Elizabeth Millane is the author of Sixty Blades of Grass, a work of historical fiction based on my family's experiences in the Dutch underground during WWII, published June 1, 2023 by Bloodhound Books, Cambridge UK and Open Road Media.

During the Second World War, Rika, a seventeen-year-old Dutch Resistance fighter, paints in fields overlooking the busy rail yards. Hidden in her artwork is information crucial to the Dutch Underground about the concentration camps and Jewish prisoner transports. But Rika’s covert activities aren’t the only thing on her mind. In these uncertain times, even trusting family is risky. She suspects her father of collaborating with the Germans and is determined to uncover the truth. Across town, her German-born father is also living a double life. But his desire to keep his daughter safe proves inadequate when he invites a German colonel into his home with terrible consequences . . .With no one to rely on or turn to, Rika knows her greatest challenge has only just begun as she must fight for her own survival . . .

Inspired by the author’s own family history, this is a riveting, heartrending novel of danger and betrayal that explores what it takes to lay down one’s life for another in the most harrowing of circumstances. Elizabeth grew up along the shores of Lake Michigan, loving books and family stories. It was natural for her to be drawn to the stories she overheard as a child when Dutch relatives visited her family, and to seek them out when she lived abroad. She was educated at Boston College, earning a Bachelor’s of Art in English literature, and at the University of Lancaster, Lancaster, England, where she completed a Junior Year Abroad program. It was during that year that she traveled extensively on the continent, visiting her Dutch relatives several times and learning their tales of heroism and sacrifice which formed the basis for Sixty Blades of Grass.

Elizabeth resides in Needham, Massachusetts, where she markets houses. She has two children, one who lives in Chicago, the other in Hawaii. She loves making cross country trips in her trusty hybrid car, apple picking, walking, baking, and reading. She is currently at work on two novels. 

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