Etch of a Promise

Ruby M. Holder

Description

Etch of a Promise, a gripping tale of social injustice, artistic passion, and the price of love, portrayed within 1880s German culture and history.
Nicklaus, an apprentice carpenter, shuns involvement until he earns his Master certification. But his world turns upside down when he meets Maria and feels a strange urge to protect the grieving young woman. When they’re seen alone together, Nicklaus’s career is threatened by a Komitee investigation that questions his honor. Must he choose art over a future that might include lasting love?
After an abusive past Maria rebelled. Now she’s not sure she can ever trust again. But everything changes when she becomes interested in a fun-loving journeyman who helps her accept herself. Can she conquer her fears and grow as a woman or risk everything for Nicklaus and his dreams?
Etch of a Promise, inspired by the courage of European immigrants and Holder’s family stories, weaves 1880s German history and culture into a romantic tale of a wandering artist, a woman’s conflict with social injustice and the price of love.

Sujets

• Germany
• Romance
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 17 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663229366
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Book One of the Carpenter’s Legacy Series
 
Etch of a Promise
 

 
RUBY M HOLDER
 
 
 
 

 
ETCH OF A PROMISE
 
 
Copyright © 2022 Ruby M Holder.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
iUniverse
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-2935-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-2937-3 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-2936-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914556
 
 
iUniverse rev. date:  10/06/2022
 
TO
NICKLAUS & MAR IA’S
FA MILY
Contents
Maria Circa 1900
Nicklaus Circa 1930
Author’s Notes
Map of Nicklaus’s fictional Journey in Germany
Map of fictional Cologne Germany of 1884-1886
 
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
 
Acknowledgments
About the Author
 
Preview Book Two: Etched on the Heart

M aria


Nick laus

Author’s Notes
This book tells of how life might have been in 1880s Germany—its culture and history. I have woven dates and my great-grandparents’ occupations into this fictional story.
A fiction author makes her story interesting by using structures of fiction—conflicts, plot twists, crises, villains, and, of course, heroes and heroines. However, any positive or negative resemblance to persons, whether living or not, was not intended.
Here are the facts: Nicholas was my great-grandfather’s name, but I liked the sound of Nicklaus better. Maria was my great-grandmother’s name. Surnames were changed for privacy. Zimmer is German for carpenter. Glade is a common surname for someone from Berlin and Maria’s first child, Elisabeth, was said to have been born there.
A census record shows that Nicholas was a carpenter, so Cologne was my imagination’s ‘perfect place’ for Nicklaus to learn woodworking and carpentry. Maria’s profession is based on that census as well. Places in Cologne, such as the historic, ancient churches, the Volksgarten Park, and the Summer Brewery, were in existence then and are, even today.
Here’s the fiction: The inspiration for Nicklaus’s and Maria’s character traits came from examining the tendencies and personalities of my mother, grandmother, and my own. Studies show that character traits, quirks and tendencies are traceable through DNA analysis. So, modern traits were imposed onto the previous generation. I’ve dubbed it ‘reverse genealogy.’ The names Frederick, Christine, Terese and Christoph are fictional, because records of that generation haven’t been found and probably don’t exist because of WWII. Other characters and the farms, shops, and courthouses were created for this story. Any character’s mental health and the Komitee and Volksfest ‘events’ were made up.
In peppering ein bisschen Deutsch throughout the story, I was able to add cultural awareness and a certain “flavor.” This little bit of German is italicized, and its meaning is found in the following phrase or sentence. However, I don’t pretend to be German-fluent. I just happen to love the language, so I learned while I peppered!
I truly hope you enjoy the romance and beginning of Nicklaus’s and Maria’s life together. Book Two shows their actual ports of call to America and their growing family.
I hope you will let yourself associate reading time with relaxation and escape. Chaos might be all around, but we can still find a ‘happy place’ while reading a good book. Happy reading!
~~~*~~~
Content Advisory : Please see Acknowledgments Page in back of book
~~~*~~~

Nicklaus’s Jou rney


Etched of a Promise’s Cologne, Ger many

1

Nicklaus
Bavaria, southern Germany: Spring 1884
A journeyman carpenter strutted westward on a new adventure through Bavaria’s wine country. His bell-bottom pants swung as he whistled the chorus of “The Happy Wanderer.” He patted his pocket and die Marks that he’d saved from doing odd jobs for the last few months.
Nicklaus Zimmer’s artistic imagination had erupted in the carpentry workshop the day before when the teacher spoke of a new vehicle. He couldn’t fall asleep that night as he envisioned this new invention. It could save him time visiting the ancient churches in Cologne, his final destination. He’d left the camaraderie of the journeymen group for the last leg of his journey. Casting out on his own wasn’t all that unusual for him. It will be worth leaving the journeymen group to see that new gadget. I could even buy one!
He’d set out before dawn to cover the distance to Strasbourg, France, where the teacher had said the invention would be. He stopped to wipe his brow, first removing the black wide-brimmed hat of his traditional journeymen’s outfit. His eyes caught a golden ray on the grapevine buds as he gazed back. He shielded his eyes, looking toward the way he’d come—from Stuttgart—where the sun was now bursting on the horizon.
The vastness of the blue sky stretched above him, just like the endless opportunities he expected to come. The velocipede would make the last few months of his Journey successful. He tucked his scrubby brown hair back underneath his hat and stepped out on the path again, following the beat of his own drum.
A little while later, a vineyard owner appeared at the end of a row of vines and offered Nicklaus a ride in the back of his tool cart. This saved him time and gave him a chance to take a short nap while the landscape rolled by. When he came to the Rhine River, he jumped off, tipped his hat, and picked up his rucksack, bidding the owner a farewell.
Then he stepped onto a ferry, and before long, he was across the Rhine River in France at the border town of Strasbourg. Here was where he’d find the velocipede—supposedly an improved version of both the penny-farthing and the swiftwalker. But what it actually looked like, Nicklaus had no idea, only his imagination, which was very active.
Strolling alongside several Frenchmen on a Strasbourg road, he asked where he could find an inventor, a craftsman, or an artisan. Growing up in Luxembourg, he knew the languages spoken there—French and German—but he used his hands to express himself. At last, a stooped man with a limp—who could have been a pauper, considering his worn clothing—offered to take Nicklaus through town to find it in exchange for some food.
“Where will we go?” Nicklaus asked, handing him an apple.
“There is a clever fellow I know,” he said in French, turning. Nicklaus picked up his pace to follow. “He makes many odd things.” Then he took a bite of the apple and wiped his chin with a dirty shawl that covered his tattered clothes. His toes peeked from his shoes as he stepped on the narrow, cobblestone lanes.
Nicklaus saw several similarities between himself and this resourceful man. His toes didn’t stick out, but his shoe soles were equally bare. He hadn’t washed his hole-ridden socks in weeks, and he was sure he had an odor. Yes, journeymen might be considered bums.
But taking baths was a luxury he couldn’t afford. From tales of journeymen handed down through the generations, he’d always known that a journeyman’s life wasn’t a life of comfort. Yet, his apprenticeship Journey he’d undertaken almost two years ago had offered him the freedom he highly valued. His way was to search, seek, and become. It suited Nicklaus perfectly. He’d always thought of life as one grand adventure after another. He pitied those who didn’t or couldn’t see the spur-of-the-moment, once-in-a-lifetime beauty of living.
Nicklaus was just one of the traveling artisans, sculptors, and craftsmen who sought instruction from like-minded artisans in each town they entered on their Journey around Germany. Learning how to use the resources of each area, journeymen lived off the kindness of citizens. They sometimes had to sleep on benches and miss meals unless someone offered them help or food. As Nicklaus mused on these things, he’d followed the pauper around several turns and had begun to wonder if they’d ever find this ‘clever fellow.’
But suddenly, the pauper ducked into a door and shouted a string of French words to another man. He wielded a screwdr