There is a lot I want to say about the book I’m going to introduce to you. The second in my very exciting two-book deal that I have recently signed with my publishers, Severn House (click here for a refresher). There’s so much to say that I’m not entirely sure where to start. Because I think this book represents one of the most important things I’ve ever had to say as a writer. Although, it didn’t start out that way. I guess there are just times when a project goes in a direction you didn’t plan or expect. There are times when, as a writer, a project packs such a big punch that it leaves you a bit wobbly on your feet, and unsure where to start.
So, I guess the best place to start is how this book, entitled “Flight of the Hummingbird,” came about. For those of you who have followed my writing journey from the beginning (a hearty salute to you, by the way), you might remember my first book (click here to learn more). Called “All the Lights Above Us,” it follows five women of different ages and nationalities as the D-Day invasion drops on their doorsteps. These women, all facing a variety of challenges in war-torn Europe, must meet the moment with what little cards they have to play. One of these women is a German girl named Emilia. Born in Berlin in the 1920s, she came of age as Hitler came to power. A product of the countless Hitler youth programs, and ingrained deeply with some disturbing ideology… until she sees first-hand some of the uglier sides of what she’s gotten into.
Of all the women in “All the Lights Above Us,” Emilia’s was probably the most difficult story for me to write. For a variety of reasons, really. The first being… well… how do you humanize someone like that? How do you humanize someone who had a hand in, whether brainwashed or not, some truly cruel and heinous acts? Emilia’s character took extra special care in the development stage. I walked a precarious tightrope of trying to show her dangerous position without excusing what she had taken part in.
Since Emilia’s story was the most troubling for me, it came as no great surprise that her story seemed to garner the most interest with readers. It seemed, to my delight (and despair, in a way) that I was very successful in bringing a human element to a very villainous figure. So, it came as no great surprise when my publisher at the time started throwing some emails around about Emilia. They wanted a bit more of her backstory. They wanted me to try my hand at a prequel.
So, I came up with an idea. I decided to write a similar story to “All the Lights Above Us,” showing another single-day (or rather weekend) event. This time in Germany. I wanted to show Emilia and some other female characters grappling with the infamous Night of the Long Knives of 1934 – the final and very bloody bid of Hitler to seize total and complete control over Germany. I wanted the story to take the same path as its original material, showing various women of various ages dealing with an impossible situation. Yes, that was what I wanted…
….until I read Mein Kampf. Okay, let’s all take a pause here to take a very deep and cleansing breath. Because whenever one brings up that book, you know things are going to go to take a dark turn. Sometimes, I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to read that book in its awful entirety. Sometimes, I wish I could actually go back in time and change my mind and not read it at all. That’s how much this read affected me. Leaving a cut so deep I don’t think it ever really healed over completely.
I tried reading the book on my own at first. A solo endeavor that I didn’t really want anyone to know I was undertaking. However, I only made it a few chapters in before I realized I was going to need help. LOTS of help. So, along with letting my husband and some close friends into the loop, I also enlisted a qualified mental health professional to help me work my way through the pages. A dizzying journey that the two of us started comparing to a trip to Mordor to destroy the one ring. Because much like Frodo, the closer I got to the mountain, to finishing the book, the heavier the burden became.
It would take a completely separate post to fully describe what reading that book did to me. But I’ll sum it up by saying that Mein Kampf, though written so long ago, still has the power to twist and warp the human mind. It can still hurt people. And that is why it is kept under safe guard in my library and never allowed to leave the house. It’s also how “Flight of the Hummingbird” took a wildly different direction than the one I first intended.
There are two things that scared me the most about reading Mein Kampf. One was the certain parallels I saw between it and some of the hate groups in my own country, in my own time. The similarities were both uncanny and frightening, reminding me that the coals of hate still burn hot. Hot enough to consume us all if we don’t figure out how to keep them in check. The other was just how easy it is to take advantage of an innocent person’s fears. To take those fears and wrap them in so many lies that you find yourself nodding along while reading one of the most hateful books ever penned (seriously… so thankful for my mental health professional who steered me through that experience). That was Hitler’s power. That was how he bent an entire country to his will. He twisted their fears, he stoked their anger, and perhaps the most paramount… he gave them someone to blame.
It is a rhetoric that I am afraid to say I see playing out in my own day. And one that made me decide, once and for all, that I had to say something. So, what I ended up handing over to my publisher at that time was a different book entirely than the one I had originally pitched. Not a story of a single weekend in Germany from multiple points of view. But a story spanning the entirety of the 1920s and early 1930s in Berlin, and a story that focused on one family – that of Emilia and her parents – as they fall into some of the worst darkness that has ever wrapped up humans in its terrifying grip.
It was not an easy story to write. There were times when I grew so heartbroken and frustrated with my own characters that I wanted to pull a “Misery” stunt and just burn the whole thing. However, the importance of my mission kept me going. I had to show people just how easy it really is for hate like this to take root. Especially as we face unprecedented challenges in our own time, and hate seems to have found an all-too-welcome seat in the mainstream.
The book that resulted is a painful and jarring story. One that my original publishers ultimately turned down. Which, I can’t even really blame them. After all, like I said, it was a completely different book than what I had originally pitched. Still, the rejection of that did sting, and it resulted in me hiding the book deep in my files and pretending it didn’t exist. I started referring to it as my “Frankenstein Monster Baby” – a creation that I wasn’t entirely sure I knew how to control. A story that might be better off lurking in my files and not seen by anyone else.
But….
A couple years later, I pulled that manuscript out, and I read through it. I was surprised when the story, even though I wrote it myself, captivated me. I decided that it was a good story through it all, one that really did need to be told. So, I contacted my agent and asked her thoughts. “despite its past, do you think this story has a future?” I asked her.
Yes, she said. Lindsay was always a big fan of Flight of the Hummingbird. A major champion for it, actually. So, when Severn House came knocking for more material after “As the Storm Clouds Gather” was published, she wanted to include it in our pitch document. So, with trembling hands, I added it to the batch of pitches, and I gave her permission to send it over.
Severn asked to read it along with Farewell, Camelot. Then, Severn said they wanted to publish it. Just like that. So it is that in December of 2026, my Frankenstein Monster Baby will see the light of day after all, and I was awash in quite the wave of feelings when I received that news.
I stand by this book, no matter how hard it was to pen, and no matter how hard it might be to read at certain parts. I wrote it not only because I wanted to show people how easily hate takes root, but also because I wanted to show that… well… these people were… humans. And humans, I have learned during my 40-year-tenure on this planet, are pretty damn complicated. Humans gets scared. Humans make snap judgements. Humans are a dual make-up of tremendous light and terrible darkness. And sometimes, the wrong side wins.
Let’s join hands and stop that from happening. Let’s talk to one another. Let’s find someone we disagree with and… well, turn them into a human. Treat them like a human. Talk to them. Listen to them. Try to understand where they’re coming from, what they’re really afraid of. Let’s remind each other that we have light as well as darkness. We have love, which I truly believe is so much stronger than hate. Sometimes the fire burns too hot and we can’t control it. Meaning that there are unfortunately some people who cannot be reasoned with. But I think, I truly believe, that most people are good people who are trying their best, and you never know what magic can happen, what darkness you can stop from finding fertile soil, if you just reach your hand out.
I raise a hearty toast to Flight of the Hummingbird, and I cannot wait to see it on store and library shelves. May it teach. May it fly. May we learn.
All photos taken in Berlin by M.B. Henry. For more of my photography – click here.
Stay tuned here on the website and via newsletter as developments continue for both of these projects! Can’t wait for 2026!
ANOTHER SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
Guess what friends! As it turns out – books run in the family! Click here to check out the latest children’s book released by my sister – Megan Connerly. She’s quite the artist, she is a dedicated educator, and she loves animals! This book teaches little ones about emotions as they read Watson the Dog’s story of abandonment and finding love again. It’s perfect for all the animal lovers of all ages out there!
