Snow Moon Rising: A Novel of WWII

***Winner of the Ann Bannon Award & The Golden Crown Literary Award for Best Dramatic General Fiction***

Mischka Gallo, a proud Roma woman, knows horses, dancing, and travel. Every day since her birth, she and her extended family have been on the road in their vardo wagons meandering mostly through Poland and Germany. She learned early to ignore the taunts and insults of all those who call her people “Gypsies” and do not understand their close-knit society and way of life.

Pauline “Pippi” Stanek has lived a settled life in a small German town along the eastern border of Poland and Germany. In her mid-teens, she meets Mischka and her family through her brother, Emil Stanek, a World War I soldier who went AWOL and was adopted by Mischka’s troupe. Mischka and Pippi become fast friends, and they keep in touch over the years. But then, the Second World War heats up, and all of Europe is in turmoil. Men are conscripted into the Axis or the Allied armies, “undesirables” are turned over to slave labor camps, and with every day that passes, the danger for Mischka, Emil, and their families increases. The Nazi forces will not stop until they’ve rounded up and destroyed every Gypsy, Jew, dissident, and homosexual.

On the run and separated from her family, Mischka can hardly comprehend the obstacles that face her. When she is captured, she must use all her wits just to stay alive. Can Mischka survive through the hell of the war in Europe and find her family?

In a world beset by war, two women on either side of the conflagration breach the divide - and save one another. Snow Moon Rising is a stunning novel of two women’s enduring love and friendship across family, clan, and cultural barriers. It’s a novel of desperation and honor, hope and fear at a time when the world was split into a million pieces.

“Lori Lake is one of the best novelists working in the field of lesbian fiction today.”
~Midwest Book Review

“[Snow Moon Rising is] a smashing book that wears its learning lightly, yet fills the air with a people and an era well-caught, well-delineated, and very moving.” ~Caro Clarke, author of The Wolf Ticket

“Snow Moon Rising provides nail-biting action, strong emotional impact, and a judicious balance of suspense and breathing space. People of older generations will remember the era and relate closely to it, but Snow Moon Rising should appeal to anyone with an appreciation of history, belief in the sustaining power of love, and a vested interest in tearing down the walls of prejudice.”
~Nann Dunne, author of The War Between the Hearts, and editor/publisher of Just About Write.com)

“Snow Moon Rising is a book that shines. It shines with love—for family, for friends, for lovers. It shines with compassion for people caught up in the convulsions of war and for the forgotten victims of the Holocaust. It shines with humanity. The characters, the story, the emotion, tragedy upon tragedy all leading eventually to a triumphant of human spirit – all flawless. Lori Lake has reached beyond herself and written a modern classic.”
~Ruth Sims, author of The Phoenix

“Magnificent storytelling! Snow Moon Rising is an epic historical saga with rich, well-rounded characters and a plot that totally captivates. Following the story of two families brought together by war and tied together by love and friendship, it’s about two women who find the strength to survive and to love.”
~Verda Foster, author of Graceful Waters and The Gift