Local author, Henry Michalski charts the journey his parents endured during the dark days of World War II, a horrific tale of defiance and hope wrapped in a love story—a story the world must know. Torn Lilacs begins in a small Polish village but soon takes the reader to Ukraine, Siberia and Kazakhstan, areas little written about. Torn Lilacs is the story of two common ordinary people, fighting, struggling to stay alive, hunted like animals because of their birth into the Jewish faith. But, it’s a hopeful and uplifting story of courage, faith and above all, love. Torn Lilacs won the independent press award, the international book award, the Eric Hoffer Award and the San Francisco Book Festival Award.