"An Owl's Whisper," a novel In the shadow of evil, truth is the riskiest choice. Open "An Owl's Whisper" and enter Eva's world-one of truth and lies, refuge and peril, loyalty and betrayal, innocence...guilt...redemption. Eva Messiaen is a convent school girl in 1940s Belgium when Hitler's invasion and occupation eclipses continental Europe in a black shadow. Her controlling guardian, Uncle Henri, calls childhood a weakness and orders that she subvert her desire for a normal life to something nobler. To the girls around her, Eva is a beacon of light, but they don't know her dark secret. Eva can accept the loss of her childhood to the savagery of war but an atrocity exposes the hollowness of Henri's vision and changes everything. It shatters her fragile world and spurs her to strike back at the Nazis. She has the moxie to set their web of evil ablaze, but does she have the wits to escape its flames unscorched? "An Owl's Whisper," built on themes of guilt and redemption, tells Eva's powerful story.
About the Author: Michael J. Smith grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and now lives with his family in Bainbridge Island, Washington. His non-writing interests include photography, music performance, and outdoors activities, especially sea kayaking. He enjoys them best when he can do them with family, friends, and pets. For relaxing, he likes listening to music, reading, and watching movies. His musical tastes run from dramatic opera (Wagner, Strauss, Mozart) to 1960s R&B (Rolling Stones, Clapton...). For reading, Mike favors literary fiction, memoir, and science; a favorite novel is "All The Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. He likes excellent movies and terrible movies much more than films that fall between the two. We're talking classics of the 1930s, foreign films, most Scorsese films, and MST3K send-ups. After military service and a career as a Ph.D. scientist in research and development, Michael began pursuing his interests in creative writing. He focuses on book-length fiction and the non-fiction subject of how risk-taking enables personal and organizational success. "An Owl's Whisper" is Mike's first completed and published novel. He is currently finishing another novel, also set primarily in the Second World War era, entitled "Cotton and Silk." Mike's interest in the subject of risk-taking was born in his R&D experience. He observed that a crucial element in successful innovation is invariably the willingness to take risks. And this is true throughout life. His goal is getting people to understand risking-taking and its power, thereby enabling them selectively take risks as a life strategy for success.