About the book:
Working title: Light Behind the Clouds: A Novel of the World War II German Resistance
Genre: Historical Fiction (World War II)
Estimated word count: 100,000
Target audience: Upper Young Adult/Adult
LATEST UPDATE (June 2026): currently writing the first draft!
Light Behind the Clouds earned 2nd place in the 2026 Cascade Awards!
Blurb:
In the heart of Nazi Germany, four siblings must discern how to respond to evil. Meanwhile, a Resistance movement forms, made up of a few brave Germans willing to risk everything in an attempt to save their country from the madness of Hitler.
Martin Hildebrandt is sixteen when Adolf Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Over the next few years, he witnesses his beloved country overtaken by hatred and lies. Desperate to take a stand for truth, he attends an underground seminary taught by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But when war breaks out, Martin is conscripted into the German military and sent to the Eastern Front, where he is confronted with darkness and evil like he has never seen and must work out what to do when his orders
and his conscience conflict.
Maria Hildebrandt is a midwife’s assistant. When the Nazis order midwives to turn in records of babies they’ve delivered with disabilities, and Maria learns of their secret plans to murder these children, she must decide how much she’s willing to risk for what she believes.
Paul Hildebrandt works as a police officer, and as National Socialism gains a firmer hold, he finds himself being ordered not to interfere when he witnesses injustice. He joins the German Military Intelligence organization and meets powerful Germans secretly working to remove Hitler.
The youngest of the four Hildebrandt siblings, Elisabeth must cling to the truth to navigate the lies all around her. All she wants to do is create beautiful art and use the nursing skills she is learning to bring healing, but with the world falling to pieces around her, it seems impossible to do any good.
Every act of resistance carries a cost, and for the Hildebrandts and the other Germans opposed to the evil of the Nazis, standing for the truth will require incredible courage.
Light Behind the Clouds is a story of speaking the truth, the value of every life, and hope–no matter how dark it gets. With a plot based on historical facts, this gripping novel weaves together fictional characters with real heroes of the German Resistance, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Claus von Stauffenberg, Werner von Haeften, and Fabian von Schlabrendorff, while also drawing inspiration from WWII heroines such as Sophie Scholl and Corrie ten Boom.
More about the book:
If you can imagine a combination of the movies, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin., Valkyrie, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, and Truth & Treason, plus add some fighting on the Eastern Front (including the battle of Stalingrad), then you have a pretty good idea of what Light Behind the Clouds will be like!
I’ll be sharing more about this story in the coming months, but in the meantime, here are aesthetic collages of inspirational photos and quotes for each of the main characters!
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Savannah Jane McCrary 