It's a heavy story she shouldered and carried for most of her life.
It reeks of gunfire, death and rape. It's bursting with hunger, loneliness and fear. And amid the chaos echoes the voice of a young girl, orphaned at 9, screaming to be rescued.
Until recently, Evelyne Tannehill, 70, was the only one who knew the little girl's tale of World War II.
It was hers — a perfectly kept secret locked away from husband, children and grandchildren.
But over the last 10 years Tannehill, who lives in Green Valley and Reno, Nev., poured into a book what happened to her in Nazi Germany and after 1945. That book, "Abandoned and Forgotten," is made up of 160,000 words from the child's life.
"It's not about me," Tannehill said, explaining how she approached the book and remembered the details. "It's about this little girl I knew very well and I could get into her head."
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Tannehill's daughter, Gwen Marelli, 43, who with her family lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., was stunned by the world the book revealed.
"Growing up, my mom never talked about the details of her past," she said. "Knowing what she's been through, I can't believe she's the woman she is today."
Tannehill grew up on a quiet farm in East Prussia, then a part of Germany. Today it is part of Poland.
Toward the end of World War II the Russians invaded, followed by the Poles. They lashed out at the Germans and paid them back for crimes of the Holocaust, Tannehill said.
They took away her father and two oldest brothers. She never heard from her father again, but her brothers now also live in the United States. Her mother died of typhoid fever. Tannehill and her youngest brother stayed at their farm, which was inhabited by an abusive Polish family. During that time Tannehill was starved, beaten, held captive and molested. At some point her youngest brother ran away.
"My fairy-tale world carried me through," Tannehill said about how she survived. "You escape into a a world that makes it possible to live."
At 16, she came to live in the United States.
It was not until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 that Tannehill went back to the farm with her family. When they drove up to the house in a village near Elbing, close to the Baltic Sea, Tannehill's emotions resurfaced.
"I just wanted them to go away," she said about her family standing by. "They had no idea how deeply moved I was. It became alive very quickly."
It was then that her husband, Richard Tannehill, who has since died, suggested she write a book about her experience.
Writing became part of her life. She took writing classes, wrote, crossed out words, lay awake pondering at night, and edited again and again.
In the end she was rewarded. Bill Schley, a Reno freelance writer who read the book, called it "incredible."
"It is a work I will treasure and loan and give to friends for the rest of my life," he wrote in a letter of recommendation for the book.
Tannehill said she started writing for her children and grandchildren, who grew up in a protected world.
"They haven't got a clue what life was like for the generations before them."
But then it turned into a much bigger project:
She self-published "Abandoned and Forgotten" at Wheatmark, a Tucson publishing company. It it is expected to hit the market next week and will be available for $29.95. It will be available at Wheatmark, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and other outlets.
Wheatmark representatives said the book is off to a good start. Tannehill told friends and family about it, and the Reno Gazette-Journal ran a story about her in November.
"The orders have been pouring in," said Susan Wenger, senior book editor at Wheatmark. "She knows how to write in a way so people will want to keep reading."
Little has been written about the experiences of German citizens during World War II, Wenger said, which makes the book unusual.
"There's some buzz about it," said Sam Henrie, president and founder of the company.
In the last two years, Tannehill's partner, Jack Schlaefli, 72, has supported her endeavor. He said the story was the best way to get to know her.
"There was a little girl, and all she wanted was a little bit of recognition and a little bit of love," Schlaefli said, glancing at Tannehill before bending over two photographs of her taken about 60 years apart.
"Just look at it — this is her and this is her. Nothing has changed."
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Evelyne Tannehill's book "Abandoned and Forgotten" is expected to start shipping next week. It will be available online at wheatmark.com and amazon.com, as well as at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores. It costs $29.95.
For more information, contact Wheatmark at 798-3306, or send an e-mail to Tannehill at etannehill@hotmail.com.
