In a way that's what happened to Yvette Manessis Corporon. When the Yonkers resident first wrote "When the Cypress Whispers" in 2014, a novel about the deep bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother, she wove in the story her "ya ya" had always told her: about how the people of Erikousa, a small Greek island, hid a Jewish family during World War II.
Once she started promoting her book -- her first -- Manessis Corporon realized she struck a chord. And that there was more to the story she had to uncover.
And so, as a three-time Emmy Award–winning writer, author, and producer at NBC's EXTRA, she began researching, calling, documenting, traveling and writing.
The result is "Something Beautiful Happened," which details how everyone on Erikousa hid a Jewish tailer named Savvas and his family from the Nazi's, continually moving them until the end of the war.
Nearly 2,000 Jews from that area died in the concentration camps; the Savvas family, however, survived.
The non-fiction book, on sale Tuesday, Sept. 12, takes readers on a globe-trotting journey across the U.S -- Manessis Corporon spoke with a host of Holocaust survivors who knew the girls her grandmother helped save -- as well as to Greece and Israel, where the Savvas descendants live.
Hear more about this incredible journey at the Eastchester Barnes & Noble on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. where Manessis Corporon will be speaking and signing books.
And stay tuned for more. TV journalist that she is, Manessis Corporon is also at work on a documentary with the Emmy winning team at Anaconda Street Productions.
Go to www.yvettecorporon.com/ for more information.
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