Bertha: Shine Like the Dawn is the true story of Bertha, the author's great-grandmother, born into relative wealth and comfort in 1860 Germany, orphaned as a baby, and begrudgingly raised by two sets of grandparents.

Violated by her uncle at seventeen, Bertha becomes pregnant and is quickly married off to a man beneath her standing. After enduring years of domestic violence and forced pregnancies, she finally walks away with four young children and with only her grandmother in Berlin for support. Once there, Bertha finds love with a mysterious man--but will it last?

Bertha, who lives through the turn of the century, the sinking of the Titanic, the First World War, the Spanish Flu, The Great Depression, and the Second World War, accepts whatever life gives her, with courage and passion, but most of all with love.

This is a tender romance, filled with compassion and many unexpected turns in life. Bertha experiences unbelievable trials, tribulations, and triumphs, as well as great love and great loss. Readers will cheer for her, cry for her, and love with her.