Please join me on April 10th for the Montreal book launch of Ravenscraig.

Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore 
2220 McGill College Avenue
6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
April 10, 2012

How exciting it is for me, a Titanic fanatic, that this coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail on her maiden voyage.

About the book:

Ravenscraig is historical fiction that is of particular appeal to readers interested in Jewish migration to North America, The Titanic, and anyone with an affection for Winnipeg’s history in its boom town years, a century ago.

The Storyline: 

Nothing is more important to Rupert J. Willows than the image he has built to hide the deep secret of his true identity.  A master manipulator, the ruthless and charismatic Rupert schemes his way into the upper class when he purchases the opulent mansion, Ravenscraig Hall. It is the turn of the 20^th century in one of the fastest growing cities in North America; a brawling, raucous, frontier boomtown with a taste for fine theatre and loose women. True power is within Rupert’s grasp as long as his secret stays buried.

Malka Zigman is a survivor. Orphaned in London, she has just joined her Uncle Zev and his hardworking Jewish family in Canada. Recent immigrants who escaped from poverty and violence in czarist Russia, the Zigmans struggle to put down roots in the New World. With family resources stretched thin, Malka takes a risk. Everything is about to change as she reinvents herself as Maisie Rosedale and crosses over to the exclusive world of “the English” as the new maid at Ravenscraig.

Tragedies, and triumphs grip the lives of these two families as their futures inextricably twine together to culminate on the Titanic.

Author Bio:

Sandi Krawchenko Altner is a Jew by choice who enjoyed a long career in television and radio news in Canada. You may remember her as a reporter for Pulse News at Montreal’s CFCF TV. Sandi was born and raised in Winnipeg, and is a fifth descendent of the first group of Ukrainian immigrants who settled near Vita, Manitoba, in 1896.  She grew up with a keen interest in her roots, and a deep love for history.  Sandi now lives and writes in Florida.  She and her husband, Bob Altner have two daughters and two spoiled dogs. Ravenscraig is her first novel.

Praise for Ravenscraig:

Ravenscraig has been shortlisted for the 2011 Manitoba Historical Society’s prestigious Margaret McWilliams Award in Popular History.

“Wonderful…Welcome to Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs with a Winnipeg Twist.”

-Ron Robinson, Winnipeg Free Press

“Ravenscraig is superb. It is a book that almost seems to have been written specifically for me, involving Jewish immigrants who resemble what my great-grandparents were like, and reflecting the attitude and hope that I have in life.”

—Louis Kessler, past president, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada