alert’ conditions
foster camaraderie unknown Stateside. The single officers and teachers
form a ‘family’ and protect each other in the face of
international danger, sabotaged ‘accidents,’ and personal
crises. Under Carl’s tutelage, Megan again dates and falls in
love. But her new love, Ed, is an undercover agent so deeply involved
in international intrigue that he is a target for Communist
operatives, i.e. a "Spook." When Lila’s ‘loose
talk,’
inadvertently brings the friends to a violent climax, all must learn
new coping mechanisms to help each other go on. Though a novel of grief
recovery, it also documents the challenge in learning to teach overseas
for the Department of Defense Dependent school teachers, and especially
the missions of the Cavalry, Engineers,
Artillery, Infantry, Intelligence, and Aviation who defended the Border
between free and enslaved people for forty years. |
This novel is a journey to find hope in friendship
during a period of intense pressure world wide, until the Berlin Wall
fell, the Border opened, and the Cold War ended. |
Shadows on an Iron Curtain is M.J. Brett’s
second novel. The first, Mutti’s War, is in its third printing,
being considered as a movie, and won the prestigious Paul Gillette
Award for Historical Fiction. It documents a mother’s attempt to
walk across Europe to save her three little boys during the last
chaotic days of World War II and it’s aftermath. |
M.J. Brett is a retired teacher, having
lived and worked twenty-one years in Germany, seven of them on this
East/West communist Cold War Border, teaching the children of
military members for the Department of Defense. |
If you would like discussion questions for your Book Club
Contact the Author |
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