Holocaust | Rosie Amber

From Yellow Star to Pop Star: How one young girl survived the Holocaust and became a singing sensation by Dorit Oliver-Wolff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From Yellow Star to Pop Star is a memoir of a remarkable women who survived the Holocaust, mal-nutrition, cruelty, greed, injustice and went on to have a singing career, bring up a family and be part of a team raising awareness of the holocaust.

Dorit Oliver-Wolff began her life as Theodora Handler born into a Jewish family in Novi Sad, in 1936. In 1941 she was living in Belgrade when the war rained its relentless bombs down on the city. They escaped to the hills and were aided by the partisans. Next they headed for Hungary, but soon found this a dangerous place as the authorities administered ethnic cleansing. Constantly running to keep one step ahead of the Germans and arrest Dorit and her mother were living in the catacombs of Budapest when the Russians drove the Germans out. They were still not safe, they found themselves under Serbian rule at the end of the war and behind the Iron Curtain.

The next stage of their lives saw them emigrating to Israel in 1948. It was here that she changed her name to Dorit, but the story doesn’t end. Constantly moving home, Dorit and her mother were in Turkey when the authorities wanted to deport her as she had no passport. Swift action got her to her German grandparents and later her mother joined her, forming a singing and dance troop. They travelled widely on artist’s visas, so that Dorit could finish her education and earn money in the process. Dorit had many extraordinary experiences with her singing career which took her around much of Europe and Asia. She became a famous singer in great demand, but her story is one of an amazing women, knocked down many times but constantly picking herself up and fighting back.

This is a very inspiring story, the war years were truly horrific and their tale should be told to generations to come, many lives were lost, many never lived to tell their tale, Dorit was one of the lucky ones and her story will stay with me for a long time.

This review is based on a free copy of the book given to me by the author via Red Door Publishing & Publishing Push

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews Goodreads

Today our guest is Steven Donahue author of yesterday’s book The Manila Strangler, here is a link to the post if you missed it. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5cG

Let’s find out more about Steven.

1) Where is your home town?

I was born in Philadelphia, PA, in the USA, but I was raised in the nearby town of Warminster.

2) How long have you been writing?

I started a novel in 1990 that really went nowhere. I have been writing since then. My first published novel, Amanda Rio, which examines domestic violence, was released in 2004.

3) Is murder mystery your favourite genre for writing?

I write in several genres, including general fiction, science fiction, historical fiction and murder mysteries. It’s hard to pick a favourite.

4) What was the one idea which sparked off “The Manila Strangler”?

It was my wife Dawn’s idea for me to write a mystery novel. I came up with the plot and title while we were grocery shopping one day. It’s funny where inspiration hits.

5) Can you tell the readers a bit about Pablo Ramirez and why Karen dislikes him so much?

Pablo Ramirez is a local gangster who wants to become Karen’s boxing promoter. Karen’s father was a police officer who spent much of his career trying to bring down Ramirez’s organization. Karen followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a Philadelphia police officer and trying to put an end to Ramirez’s operations. However, she lost that job due to the many complaints of police brutality against her. Despite their past, the gangster still wants to work with her, while she still wants to bring him down.

6) What’s the hardest part about writing the twists and turn in the plot?

The real challenge is to keep the reader engaged with believable events, while providing clues and not giving too much away.

7) I liked the fact that there were lots of characters that I was suspicious of, did any of them change their role during the writing?

Writing involves a lot of editing and tweaking. The suspects evolved much the way the other characters in the book did. The more editing I did, the more refined they all became.

8) Are you looking to make a series of murder mysteries involving Karen Thorn?

Yes, I do plan to write more Karen Thorn stories. I already have ideas for the next book.

9) What are you writing at the moment? Do you have an expected publication date?

I am about 1/3 of the way through a new historical novel about the Holocaust. I’ll shop that around when I’m finished.

10) Where can readers find out more about you?