Pilot's Wife

Three generations of women. One dark family secret. A truth that time never forgot . . . 1944, Europe. Nineteen-year-old Hedy can't bear her country's neutrality in the face of the ultimate evil. This is not the Switzerland she loves, and she cannot stand by any longer. Undeterred by the risk of German patrols, she starts helping to smuggle lost Allied soldiers through the forest to safety across Lake Geneva. Finally, Hedy feels she is doing something worthwhile. Then one night she stumbles across a wounded American airman. Second Lieutenant Samuel Reardon was dropping supplies to the French resistance when his plane crashed. Despite the grave danger it will bring to her family, Hedy can't leave Samuel injured and alone, so she hides him in her father's mountain hut. As Hedy and Samuel grow closer, the dangers of their resistance work become ever more deadly, and soon the pair will be faced with the ultimate choice that will tear them apart . . . 2018, America. Nineteen-year-old Gina looks at her grandmother's hands that tell the story of her whole life and wonders how much time they have left together. Since her mother died, Mamie Hedy is all Gina has left. But then her grandmother reveals a shocking secret that takes them back to her home in the Swiss mountains for the last time. After all these years, can Gina and her grandmother find the key to unlock the secrets of their shared past?

Cynthia enjoys writing intergenerational stories that shed light on lesser-known historical events. Born in Palo Alto, California, she spent her early years in a military family on the move internationally. After earning a BA from the University of Colorado and Masters degrees from the University of London (LSE and SOAS), she held various corporate marketing roles in Asia, the U.S. and the U.K. Over a decade ago, she settled with her French husband in a village near Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked for the United Nations before turning to writing fiction.