Murray Pura delivers a story of love and survival that is about more than a
war between nations
“From the first
sentence…to the last musings of its anti-hero, Beautiful Skin by Murray Pura takes [the reader] on an astonishing
trip.” Patrick E. Craig, author of The
Amish Heiress
Murray Pura is the author of more than a dozen
novels, two collections of short stories, and several non-fiction titles
including the Zondervan books Rooted
and Streams, as well as the Baker
devotional Majestic & Wild. His
first novel was released in Toronto in 1988 and was a finalist for the
Dartmouth Book Award. Pura has been a finalist for several awards in the US and
Canada, including the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award for his novel Zo. In 2012, Pura won the Word Award of
Toronto for Best Historical Novel for The
White Birds of Morning.
His latest release is a novel titled Beautiful Skin published by MillerWords Publishing,
a World War II Romance with more than meets the eye:
Principle character Andrew Chornavka and his family
were caught up in the fires of the second great war. Love, betrayal, sacrifice,
heroism, savagery, things amazing and miraculous were all part of this world,
and the world of Chornavka’s brothers and sisters. Armies clashed and battles
raged in the skies and on the ground. Yet the wars of the heart were no less
fiery and painful, and the hunt to find hope and meaning within nations ripped
apart by conflict, just as desperate as the struggle to survive. America,
Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Germany and Berlin are the backdrop to a
powerful drama of the human soul, to a story of a love that proved impossible
to stop, a war that proved impossible to win and a faith that proved impossible
to break.
According to the author, “My two aunts had a
love-hate relationship that saw their family emigrate to Russia and Ukraine, where
they were trapped by the German invasion and practically wiped out, even forced
into slave labor in Berlin.”
This is a personal story for both the author and his
characters. The real-life events of his family inspired the story. Pura
considers himself to be an observer of the human experience, writing in almost
every genre: Amish, suspense, adventure, war, romance, Western, historical
fiction, literary fiction, even including nonfiction and academic in the areas
of history, biography, spirituality, theology, inspirational, and memoirs. His
goal as an author is to entertain, inspire and enlighten his readers. With Beautiful Skin, he accomplishes that,
but also shares a piece of himself and his family’s history. He also wrote
several original songs for the novel that capture the spirit of the Berlin jazz
clubs of the time.
Pura adds, “This is a story where sisters are caught
up in their own war of love and hate, and ultimately have to make a choice.”
Murray Pura was born and raised in Winnipeg, but now
lives and writes in southwestern New Mexico. Beautiful Skin is his first novel with MillerWords and will be
accompanied by a collection of original poems entitled Petals. Both books are available in paperback and Amazon Kindle
beginning January 6th, 2017.
MillerWords is an independent publisher of positive
and inspirational books for all ages that can be found online at
www.MillerWords.com or on Facebook at FB.com/MillerWords.
