Our guest this week on The Story behind the Story is Linda Matchett. She’s going to share what inspired her to write Love’s Belief, but first, a little more about the book.

Midwife Pia Hertz and her mother Sabine have been delivering babies long before the Nazis came to power. Now, the Third Reich has implemented mandates that require Jewish babies and other “undesirables” to be killed as part of The Final Solution. Is Pia’s new faith in Christ strong enough to defy the laws of man?

Despite the agony of the injury at the Battle of Drøbak Sound that took his arm, Dieter Fertig is relieved he’s no longer part of Hitler’s army. He returns to Berlin and discovers Jews are being deported by the thousands. When he realizes the Nuremburg Laws require his best friend’s baby girl to be killed, he must find a way to spirit the child out of Germany before the Nazis discover her existence.

Inspired by the biblical story of Shiprah and Puah, the midwives who saved Jewish babies during Pharaoh’s reign, Love’s Belief shows how one person’s actions can change the world.

It’s always great to welcome another WWII author to the blog. Your blurb gives us an idea of what inspired the book, but could you expand on that?

My favorite part about history is learning about the ordinary people who performed extraordinary acts, especially during times of war or great difficulty. Although fascinated by nearly all time periods, I tend to read and write about the WWII era, and in the last several years hundreds of stories have come to light from all over the world about “average joes” who did great deeds during this time of worldwide conflict.

The Bible is full of such people, and for my Wartime Brides series I have taken Old Testament stories and set them during World War II. Book three, Love’s Belief, highlights Shiprah and Puah, two Hebrew midwives who lived in Egypt around 1525 BC. What was special about these women was their bravery to go against laws set by Pharaoh (probably Thutmose I) that required Jewish infant boys be put to death at the time of their birth. Much like Herod at Jesus’ birth, this king was paranoid about uprisings that would usurp his position as ruler.

Word reached Pharaoh that Shiprah and Puah were letting the Jewish boys live. Angry, he called them to appear before him. Can you imagine how terrified these women must have been? Knowing he could have them executed for disobeying his laws, they had a creative and irrefutable response when he asked them why they had not followed his commandment. They said, “{The babies live} because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” (Exodus [1:19])

Was the statement a lie? Possibly. But several scholars postulate that the midwives may have been deliberately slow in arriving to help the mothers. Whatever the reality surrounding their response, because Shiprah and Puah feared God, obeying Him rather than man, He blessed them and “made them households,” (gave them families) an act usually reserved for men. As a result of the midwives’ actions “the people multiplied and became very mighty.”

Perhaps Pharaoh had something to worry about after all.

The story of these two ladies became the inspiration for Sabine and Pia, two German midwives who disobey Hitler’s Nuremburg Laws to save Jewish infants in Germany during WWII.

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker, and history geek. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. Linda is a member of ACFW, RWA, and Sisters in Crime. She is a volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII.

Website/Blog: http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LindaShentonMatchettAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lindasmatchett

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/lindasmatchett

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Shenton-Matchett/e/B01DNB54S0

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linda-shenton-matchett

Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/74bb7b34c9c2/lindashentonmatchettnewsletter

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2MApF45

Linda is giving away a copy of the book. U.S. residents get to choose either a paperback or ebook copy. International winners, ebook only. Follow the directions below to enter.

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Thanks for joining us, Linda! What a fascinating book.