May I have this dance, Hilde?asked Field Marshal Rommel, opening the Grande Ball held in his honour.
Did this dance save the life of Hilde's Polish friends?
Hilde had come a long way, since her dream of becoming a singer was shattered when her father made arrangements for her to work as a housekeeper in Berlin at the tender age of fourteen.
Until then, although poor, Hilde led a happy and protected life with her family on their small- holding in East Prussia.
Hilde's life is thrown into turmoil in Berlin during the late 1920s early 1930s. Having Polish friends meant it was becoming increasingly unsafe for her to stay there and she finds a new life in the Harz Mountains. This is taking her still further away from her home and her beloved younger sister, Erika.
In Goslar, Hilde meets her husband, Karl, a young officer in the German Army. When he joins the 7th Panzer Brigade led by General Erwin Rommel at the beginning of World War II, Hilde is left to bring up their children in War torn Germany.
After Rommel's promotion to Field Marshal, Karl follows him to Africa, later Italy and ultimately Karl is posted to the Russian front.
Hilde's story is based on facts and is told here by her youngest daughter. Elisabeth

"Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling......

Annie sang quietly, holding Derek's baby blue cardigan and trying to detect a familiar smell. The same cardigan he should have worn for his christening.

Annie and her friends leave Ireland in 1926 young and optimistic, hoping to find a better life in Liverpool. Only things do not turn out the way they had imagined.

Annie falls in love, marries and starts a family of her own. But with the onset of World War Two comes tragedy and loss, testing Annie's strength to the limit.

Little does she realise that the salvation of her loved ones lies with a German woman named Hilde, whose life and situation mirrors Annie's own.

Liverpool Connection is the second book of a trilogy. The first book, The Night I Danced with Rommel, tells Hilde's story. The books are historical novels based on the writers family history