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Even as a young girl growing up in Nova Scotia, Mona Louise Parsons stood out for her elegance and theatrical flair. But the life of this Wolfville native has always overshadowed her stage roles. From a Nova Scotian childhood, she became a 1920s New York chorus girl, a Depression-era nurse, a prisoner of the Nazis, and an escaped, emaciated fugitive who walked across Nazi Germany in the dying months of World War II.

The process of uncovering the story of Mona Parsons took almost as many twists and turns as the life it was piecing together. This book traces the author's own journey as she follows clues from Wolfville to New York to Europe and back, leaping across oceans and decades with imagination and grace.

Author and actor Andria Hill-Lehr holds B.A., M.A., and M.Ed. degrees from Acadia University. Hill-Lehr co-wrote and appeared in 1995's The Bitterest Time, a play based on the life of Mona Parsons, which led to the writing of this book. She co-wrote the documentary about Parsons—"Hidden Hero"—for History Television's "The Canadians: biographies of a nation," which aired in April 2001. Originally from Toronto, she is a Counselling Therapist, living in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

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