WOLFEBORO, N.H., March 18, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- All is fair in love and war, so the classic saying goes. A young American and a German widow find love against the charred backdrop of Europe at the end of WWII. With Silence and Tears (now available through 1stBooks Library) by Don Brookes is a classic story of love persevering over all, even fate.
Corporal John Lake and company are on reconnaissance patrol along the Elbe River in Germany just after the Normandy invasion. During a gunfight, Lake kills a German solider in front of his wife. The soldiers move on leaving the woman. The war soon ends, and the soldiers move to Bleicherode, the brain center and headquarters for the German V2 rocket program. By coincidence, Lake encounters the young widow in the town. Her name is Helga Wagner, and they become close friends. Helga informs Lake that she was once a secretary to the scientists that built the missiles and is privy to the information about missing blueprints. The information makes Helga a marked woman. Gerhard Kruger, a Russian sympathizer, is rounding up scientists for the Russians. A refusal from the scientists is answered with a bullet. Soon Kruger sets his sights on Helga. Lake and Helga have fallen in love, and now she is pregnant, but a series of ill-timed accidents may doom them.
Truly romantic, With Silence and Tears is a classic love story set against the chaotic world of a war torn Europe.
Brookes was born in Boston, Mass. He was drafted into the army on March 15, 1941 and served until October 12, 1945. He was in combat in Europe and landed on Utah Beachhead with the 5th Armored Division , 81st Tank Battalion S 2 section. Upon return, he moved with his parents to New Hampshire and went back to school at the Brewster Academy, then the Boston Institute and Harvard night school on his GI Bill. He bought a restaurant and then sold it 10 years later. He then took a job as director of Parks and Recreation from 1967 to 1981 for the town of Wolfeboro. He also has owned a tennis pro shop for 43 years. Brookes is a member of the U.S. Professional Tennis Asn. for 16 years and a member of the National Ski Patrol for 34 years. He enjoys scuba diving, working in his gardens, playing tuba, trombone and bass fiddle in various professional jazz bands and oil painting. He lives with his wife of 55 years in Wolfeboro, N.H. They have two children and four grandchildren.
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