Book Giveaway: Win 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

22 Britannia Road is absolutely riveting. I quite literally could not put it down–I read the entire book in one sitting last week. Now, I love a good historical fiction novel, especially one that takes place after the Holocaust. That being said, I must tell you this book is special. As in future movie special. Do you know how some books are great because they are beautifully written, or because they are exciting, or even because they have unique characters and/or painful subject matter? Well, I have to tell you this book falls into all of those categories, which I don’t see all that often, especially from a first-time novelist.

22 Britannia Road is a deeply moving novel about wartime secrets, secrets that perhaps should have never been told, let alone allowed to occur in the first place. The book begins in 1946, at the end of World War II, and we are introduced to Silvana Nowak and her eight-year-old Aurek, as they board the ship that will take them from war-torn Poland to England. When Silvan is asked for her occupation, “housekeeper or housewife?,” Silvana responds quietly, “survivor.” Silvana and Aurek had a very different type of survival during WWII, as they spent much of the war hiding in the forests of Poland, living wild and living apart from Silvana’s husband Janusz.

Waiting in England is Silvana’s husband Janusz, who has not seen his wife and son for six years. He had no idea that they even survived the war, and he has begun the process of decorating his newly acquired home, working hard in the backyard in order to plant his family a proper English garden, as a welcome to their new lives. Silvana, Janusz and Aurek have all changed during the years they lived apart and have many things to overcome, such as the fact that the boy coos like a bird, refers to his father as “the enemy,” (since he forces the boy to sleep separately from his mother for the first time in his life) and still feeds of off his mother’s breasts.

Everyone has their secrets–Janusz still has the letters from a love in France whom he cannot forget, and Silvana’s secrets are so horrible they aren’t even mentioned until the end of the book. When that happens, you will shudder in horror, because no person should have had to went through what she went through during that horrible war. Even Aurek has his secrets, but everyone is struggling to keep them hidden, and struggling to reveal them to one other.

22 Britannia Road is one of those books YOU HAVE TO READ. If you enjoy stories about WWII, the Holocaust, maternal love, and overcoming hardship, then this book if for you. I promise you are going to love it! Visit Amazon.com to pre-order your own copy of 22 Britannia Road now.

About the Author:

Amanda Hodgkinson was born in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England and grew up in a small fishing village in East Anglia. She earned an MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. She currently lives in an old stone farmhouse in the south-west of France with her husband, two daughters, some chickens and two cats. This is her first novel.

Tour Dates for Amanda Hodgkinson:

May 9 / Coral Gables,   FL / Books & Books / 7:00  PM

May 10 / Mequon, WI / Next Chapter Bookshop / 7:00 PM

May 11 / Petoskey, MI / McLean & Eakin Bookstore / 7:30  PM

May 12 / Ann Arbor,   MI / Nicola’s Books / 7:00  PM

May 13 / Danville, CA / Rakestraw Books / 7:00 PM

May 14 / Corte Madera,   CA / Book Passage / 11:00 AM

May 16 / Oakland, CA/ A Great Good Place For Books / 7:00 PM

May 17 / Lake Forest Park,   WA / Third Place Books / 6:30 PM

22 BRITANNIA ROAD GIVEAWAY – 3 LUCKY WINNERS WILL WIN A COPY

RULES:

**Open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

**No P.O. boxes, please.

**Must include your email in your comment, unless you signed in to leave a comment with your “real” email.

**All comments must be separate to count as separate entries. For example, if you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, leave 2 comments, one with your Facebook name, and one with your Twitter name. Or, if you posted about the giveaway on your blog, leave 5 comments, all with the link to your giveaway.

**Please read the additional rules here.

HOW TO ENTER:

**Mandatory Entry: Go to Amanda’s website, AmandaHodgkinson.com, and tell me what fun or interesting thing you learned or noticed there.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Like 22 Britannia Road on Facebook.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Facebook. Make sure to leave your Facebook name in your comment.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Facebook and share a link on your wall with the following comment I entered The Girl from the Ghetto’s 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson book giveaway here http://bit.ly/g2GBYN. Make sure to leave a comment below with a link to your Facebook profile message, or at least with your Facebook name.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Twitter. Make sure to leave your @Twitter name in your comment.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Twitter and tweet the following RT @NerdGirlBlogger I entered the @PamelaDormanBks book #giveaway for 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson here http://bit.ly/g2GBYN. You can tweet 4x a day (Once every 6 hours) for even more chances to win. Make sure to leave a link to your tweet in a comment below.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Subscribe to my blog via email or Feedburner.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Enter one of my other current giveaways and tell me which one.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow me on Goodreads.

+1  MORE ENTRY: Follow Amanda Hodgkinson on Goodreads.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Add 22 Britannia Road to your to-read shelf on Goodreads.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Comment here and tell me why you need to win this giveaway! Do you love reading historical fiction or first-time novelists like I do? Do you enjoy reading in general, or, do you just love winning free stuff?

+5 MORE ENTRIES: Write about this giveaway on your own blog. Make sure to post a link to http://thegirlfromtheghetto.wordpress.com, and leave me 5 copies of your link via comment here.

Contest ends Monday, May 9, 2011 at midnight. Good luck to you all!