First Chapter -- First Paragraph -- Tuesday Intros

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. This week's intro is from The Night Sky by Maria Sutton:

When I was thirteen years old, I overheard a conversation that would change my life. The shocking news would lead me on a worldwide search for a stranger with piercing blue eyes and sun-colored hair, lasting forth-three years.

My quest would take me to the dark green hills and valleys of the ancient Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, where the woody fragrance of birch trees and new-mown hay fills the fresh, crisp air after a heavy rain. Vicariously, I would see a sunrise over Poland obscured by brightly colored swastikas on warplanes and I would then be taken into suffocating cattle cars, lice-infested stalags, and to the Dachau death camp. Further down a country road, I would hear hearty laughter and beer steins clinking with each salute to the Fuhrer's astonishing victories. I would then visit a dark, foreboding, haunted barrack, where disquieting secrets are revealed.