October Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Secrets and Shadows

Time Setting: 1939 & 2017

Genre: Historical/Life

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: August–December

Locations: Warsaw, Poland; Mundare & Vegreville, Alberta

Main Characters: Olga Niemcyk, Adelejda Myshaniuk, Keeleigh Niemcyk

Background Information:

1939— Even to herself, Olga is no one special, if anything, actually, she finds herself lost within the family — no hard feat, considering that she's one of twelve children — even though she is one of the older ones.

Considering her life rather ordinary, Olga likes to read books that take her to extraordinary places where interesting and adventurous things happen, things that are much more interesting than her mundane existence.

Being as she is a young woman of seventeen, however, her parents are putting significant pressure on her to do much more with her life than read books, which she chafes at, because she wants to do adventurous things in life, not ordinary things like everyone else does.

Disappearing into fictitious worlds is much better than being in the real world on another account too: with the tension in Europe due to next-door Germany's absorbance of Austria and dismantling of Czechoslovakia, things are getting scary. In a book, she can close it up and put it away if things go in ways she doesn't want. In the real world she can't escape.

2017— Growing up in small-town Alberta, with family close at hand, Keeleigh has never really had big ambitions or grand plans, she's been content to just live a simple life in which nothing in particular happens to her.

She is very interested in history, especially the histories of individual people, and in preserving the local history of the hardworking people who had the courage to leave their homelands for the unknown.

History is also a big part of her work, which is as a historical reenactress in a specifically Ukrainian themed historical village, and it's a work she enjoys very much, especially considering her mother's family is of Ukrainian heritage and she can source historical knowledge from her grandmother.

Recently, her paternal great aunt's health started to fail and now her great aunt has passed. As much as she should be mourning, though, Keeleigh can't help but be excited. People reminiscing about her great aunt at the funeral would give her a great amount of personal history to learn, and she might even be able to get historical artifacts and things from her great aunt's possessions if her dad's cousins let her, even if they aren't Ukrainian artifacts.

Pronunciations:

Niemcyk: kneeehmsick

Adelejda: ahdehlehdah

Myshaniuk: myshahneeuhk

Keeleigh: keelee

Novel begins on October 2.