As the clock ticks down the final minute of World War II in Europe, Sixty Seconds tells the stories of nine people on both sides of the Atlantic—a legendary war correspondent, a madwoman and her unwitting accomplice in a deranged assassination attempt, a fifteen-year-old girl singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Times Square, her soldier brother still in Germany, a Nazi war criminal undergoing interrogation, a German foot soldier frantically dodging Russian patrols as he attempts to surrender to Americans, and a Polish couple who endured the seemingly unendurable only to be separated by an ocean as they are about to become parents. Individually and together, these seemingly disparate and yet inextricably intertwined people hurtle toward their own climactic finishes as midnight and the official beginning of V-E Day approaches on 7 May 1945.
Praise for Sixty Seconds
“Sixty Seconds is fluent in its portrayal of European World War II culture and language with highly distinctive and flavorful characters, some virtuous, some evil, but all enjoyable. It is a panoramic epic loaded with wit, love, justice, and patriotism, taking place at the climax of the World War II era which has defined history ever after. It is a tale of great suffering when the world lost its head, aflame at the hands of destructive monsters who scorched the lives of undeserving millions, but, in spite of all, author Steven Mayfield has led us to a redemption at the end of that war’s road. Finally, it is a story that reminds us of the greatness of America which has always been—and perhaps still is—a haven for the downtrodden and the forsaken, giving us hope by reminding us of the robust roots that anchor this nation’s historical past and which promise to save us as an anchor for our inscrutable future.”
—Jeff Schnader, award-winning author of The Serpent Papers
“Mayfield is an astonishing storyteller.”
—Mary Rakow, author of The Memory Room and This is Why I Came
“Steven Mayfield’s gripping novella follows nine curiously linked characters through the final moments of May 7, 1945, the end of World War II in Europe. Tension abounds as older readers connect these characters’ experiences with those of their own relatives, while younger readers find themselves pulled into a world that, although eighty years in the past, still shapes our lives today.”
—Karla Huebner, author of In Search of the Magic Theater
