Weirdly enough, the spark came from a line in my first novel [The Republic of Trees, 2005], about the night self and the day self, the waking self and the sleeping self. It's sliding doors, except the twist is Max and Hans are dreaming about each other, so they're aware of each other's lives.
I needed a setting that offered a sharp contrast in possible fates for the protagonist, and a Mischling [Max's father is Jewish, his mother Aryan] in the Third Reich gave me that. The war provided me with conflict, dramatic change, and the possibility that my characters could inhabit the same city while also living in very different worlds.
One of the book's themes is that idea of trying to find some common ground, to bridge a gap. At the moment, it's a time in history when the gap seems pretty big. I live in Texas, where probably 80% of the population is conservative and
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