Professor Hugh Rosen

Hugh Rosen is a professor emeritus at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., USA. After retiring at age sixty-eight he returned to school as a student and obtained a graduate degree in creative writing at age seventy. Although previously he had published a combined total of six non-fiction academic books, now at seventy-four he is presenting his first novel. He believes in "Creativity is a pathway to alternate realities."

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Silent Battlefields is a Holocaust story – with a difference. While it begins shortly before the start of the Second World War and continues into the period of war with Germany, its main focus is the aftermath and its effects of the Holocaust on the characters nearly thirty years later. The story involves two families, one Jewish Polish headed by Holocaust survivors, with one young son who is the adult child of the survivors. The other family has a husband who was once a member of the Hitler Youth and a German soldier. This family also has a young son. Both of these second generational children yearn to discover more about the backgrounds of their fathers, which is a taboo subject in their households, during the regime of the Third Reich and the accompanying Holocaust. When members of both families begin to meet and interact, startling revelations come to light and unexpected relationships develop between them. Moral dilemmas emerge and difficult existential choices must be made

I found myself thinking a lot about it [Silent Battlefields] the day after I started it and felt drawn back to finishing it quickly because I cared about the characters and their various problems. The strands of their interweaving stories were well composed. I think many types of readers will find something to draw them into this intriguing story. I also think it would make a good movie.

This is no ordinary work of fiction ….It is an eloquently written piece of literature which compels the reader to deal with the darker side of humanness as it delves into concepts such as war, hate, …prejudice, guilt, and death. Yet it is an inspiring, albeit an explosive story of forbidden love, sacrifice, hope, and forgiveness….This unique novel will leave the reader with strong feelings and much to think about.

Among the delights in reading "Silent Battlefields," are the deeply human connections one makes with this novel's sensitively developed characters. It is difficult to comprehend how this can be Hugh Rosen's first novel when taking into consideration the sagacious craftsmanship with which he reveals to his readers the inner souls of his characters while guiding us through multiple, intertwining levels of their truly moving and eloquently told life stories.

This is a novel that never gets bogged down in unnecessary exposition. Instead, readers will find themselves moving through intriguing situations and thought-provoking episodes from beginning to the novel's end. I found myself marveling at the many twists and turns of this multi-layered story, and impressed by an ever expanding awareness of how each character's inner-most struggles are so carefully revealed at just the right moments within the tapestry of very believable conflicts each character presents.

The book is aptly named because it is not about a very loud WW-II, nor is it specifically about the horrors of The Holocaust. However, these tragic historical realities do serve as the backdrop upon which the characters in this novel play out their personal struggles to define their lives with each other and to find within themselves the courage to make the choices so essential in their respective lives. For me, "Silent Battlefields" refers to the battlefields we experience within our own psyche when engaged in desperate private struggles to break free of thought and behavior patterns that no longer seem to work in the face of ever-changing life challenges. Because we all can relate to the existence of our own "silent battlefields," the struggles and triumphs presented in this exquisite novel make for an irresistible read.

I must admit that I had some concern that "Silent Battlefields" was going to be just another depressing holocaust story. Much to my delight, I was quite wrong about that. "Silent Battlefields" is a completely new twist on a subject that's been written about a billion times in a billion different ways. This story takes the reader to a whole new level with a most interesting plot. There is not just one main character. The author has managed to make everyone in the story a main character. Not an easy thing to do.

More than just a great story, the author of "Silent Battlefields" manages to set the stage well. I could truly picture in my mind the settings in which each part of the story takes place. As a Floridian living in the Tampa Bay Area, and reading this book during the height of Summer, I still managed to find myself getting a bit "chilled" as the author took me into many scenes with frigid temperatures and desperate drab settings.

This book is filled with surprises. It focuses more on the aftermath of a tragic event of enormous proportions, and gives the reader an opportunity to see into the lives of those who survived as they deal with their present day lives.

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