This story must not go unheard.

Some stories are written at a desk. Others in real life. The Daughters of the Pine Tree belongs to the latter category.

It all began in 2018. Not with an idea, but with a memory. Sandra Noel's memory of her grandmother. A woman from Augsburg. A woman who lived through that time.

Her story was there. Always. And yet it remained hidden for a long time. Like so many stories of this generation. Until that one moment in 2018. My simple question to to her, almost casually — and yet crucial: "May I tell your grandmother's story?"

It wasn't just a spontaneous impulse. It was, in fact, a promise. What emerged from Sandra Noel's biographical recollections is not merely a retelling. Because writing about this time means more than just telling a story. It means taking responsibility.

Augsburg, a city full of contrasts: tradition and modernity, faith and control. The perfect place to show what happens when personal destinies collide with an overwhelming history. But the deeper the research went, the clearer it became: it's not just about the past.

What remains of this life today?

Wars don't simply end. They leave their mark. In families. In unspoken truths. In what is just waiting to be told. This novel begins precisely there. Between past and present. With memory and forgetting at the same time. For where forgetting has sown its seeds, only emptiness will flourish. Or perhaps from a simple but urgent need:

To give a voice to those who have never been heard.

Just like as Roland Barthes rightly stated in 1977: “Fascism is not about preventing us from speaking, it is about forcing us to speak” – so today I see it as an obligation to tell this family history.

The Daughters of the Pine Tree Released on October 14, 2026

Novel published by Gmeiner Verlag

Pre-orders expected to start in September 2026