“OMG. Actually really sad it’s already over HAHA, I was so hooked on reading this story.

I cannot imagine the pain, the ups and downs, the lifelong circle of hope and hopelessness, and the endless search for an answer for Vera and her family. It has touched my heart and made me reflect a lot on my German roots and my family, history and how to deal with similar issues today.

This was particularly interesting as a German myself who chose to emigrate in a privileged position, and connecting with so much of the learnings you mentioned in the afterwords section. What a beautiful thing to have this story written down to keep it living on.

” - Marie-Sophie PfeiferAt the end of 1954, just a handful of weeks after emigrating from a small village in Germany to Montreal Canada, Rosemarie Döderlein (Doederlein) just turned 14 years old when she vanished on the way to a bakery a few doors down from the family apartment, never to be seen or heard from again. After 68 years of fruitless searching and wondering, in 2022, Rosemarie’s youngest sister Vera finally learned the truth of what happened to her.

It is a remarkable story about unconditional love, DNA, and investigative genetic genealogy. Reporting on the story and the details of Vera’s final search made the cover of Reader’s Digest in Canada, as well RD in the UK, Germany and around the world at the end of 2023.

Vera’s novel tells the story of her family’s life in Germany: the impact of war, the hope for a better life in Canada, the crushing reality of a tragic loss, and how it is that a family moves forward afterward. Publishing this novel represents the final act of closure on this lifelong arc.

For more information about the story, please visit www. MissingGermanGirl.

comFROM THE BACK COVERI was 11. She was 13.

Unsophisticated. Innocent.

We emigrated from Germany leaving familiar cobblestone streets and meadows to a new vision of flashing neon signs, new languages and cars driven by thousands on the streets of Montréal. A few weeks later, Rosemarie vanished on the way to our neighborhood bakery.

Where did she go? Was she hoodwinked? Kidnapped? Murdered? How could she not hear our pleading words or know how to reach our outstretched arms?For almost 70 years her red play purse, prayer books and 50’s play jewelry were at my fingertips waiting for that special ring at the door, only to be left with the tragic, cold sound of silence and restless dreams. In 2022, sophisticated DNA-based tools and research revealed shocking truths of what happened with Rosemarie.

Some scenes are fictionalized. Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

——————ABOUT THE AUTHORVera is 81 years of age and is “proud as a peacock” to have published this one novel in her lifetime that she considers an honor to her entire family. She is grateful to have been a recipient of the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program Scholarship in 2017, which helped jumpstart the writing of this novel.

In Vera’s younger years, she worked as an executive secretary in Southern California. She was married to her late husband for almost 20 years, is the mother to two children, and “Oma” (grandmother) to four grandchildren.

She enjoys movies, cooking, gardening, sewing, knitting, and crossword puzzles in her free time. With an Afterword by Christa Hastie.