Young Adolf as you have never seen him before… Experience Adolf Hitler's childhood in striking detail. Witness his ordeals, from the rigors of his schooling to beatings by his father. Factual accounts are interspersed with fictional inventions, such as his relationship with a hypothetical girl named Helga. Can young Adolf conquer the personal barriers his difficult childhood presented and become close with her emotionally? How will that change him? Learn more about Adolf the boy. Experience the molding of his dreams, his prejudices, and his desires in visceral detail. Come to understand the inner-workings of History's most infamous megalomaniac through the perspective of a child's eyes. Follow Adolf from birth to his late teenage years. Know the boy before he was the world's most feared man. Decide for yourself if Helga's influence might have altered the course of History.
Helga wore a welcoming smile that managed to draw Adolf's attention away from her dress of deep-green and white lace, which showed that she did indeed have a figure. She appeared pale in the deepening twilight, her golden curls piled atop her head decorated with a small white flower that matched the lace of her dress. Where she had found such a flower so late in the fall, Adolf could not guess.
“Surprise!” she said with unabashed enthusiasm. Adolf's palms rarely moistened when he became nervous, but he could feel his underarms trickling small rivulets and his mouth was cotton-dry. Expectations of distance, indeed --his plans were already as substantial as the wind.
“Oh you are surprised,” Helga said. “Happily, I hope. Have you grown since last I saw you? I think you have. Well, you look very handsome this evening. Come, you need not wait in this line. August Kubizek, my sister's date whom you will meet shortly, arrived early. Rather than subjecting him to small talk with Father, we decided to leave early as well. August purchased our tickets and is likely now endeavoring to intoxicate my sister, which he should accomplish all too easily if I know dear Elise.”
Adolf swallowed and stepped out of the ticket line, smoothly offering his arm to Helga, which she took while she continued to talk. Adolf led them to a small bench facing the opera house.
As they sat, Helga kept her arm laced through Adolf's. Normally he would not enjoy being in such proximity with anyone besides his mother, but he found that he enjoyed Helga's presence immensely, and so he made no attempt to withdraw his arm, but rather leaned his head back and smiled at the night sky, just now beginning bloom with the evening's stars.
He at last answered her earlier question. “Yes, I am quite happily surprised to see you. You look beautiful, and I would say that you have grown also, if my mother and sisters had not taught me that a comment even remotely related to the topic of age is inappropriate for conversation with any lady.”
Helga smiled at the compliment and the joke. “If you mean to say that I have matured in my beauty, I will accept that as a very gracious compliment. I am not so many years removed from being a girl that I do not still enjoy hearing comments complimenting that distinction.”
Adolf smiled also, not only for her own compliments or smile, nor because she had enjoyed his compliment. No, Adolf smiled because she was very beautiful, and he was simply happy to be with her. Adolf's favorite composer was again being showcased at the Linz Opera House; Wagner's Tristan und Isolde was playing, one of the few works of the great Wagner that Adolf had neither seen nor read. He could hardly imagine a better evening. Sitting near to him on the bench, Helga briefly wondered if her perfume was too strong. She had wanted him to notice the same flowered scent she had sent with each letter, but hyacinths had a soft fragrance, and fearing the air would diffuse the scent before they met, she had been perhaps too liberal with the product tonight. “ Adolf recognized the scent and found it oddly comforting. “I am very glad you invited me here.”
Helga gave his arm a gentle squeeze. She had been watching him in the manner of a young lady, from the corners of her eyes. He had grown --she could see it in the angles of his face. His brow seemed deeper, pitched on a straight incline that continued to the top of his nose, beneath which Adolf had recently begun sporting a light moustache. Adolf was not physically impressive, and his stature was slight, but his dark, intense eyes were alluring. All the strength Johan displayed in his body, Adolf showed in his eyes. He was not as handsome as some of the boys she had dated, but something about his countenance pleased her.
Without warning, she leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Frank P. Daversa:
Frank P. Daversa was raised in South Hempstead, NY. It was during college that he honed his writing skills. Shortly after receiving his B.S. degree with a 3.96 GPA, Frank moved to Houston, TX. He worked 14 years in the corporate world before becoming a writer in 2007. Frank had his first web article published in 2008. Later that year, he began collaborating on his new novel, “Young Adolf: An Alternate History.” He has always had a passion for psychology, which is at the heart of the story behind “Young Adolf”. In 2011, his creative vision became a reality with the publishing of his book.
Joseph V. Franciosa, Jr:
A lifetime resident of New England, Joseph V. Franciosa, Jr. has been writing professionally since obtaining his B.A. in English, with a focus in creative writing, from Suffolk University in 2008. Joseph has published over fifty web articles for sites such as ehow.com and LiveStrong.com. His primary focus, however, has been the collaborative effort that produced "Young Adolf." Writing has always been chief among Joseph's many passions. At Suffolk University, Joseph was the co-founder and President of Suffolk's student writing club, "Sub-Text". He also served on the University's Literary Art's yearly publication "Venture" as an Associate Editor and a Contributing Editor. When not working on novel-length fiction, Joseph often uses his many outdoor excursions as inspiration for his poetic works. When not writing, or reading, Joseph can usually be found canoeing, or hiking throughout various parts of New England. Joseph has tried to live by the words of Benjamin Franklin: "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about." Like Franklin, Joseph tries to do both.