Liz Tolsma
Ordinary Women. Extraordinary Circumstances.
New Release
When the Sky Burned
A Tornado of Fire and Embezzlement Sweep through a Community
Promising painter Mariah Randolph longs to have her canvases displayed in the world’s best museums, and Hollis Stanford, the heir of a railroad tycoon, is her ticket to success. The railroad’s bookkeeper, Jay Franklin, discovers discrepancies and is convinced that Hollis is stealing from the company. But any proof of his dirty dealings go up in smoke when fire utterly destroys the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, October 8, 1871.
The fire leaves Mariah blind, but Jay befriends her and even helps her to start painting again. But a trip to Chicago to return Hollis’s daughter to him could put both Mariah and Jay in more danger than even the fire that devastated the town and their lives.
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World War Two Fiction
What I Left for You
A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939
1939
Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.
2023
Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.
What I Promise You
A Family’s History Is Lost to the Ravages of WWII in Southwest France
1942
Noémie Treves, a young, pregnant Jewish woman, had her entire world shattered when she is arrested and taken to the Camp de Rivesaltes transit camp in Southwest France. No sooner does she arrive, though, than she assists in helping two young girls scheduled for transport escape to a nearby maternity hospital. The matron there befriends her and changes her name to help hide her. But nothing goes according to plan, and Hannah finds herself doing the unimaginable to save one precious life.
2022
Caitlyn Laurant is haunted by recent events in her life and hopes becoming a nurse on the mission field will help her forget. While in training, she and her friends travel to France where her grandfather was born. What should have been an easy search for his birthplace turns into anything but and reveals secrets that no one alive has ever heard.
What I Would Tell You
DNA Test Unlocks a Family Mystery
Sephardic Jew Mathilda Nissim watches in horror as the Germans invade her beloved city of Salonika, Greece. What angers her most is the lack of resistance her people put up to their captors. In secret and at great risk to her life, she continues to publish her newspaper, calling her people to action. She doesn’t trust God to help them. When she and her husband find out they are expecting a child, Mathilda may have to resort to desperate measures to ensure her daughter’s survival.
Three generations later, college student Riley Payson and her cousin take a popular DNA test only to discover they don’t share any common ancestors. In fact, the test shows Riley is a Sephardic Jew from Greece. This revelation shakes Riley’s tenuous faith and sends her on a journey to discover what happened to her great-grandmother and how all this relates to her faith and her life today.
A Picture of Hope
Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII.
Journalist Nellie Wilkerson has spent the bulk of the war in London, photographing mothers standing in milk lines—and she’s bored. She jumps at the chance to go to France, where the Allied forces recently landed. There she enlists Jean-Paul Breslau of the French underground to take her to the frontlines. On the journey, they stumble upon a great tragedy, leaving a girl with special needs being orphaned.
Can Nellie and Jean-Paul see the child to a safe haven while being pursued by the Nazis, who are pressed by the advancing Allies and determined to destroy all they can before they flee?
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The Melody of the Soul
It’s 1943 and Anna Zadok, a Jewish Christian living in Prague, has lost nearly everything. Most of her family has been deported, and the Nazi occupation ended her career as a concert violinist. Now Anna is left to care for her grandmother, and she’ll do anything to keep her safe—a job that gets much harder when Nazi officer Horst Engel is quartered in the flat below them.
Though musical instruments have been declared illegal, Anna defiantly continues to play the violin. But Horst, dissatisfied with German ideology, enjoys her soothing music. When Anna and her grandmother face deportation, Horst risks everything to protect them.
Anna finds herself falling in love with the handsome officer and his brave heart. But what he reveals might stop the music forever.
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When the Heart Sings
In 1943 Poland, the Nazis have forced Natia and Teodor from their peaceful farm to the harsh confines of a labor camp. When the couple is separated, Natia is chosen to be the housekeeper for the camp’s overseer, and Teodor is sent to work in the factory. Despite the strict camp rules—and the consequences for disobeying them—Natia finds a way to communicate with Teodor by sending messages through song as she passes Teodor’s dormitory.
The stakes get higher when Natia finds a Jewish orphan on the overseer’s doorstep. She is determined to protect the boy and raise him as the child she and her husband were unable to bear—but if her German captors discover how much she’s hiding, both she and Teodor may pay the ultimate price. . .
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The Refrain Within
Hungary in 1944 is a dark place. The Nazis have invaded and turned the country upside down, their evil making its way into every life.
Clarinetist Eva Bognar is engaged to conductor and composer Patrik Kedves, happily planning her wedding. At first she doesn’t think the war will affect her directly; everyone around her can be trusted to do the right thing. Then her Jewish best friend and sister-in-law Zofia goes missing–and instead of the Gestapo being to blame, a friend says it was Patrik who led Zofia away. Has he betrayed Eva and everything the family stands for?
When the rest of the family’s lives are directly threatened, Patrik’s secrets must come to light. The Bognars flee for the border in hopes of getting out of the country to the safety of Palestine. Eva must put her life and the lives of everyone she loves in the hands of the very man who betrayed her–and they may not all make it out of the war alive . . .
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Snow on the Tulips
A stranger’s life hangs in the balance. But to save him is to risk everything.
War widow Cornelia is only a shadow of the woman she once was. She fights now to protect her younger brother, Johan, who lives in hiding.
When Johan brings Gerrit Laninga, a wounded Dutch Resistance member, to Cornelia’s doorstep, her faith won’t let her turn him out.
As she nurses Gerrit, she is drawn to his fierce passion and ideals. When the opportunity to join him in the Resistance presents itself, Cornelia must summon every ounce of courage imaginable.
She is as terrified of loving Gerrit as she is of losing him. But as the winter landscape thaws, so too does her heart. Will she get a second chance at true love?
Daisies Are Forever
In the final days of Nazi Germany, the strength of one woman’s heart will determine the fate of a family.
World War Two has ripped families apart for years, but for Gisela Cramer, the climate of Nazi Prussia, 1945, has given her a piecemeal family. Having fled her aunt and uncle’s home on the heels of Soviet troops, she now finds herself custodian of her cousin Ella’s two little daughters, ages three and five. On top of that, Gisela must look after two senile sisters, and is thrown together with Mitch Edwards, a British POW disguised as an SS officer. Together, they and a few others must survive the last days of the war without running afoul of the enemy or supposed allies who may subject them to fates worse than even the Nazis could engineer. Gisela believes her only hope lies in her own strength, until the love of God and the love of Mitch show her possibilities she’s been afraid to think were possible.
Remember the Lilies
In 1941 Rand Sterling was a wealthy, womanizing club owner and an American of note among ex-pats and locals alike. Now two years later, Rand is just another civilian prisoner of war—one whose planned escape from the Santo Tomas Internment Camp could put him and others in grave danger.
Irene Reynolds grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippine jungle. Now she works for the paranoid Japanese authorities, delivering censored messages to the other American prisoners in Santo Tomas.
When Irene’s negligence leads to Rand’s failed escape attempt, Rand is sent to the torture chambers of Fort Santiago—and Irene suffers under the weight of her guilt. Yet when she crosses paths with Rand again after his unexpected return to the camp, something more than mere survival draws the unlikely pair together.
As life in Manila becomes more and more desperate, and another threatening letter finds its way from Irene’s hands to Rand’s, the reluctant couple struggles to find a way to stay alive . . . and to keep their growing feelings for each other from compromising the safety of everyone around them.
Historical Romantic Suspense
The Pink Bonnet
A Desperate Mother Searches for Her Child
Widowed in Memphis during 1932, Cecile Dowd is struggling to provide for her three-year-old daughter. Unwittingly trusting a neighbor puts little Millie Mae into the clutches of Georgia Tann, corrupt Memphis Tennessee Children’s Home Society director suspected of the disappearance of hundreds of children. With the help of a sympathetic lawyer, the search for Millie uncovers a deep level of corruption that threatens their very lives.
How far will a mother go to find out what happened to her child?
Base on true events.
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The Green Dress
SELAH AWARD FINALIST
Strange how members of the Robinson family keep falling ill and dying. Can Harriet and Michael figure out what’s going on before someone else dies?
When Harriet Peters came to Boston in 1882, the Robinson family took her in like one of their own, and Harriet became closer to Lizzie Robinson than her own siblings. Now, four years later, Lizzie is deathly sick, failing quickly just like several others in her family have done over the past few years. How can so many in one family die from the same mysterious illness? Harriet doesn’t have answers, but she is determined to help the family, bringing in a new-to-the-neighborhood doctor, Michael Wheaton.
As Harriet and Michael close in on the answer, putting their own lives at risk, can the cause be found before anyone else dies?
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The Gold Digger
Men come to marry Belle Gunness and disappear. Do they move on or is something more sinister happening?
In 1907, shy but loyal Ingrid Storset travels from Norway to support her grieving sister, Belle Gunness, who owns a farm in LaPorte, Indiana. Well-to-do widow Belle, who has lost two husbands and several children, provides Ingrid with enough money to start a small business. But Ingrid is confused by the string of men Belle claims to be interviewing for her next husband. When Nils Lindherud comes to town looking for his missing brother, who said he was going to marry Belle, Ingrid has a sinking feeling her sister is up to no good.
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The Silver Shadow
Will the reporter and the policeman team up to find the man clubbing women before he strikes too close for comfort?
Denver of 1900 is still a dangerous place to be following the silver crash of 1893. And of out of the dark comes a shadow intent on harming women. Ambitious young Denver newspaper reporter Polly Blythe is searching for the big story that’s going to launch her career. On Friday evening, August 24, 1900, she gets her break when two women are cracked over the head within a two-minute walk of each other. But policeman Edwin Timmer thwarts Polly’s ideas of a serial criminal. . .until the shadowy figure strikes again. Will the reporter and the policeman team up to find the culprit before her strikes too close for comfort?
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Historical Fiction
Slashed Canvas
Held prisoner by all she’s lost, Katarina’s about to lose all she has.
Princess Katarina Volstova barely escaped the Russian revolution, arriving in Paris just before the birth of her twin daughters. With her heart still captive in her homeland, she haunts the Louvre each day, spending hours gazing at one painting, lost in her pain.
Not the man he once was before the Great War, Georges Velvey hides himself away doing janitorial service in the Louvre and watching the beautiful woman whose pain seems riveted on one painting.
When Katarina returns home to find her daughters and their nanny missing, the loss opens her eyes to all she has to lose now.
Frantic to find her girls, her distress causes Georges to offer his assistance. Together they put together clues to a puzzle they must complete before the kidnapper ensures Katarina and her daughters are never reunited.
Slashed Canvas offers a retelling of The Lost Princess that mingles self-centered grief, spoiled little girls, and proof that nothing will stop a mother from saving her children.
A Promise Engraved
Can Promises Made in Times of Struggle Endure 200 Years?
Visit historic American landmarks through the Doors to the Past series. History and today collide in stories full of mystery, intrigue, faith, and romance.
Young, spirited Josie Wilkins life is about to take a turn when faced with political turmoil and forbidden love in San Antonio of 1836. John Gilbert has won her heart, despite being a Protestant preacher who is forbidden to practice his faith in Texas. Will either of them survive an epic battle for liberty to create a legacy of love?
Nearly 200 years later, Kayleigh Hernandez takes breaks from her demanding job as a refugee coordinator working with Mexican migrants to attend flea markets where she has found a uniquely engraved ring. Enlisting the help of appraiser Brandon Shuman, they piece together a love story long forgotten. But will dangers linked to Kayleigh’s work end her own hopes for leaving a legacy built on hope, faith, and love?
Spring of Thanksgiving
When Ivy Cooke discovers the extent of the debt on her father’s Texas ranch, she vows to do whatever it takes to save her late brother’s legacy for his son. But when new neighbor Dell Watson and his family claim they own the Cooke’s spring, the fight gets ever harder, especially in the midst of a deep drought.
To prove his worth to his father, Dell puts a plan into motion to woo Ivy and her spring. What he doesn’t count on his falling in love with her.
Will the spring bring them together or tear them apart forever?
Amish
The Amish Widow’s New Love
He’s her first love… Will he be her last?
Naomi Miller can’t believe Elam Yoder’s back in their community after all the pain he caused! Still, the young Amish widow must reunite with her disgraced first love to raise money for her infant son’s surgery. Elam’s remorse seems sincere, as does his commitment to helping Naomi and her baby. Elam’s looking for forgiveness—and a new life with Naomi and her bobbeli by his side.
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Novella Collections
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Log Cabin Christmas
9 Historical Romances during American Pioneer Christmases
Experience Christmas through the eyes of adventuresome settlers who relied on log cabins built from trees on their own land to see them through the cruel forces of winter. Discover how rough-hewed shelters become a home in which faith, hope, and love can flourish. Marvel in the blessings of Christmas celebrations without the trappings of modern commercialism where the true meaning of the day shines through. And treasure this exclusive collection of nine Christmas romances penned by some of Christian fiction’s best-selling authors.
Matchmaker Brides
Nine Meddling Matchmakers Find Love When They Least Expect It
Meet nine women of the late 1800s who have found themselves in the role of matchmaker. They think they have mastered the art of recognizing romantic potential in others, but when it comes to their own lives they have been unlucky in love. In small communities from Tennessee to Colorado, Wyoming to Indiana, love unexpectedly enters the women’s lives with men they never imagined marrying. But what will it take to get these ladies to say “I do”?
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For Writers
Worthy to Write
by
I can’t let anyone read my stories. Who cares about what I have to say? Who would read anything I wrote anyway? I’m not special or original enough.
Do those fears fly through your mind like a plague of locusts, eating up your confidence each time you sit down to write?
All those fears, and more, boil down to one problem—feeling unworthy.
But you are worthy! God gave you a voice and all those ideas swirling in your head for a reason: to write them so that you can make a difference in the world.
Let’s tackle those fears together because you are Worthy to Write!
If you’re a creative who wants to pour your heart out to God, to know that you are not alone, then buy now to start your thirty-day journey to feeling worthy.
NOTE: This book contains full-color photographs. Those may not render well on black and white e-readers. However, all of the content remains perfectly accessible.
























