RebeccaBala

'Why are you doing all of this?' Natalya asked, her need to be done with this making her brazen and cutting. 'What have I done to make you take such an interest?''You know Ivan the Terrible had a pet bear?' Natalya didn't like where this was going. 'Yes.''He used to keep it hungry. Then when he threw his enemies to it, he'd get to watch them get torn apart.''Yes, yes!' snapped Natalya. 'What's your point?'Bringing their entwined hands between them, he stretched one finger out to run down her cheek. 'I've always wanted one. A medvezhonok to raise and nurture to my will.'1950's Stalinist Russia; a time of totalitarianism and turmoil. Natalya Morozova, a young seamstress from Moscow, finds herself tangled in her husband's illicit activities and is suddenly thrust into the GULAG prison system, where deceit lies around every corner. Will she prove worthy of mastering it? Or will her own crimes finally catch up to her ad plunge her even further into despair.…

RebeccaBala

'Keller gripped the back of her head tightly, watching her eyes fill with angry tears. "Do you think that there was ever a chance of a normal life for us?"Anna was so taken aback, her breathing hastened. "When I arrived here?" she asked slowly."Or say the war had never happened," he said. "Say we met under normal circumstances. Could we have been happy?""I have no idea," she whispered.'- The Cuckoo's Cage The year is 1947, and in this alternate world, the war has never happened. Anna is 26 years old, living in Berlin with her mother, father and younger sister. She works at the Neues museum and has done all throughout her studies. She has just completed her PhD.Seems nice, right?Well, this is me. Nothing stays nice for very long.Trigger warning for graphic sexual scenes, violence and sexual trauma.…

RebeccaBala

'Ernst's gaze seemed to draw closer."Does that shock you?" he asked."I'm not sure anything shocks me anymore," she said."That's good to hear," he said, settling back in his seat. Anna felt uneasy. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to resemble some form of protection. Yet, she knew full well how futile it was.'Desolate and alone, Anna finds that, yet again, her loved ones are just beyond her grasp. Determined to do everything in her power to reunite with them, Anna makes the decision to align herself to the one person who has control over life and death in the camp; the Commandant. She now lives every day in the threat of his affection, trying her best to stay one step ahead of him at all times. Yet how long until he tires of her games? And with Germany on the precipice of loss, can anyone outside the camp's reach intervene and save her? That is... if they are even willing to any more.Book Two in the Cuckoo Series#1 in Jewish-Holocaust #1 in WW2#1 in ConcentrationCamp#1 in JewsTrigger warning for graphic violence, graphic sexual content, mature language and adult themes.…

RebeccaBala

'How could a God that inspired something as beautiful as this song also inspire people to rob her of the only person she had left? It made no sense to her. No higher power did. The comfort of an ultimate divine being had been ripped from her long ago, and the past few years had only confirmed that even if there was a God, she would hate him anyway. Yet music had always lifted her in this way, and it was difficult not to feel its power now. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought back to the last time she had heard anything like it. It had been Christmas eve; the night she had made herself a silent promise to reunite with her best friend and the man she loved. It was hopeless now. Anna turned and leant against the cold wall, sliding to a crumpled heap on the ground. Pulling her knees to her chest, she let the tears come. She felt so desperately alone. Her dream of Karl had been right. All she had ahead of her was a lonely future. Who could she turn to now?'The third and final instalment in the Cuckoo series.#1 concentrationcamp Trigger warning for graphic violence, graphic sexual content, mature themes and traumatic stress.…