BK
Oldre
B.K. Oldre has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Minnesota and an M.L.I.S. degree from Dominican University. She researched the little-known story of the Roma in World War II and other aspects of the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and learned more while visiting Prague, the setting for many events in her novel Caravans Pursued. Oldre is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Loft Literary Center. She completed CARAVANS PURSUED while enrolled in the year-long Novel Writing Project class at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, taught by the best-selling author, Peter Geye. Her published historical novels include CARAVANS IN THE DARK, SILENT WINTER SOLSTICE, FLOOD OF MEMORIES, and FATAL FARMING.
Caravans PursuedBy BK Oldre
Genre: Historical Fiction
Blurb:
August 1941, Slovakia: Jana, a young Romani woman, leaves her family’s campsite in the rugged, forested hills, for her first solo mission to the Partisan camp. Her father and brother would normally go, but today they have a different mission. So, Jana disguises herself as a boy, tucks a gun into her waistband, and rides off on horseback.
When she returns just before nightfall, her family’s campsite is deserted. There are signs of a hasty exit. She suspects that they were moved on, or arrested, by the local police or Slovakian fascists. She can’t ask questions of the authorities, or she may also be arrested, so she contacts Otto, their Prague liaison with the Czech Resistance, for help.
He sneaks across the border, and together they locate her family. Her father and oldest brother are in prison. Otto arranges to be put in prison with them, and they break out together. Then, they pick up Jana and the rest of the family, who have been forced into a nearby Gypsy slum, and try to flee the country. However, the family is recaptured, except Jana and Otto, who evade capture and return to Prague to continue the fight.
Later, they must flee again, one step ahead of a massive manhunt, after Jana takes part in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a top-ranking Nazi. En route back to Slovakia, Otto leaves Jana to try to rescue his former lover who has been taken prisoner. Will Jana and Otto find each other again and reunite before it is too late?