FAQ: Where did you get the idea for THE RIGHTEOUS SMUGGLER?

When my son was ten, we went on holiday to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. People come from all over the world to experience the wild north. My son was hanging out on the beach with a boy whose family was from the Netherlands.

The boy pointed to my husband's Jewish Star and asked, "What's that?"

I explained to him that we were Jewish.

He became very animated and said that his uncle in Holland had saved Jews during the war.

I told him that his uncle was a hero and that I very much wanted to meet him.

He said, "You can't."

I asked, "Why not?"

He said, "Because, my uncle didn't survive."

Chills went down my spine.

I didn't know at the time that I would be writing this story, but years later, a little voice in my head kept telling me to write it and that is where the story came from. A young non-Jewish Dutch boy could not stand by and watch as his Jewish friends were in danger so he risked his life to smuggle out Jews in his father's fishing boat.