Reviews - From Promise To Peril
A wonderfully crafted story with engaging dialogue. I became emotionally invested in the main characters and agonized as their world of privilege was undeservingly swept away. The detail of their incredible journey was so vivid, it made me reflect proudly on the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
Stephen Freedman
One word can change a world, so imagine that context when someone unleashes a vivid and inspirational tale. What matters in achieving greatness always comes from the inside out, from the heart and soul of the writer. This first book in this trilogy saga more than meets that endeavour and shall win the appreciation and hearts of everyone who loves to read a good story.
Barry Snaper
A jagged but heartfelt story, From Promise to Peril is a multigenerational novel that blends romance with historical turmoil to showcase a family’s resilience.
Foreward Clarion Reviews
As a young boy, I grew up in Gdansk Poland and earned a post-graduate degree in history from the University of Gdansk. Despite numerous disruptions and traumas of war, my surviving family always returned. From Promise to Peril, is a chronologically accurate adventure that captured my imagination. I cried, I laughed, and I anguished when I found myself reliving events my grandparents told me about during my early childhood. A truly outstanding read that left me wanting more.
Jonathan Kuzmicz
The descriptive prose awakened my senses to a time and place that was not imaginary. My grandparents were Russian Jews who miraculously survived these times and circumstances. As I read this story, I was with them again; people I care about deeply, when I was too young to fully understand and remember. I cannot wait for the next volume.
Amir Fridman
From Promise to Peril delivers an incredible story of intrigue and suspense that I was not expecting. Marta is a world-famous violin virtuoso with the Berlin Philharmonic, whose lifelong Jewish friend Anna, endures catastrophic family loss. Despite their different perspectives, these formidable women become empowered to prevail. Together they defy the influences of Nazi Germany threatening to tear them apart. If you enjoy suspense and classical music, an odd combination, this book is a must read!
Sasha Marusich, Ph.D.
I am a keen history buff and a voracious reader of fiction novels. James Allen combines romance, intrigue and suspense with well-crafted dialogue taking me through a range of emotions that totally engrossed me. After reading the acknowledgements in the back of the book, I better understood more about the relevance of the ring. It becomes a thread that binds the central role in the trilogy as it passes from one generation to the next, sometimes with very shocking effects. A very well written story!
Rajesh Juriasingani
REVIEWS - Tracks Of Our Tears
Love the journey you have me on with your characters both true and fictional. Knowing the ties personally and their deep meaning to you makes this story even more heartfelt. Really enjoyed book 2 and am very much looking forward to book 3, however doesn't seem like a finale as your cast will always live within you.
Thankyou for allowing me to look behind the curtain
Shawn
Thankyou for allowing me to look behind the curtain
Shawn
Dear James:
We met at the Indigo store in north London a few weeks ago. I purchased your first book of the trilogy which you signed. I have just finished it and was greatly impressed. Although I found the first few pages a little mushy between the two major characters, although I wasn’t around in the late 1800’s, to know if young couples talked to each other in those loving terms
I appreciate that you were building your characters and in the end you accomplished your goal fantastically. The story pick up and carried me through to the very end. I felt I was beginning to figure out the conflicts coming to the forefront your trip to the end of book one was both a surprise and exciting
The last half of the book made it difficult to put down!
Thank you for sharing your love of history and helping us to understand not all Germans were of the same elk and reminding us, especially in this time of the growth of antisemitism around the world, just exactly what the Jewish population went through, both to their terminating but also what they went through to survive.
Sincerely,
Alf McLellan
We met at the Indigo store in north London a few weeks ago. I purchased your first book of the trilogy which you signed. I have just finished it and was greatly impressed. Although I found the first few pages a little mushy between the two major characters, although I wasn’t around in the late 1800’s, to know if young couples talked to each other in those loving terms
I appreciate that you were building your characters and in the end you accomplished your goal fantastically. The story pick up and carried me through to the very end. I felt I was beginning to figure out the conflicts coming to the forefront your trip to the end of book one was both a surprise and exciting
The last half of the book made it difficult to put down!
Thank you for sharing your love of history and helping us to understand not all Germans were of the same elk and reminding us, especially in this time of the growth of antisemitism around the world, just exactly what the Jewish population went through, both to their terminating but also what they went through to survive.
Sincerely,
Alf McLellan
Just a few thoughts about your book. WoW! If I were to list each and every time I was
amazed, at how you connected links, in connecting events and characters in adjoining
sections of the book,I would have to write a book.
I just finished the second phase of the book. After reading the acknowledgements, it actually had me wiping my
eyes. I don’t remember you actually telling me about how much of the book was
Inspired by your immediate family. Your wife’s parents and your wife. What a book.
The book is a winner. I went through all the emotions from sadness as violence
became the norm, and joy as you brought the characters through their ordeals
back to some small stability in their lives however short, it a need in them to survive.
The brutality of the German and Russian armies with their treatment of regular people
was difficult to read, as someone whose life, my own for instance, could never have survived
some of the atrocities which permeated in their day to day lives.
The long and bitter travel to the American Camp was so in-depth, it is hard for the reader
to envision all that happened along the dreadful way. The section of all the happenings with the refugees,
Julia, Jan, Linette (Anna) and several others as the came to be “leaders”, was such an interesting read.
Your book was so well written, that pulled each and every event or happening
to the only conclusion anyone could imagine. After reading the book, I now understand
how your writing style of the fiction in the book was weaved with the facts in creating
a very exciting “read”. This period of our history written as you did, should become a best seller.
Note: I was happy to see how the “ring survived” and how it surfaced for Julia’s wedding.
I am looking forward to the next instalment.
G Pembro
amazed, at how you connected links, in connecting events and characters in adjoining
sections of the book,I would have to write a book.
I just finished the second phase of the book. After reading the acknowledgements, it actually had me wiping my
eyes. I don’t remember you actually telling me about how much of the book was
Inspired by your immediate family. Your wife’s parents and your wife. What a book.
The book is a winner. I went through all the emotions from sadness as violence
became the norm, and joy as you brought the characters through their ordeals
back to some small stability in their lives however short, it a need in them to survive.
The brutality of the German and Russian armies with their treatment of regular people
was difficult to read, as someone whose life, my own for instance, could never have survived
some of the atrocities which permeated in their day to day lives.
The long and bitter travel to the American Camp was so in-depth, it is hard for the reader
to envision all that happened along the dreadful way. The section of all the happenings with the refugees,
Julia, Jan, Linette (Anna) and several others as the came to be “leaders”, was such an interesting read.
Your book was so well written, that pulled each and every event or happening
to the only conclusion anyone could imagine. After reading the book, I now understand
how your writing style of the fiction in the book was weaved with the facts in creating
a very exciting “read”. This period of our history written as you did, should become a best seller.
Note: I was happy to see how the “ring survived” and how it surfaced for Julia’s wedding.
I am looking forward to the next instalment.
G Pembro
When I got into it, I couldn't get out. I was glued to every word on every page.
Throughout the book I tried to imagine what was going through your mind as you created each new twist.
There was no filler as some authors gasping for volume tend to have.
Great story and tie-in with this sad time in history
Lloyd
Throughout the book I tried to imagine what was going through your mind as you created each new twist.
There was no filler as some authors gasping for volume tend to have.
Great story and tie-in with this sad time in history
Lloyd