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Chiselbury Publishing is to publish Elsinore Sewing Club, a new standalone historical novel by acclaimed American author James R. Benn, on 1 May 2027.
Set in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943, the novel follows Leif Jensen, a young bookbinder’s apprentice who becomes involved with the Elsinore Sewing Club, a clandestine organisation helping Jewish refugees and members of the Danish Resistance escape across the Øresund to neutral Sweden. As the German authorities close in, Leif’s relationship with Hannah, a Jewish refugee, places them both in danger, while the suspicion of betrayal threatens everyone involved.
The novel is set against the remarkable true story of the Elsinore Sewing Club. Led by Erling Kiaer, its members used small fishing boats to transport an estimated 700 Jews and resistance members to safety during the winter of 1943–44. Their work formed part of the wider rescue of Denmark’s Jewish population, one of the most extraordinary acts of collective resistance during the Second World War.
Benn is the author of the internationally acclaimed Billy Boyle series of Second World War mysteries. His work has been nominated for the Dilys and Barry awards, while A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Elsinore Sewing Club will be his first novel published by Chiselbury. Benn is represented by Paula Munier.
Stuart Leasor, publisher at Chiselbury, said: “Elsinore Sewing Club tells a remarkable and still relatively little-known story from the Second World War. Jim has combined meticulous historical research with a tense and deeply human novel, centred on an unusually gentle and sympathetic hero. It should appeal both to his established readers and to the much wider audience for compelling historical fiction.”
Elsinore Sewing Club will be published simultaneously in hardback, trade paperback and ebook on 1 May 2027.