PALMETTO, Fla., June 2, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- In this unique and haunting new book, two teenagers are separated from their families, evade the Nazis, and survive by themselves during World War II. Based on the true story of author George J. Turlo and his Jewish friend, Noble Hearts is a gripping book about two adolescents from different religions and races escaping Nazi-occupied Poland through their own wit and the help of kind strangers. Polish-born Turlo draws from accurate historical facts about war-torn Poland and the WWII, family memoirs, and his personal experiences in his tale of two young people and their love, courage, and hope during a harrowing and brutal war.
Stan and Halina flee from Nazis on their own, encountering hostile strangers and border patrols and going through the unspeakable atrocities of war. They avoid deportation and death, climb out from the grave, barely escape from the pitchforks of hostile peasants, and survive through wounds and famine in the woods with a stray dog. Author Turlo gives a vivid historical and personal account of Poland from 1939 to1945 beginning from the German and Soviet invasion, the massive deportation of the Polish people to Siberia, the liquidation of the Slonim ghetto, the uprisings in Warsaw and battles with the Nazis, the transport to Auschwitz, and finally the liberation.
Noble Hearts is a tribute to the extraordinary strangers who helped the author and his friend to survive the Holocaust. Though some names have been changed in this book, others have been retained in their honor. There were those who sacrificed their lives so that others might live during a time of cruelty and carnage.
For the author, his story is another reminder of the futility of war. In our time when we have supposedly learned this lesson well, it is ironic that we still consider warfare as an acceptable solution.
About the Author
George J. Turlo was born in Wilno, Poland. As a child he survived the horrors of World War II in the Eastern Poland. Graduating from college in 1958 as an architect and city planner, he pursued his professional career in Poland until 1966 when he immigrated to United States. After 34 years of work in the Planning Department, City of Providence, Rhode Island, he retired in year 2000 and is living now with his wife Christine in Florida.
Being an accomplished artist, he is teaching art and also enjoying creative writing.
Noble Hearts by George J. Turlo
Publication Date: April 16, 2004
Trade Paperback; $21.99; 238 pages; 1-4134-3928-4
Cloth Hardback; $31.99; 238 pages; 1-4134-3927-6
To request a complimentary paperback review copy, contact the publisher at (215) 923-4686 x. 238. Tearsheets may be sent by regular or electronic mail to Marianne Bellesorte. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (215) 599-0114.
Xlibris is a strategic partner of Random House Ventures, LLC, and a subsidiary of Random House, Inc. Xlibris books can be purchased in any major bookstore, or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Xlibris. For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.