INTRODUCTION BY MICHAEL
The Secret of the Rose series began in January of 1993 when a tiny red winter rose bloomed in the alley behind our house.
My wife Judy picked it, brought it inside, and over the next few days it seemed to “speak” to her.
“I can’t help thinking this rose has a story to tell,” she kept saying. Indeed, that rose held a “secret,” and it began to get through to me as well. Gradually I envisioned a scene or two, a man in a rocking chair, a man and woman separated by the Wall…well, you can read the rest in the introduction to The Eleventh Hour!
When an idea strikes, things can move quickly. I began writing within a day or two. It is impossible to describe the feeling that welled up within me as the story gained momentum through the month of February. I felt fresh winds of inspiration sweeping gently through me.
The Eleventh Hour didn’t exactly write itself, but there was no doubt I was feeling sensations that were new. The manuscript pages flew by. I say “pages” though they weren’t really pages. The Eleventh Hour was my first book written on a computer. Two months later a first draft was ready to be printed.
I have to admit that I was nervous when The Eleventh Hour was published in the fall of 1993. I had enjoyed the writing. But the final book was different than anything I had written before.
What would be the response of readers? What if they didn’t like this new Michael Phillips style?
It was with great anxiety that Judy and I watched the mail for whatever responses might come.
As it turned out, we have received more reader responses to the four titles in “The Secret of the Rose” series than for any of my other books or series. These events all took place over thirty years ago, and still people write us regularly about their own personal secrets of the rose.
For those readers unfamiliar with it, “The Secret of the Rose” series follows the same characters and their families in Germany roughly between 1938 and the early 1990s. The Eleventh Hour opens just prior to the outbreak of World War II and continues through the war. A Rose Remembered and Escape to Freedom both take place during the cold war in 1961-62. Dawn of Liberty is set between 1989-92 after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
What readers say about The Secret of the Rose
AMAZON REVIEWER
BRILLIANTLY CRAFTED LITERARY WORK
The Secret of the Rose series is a beautiful and brilliantly crafted literary work weaving world history, Christian truth, romance, adventure and international intrigue with a cast of characters and interwoven stories that will never leave you. Michael Phillips is as gifted of a storyteller that I have ever read.
AMAZON REVIEWER
FILLED WITH SUSPENSE, DRAMA, ENDURING FAITH
Such an inspiring story of faith, courage and commitment set in Prussia during Nazi reign. The books are filled with suspense, drama, enduring faith and enduring love. Excellent historical fiction series.