By I. Caroline Crocker
Unforgivable
Through a Child’s Eyes
Little Frits’ life is turned upside down when his father falls gravely ill. The family is forced to move, and soon after, Frits and his brother are sent to a harsh and abusive children’s home by their overwhelmed mother. He tries to adapt, but WWII breaks out, and the Netherlands falls under Nazi occupation. Bombs become his nightly lullaby, and the horrors of war hit close to home as friends and family are taken to Auschwitz, never to return.
Frits is left to grapple with illness, terror, and deep emotional scars. As he grows older, his dream for a better life is torn from him, and he’s pushed to his breaking point. Will Frits allow the weight of anger and loss to define his future, or will he choose to shake off the chains of his rage, embrace love, and find the strength to start anew?
This powerful story of survival, heartbreak, and redemption explores the human capacity to endure unimaginable pain—and the choices we make to rise above it.
Award-Winning Author
Caroline Crocker
Over the past 20 years, Caroline has worked as a biology professor, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a startup company, the president of a nonprofit, a private tutor, a technical writer, a research scientist, a consultant and a communications expert.
Caroline maintains a blog, RamblingRuminations, and is the author or coauthor of ten books, including the five star and award-winning Brave Face: The Inspiring WWII Memoir of a Dutch/German Child. More information on Caroline’s writings can be found at https://ramblingruminations.com.
Caroline is married to Richard and has four grown children and eight grandchildren.
But what is most important here is that Caroline is Frits’s daughter.
See where Caroline is appearing by clicking here!
Other Books
Brave Face
As the daughter of a Dutch postman and his German wife, five-year-old Meta finds her life totally changed when WWII begins. Meta’s anxiety is exacerbated by der Stiefel, a Nazi soldier who haunts her. Life continues downhill until starvation renders the formerly vivacious child so weak that she doesn’t care if she dies. After the war ends, poverty, prejudice, and PTSD continue to dog her every step, and Meta finds herself unable to pursue her dream of becoming a physician. Should she give in to despair, just put on a brave face, or accept reality and work towards those goals that are still possible?
The Ireentje Series
Ireentje is the eldest child of Dutch immigrants in a more innocent time when children went to the soda fountain without adult supervision. Ireentje Learns the Hard Way contains some of this child’s adventures, told as gentle and amusing stand-alone chapters suitable for bedtime reading.
Becoming an Iowan Girl: The Reluctant Immigrant is a work in progress. In it, Ireentje makes many changes to her life in an effort to become authentically American. She will work on her accent, lose her homemade clothes, and even eat tuna sandwiches. But her parents remain embarrassingly Dutch; her brother troublingly nerdy; the teacher confusingly narrow-minded; and the boys at school just plain old terrifying
The Clemmy Series
Clemmy Gets a Family is about the power of unconditional love. A forlorn and timid bulldog puppy, Clemmy, is adopted by a people family and finds that their love and accepatance enable her to gain in confidence until eventually she becomes Clemmy the Brave.
Clemmy Gets a Job is about the joy of serving others. Clemmy seeks to figure out how she can help her family—what her job is. She is frustrated again and again until, eventually, she finds something that she is uniquely gifted to do.
The Clemmy Series
Clemmy Gets a Sister is about the challenges of growing families. Clemmy struggles when her people take in a duckling. She is torn between resenting and befriending her new sister, a dilemma that will echo in many hearts.
Unforgivable is a compelling story about the challenges which people face and the difficulties they endure. It is a tribute to the spirit that finds the will to live and fight against almost unbeatable odds. This very human story is one of love and hate, positive and negative emotion.
– RABBI BRUCE AFT, GMU
Frits and Jan will find their way into your heart, and you will not only be wiser about the unsung casualties of warfare, you will be better for it.
– David Case,
Christian Studies Teacher
WOW for this book!! I was completely immersed in Frits’s story. So moving! So infuriating! So haunting! So inspiring!
I strongly recommend Unforgivable.
– Bruce Hann, Emeritus Professor of Literature and Rhetoric, DMACC
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