THE DRAGONS UNDER SKIN

In postwar Germany, America is more than a country. It is an idea-bright, modern, distant, and full of promise.When an American military family moves into a provincial German neighborhood, their presence unsettles its habits and awakens its curiosity. Among them is Oliver James Miller, an African American soldier from Alabama whose warmth and humor draw him to Anneliese Hofmann, a young factory worker carrying scars of war and displacement.Their courtship crosses languages, customs, and the racial boundaries of two countries. But when OJ is sent to Korea, Anneliese must face pregnancy and motherhood alone. Their daughter, Liesel, grows up between worlds: German and American, white and Black, surrounded by secrets, prejudice, loyal neighbors, and the persistent question of where she belongs.Years later, Liesel journeys to California in search of the father she has never known. What she finds is neither the America of her mother's imagination nor the simple reunion she expected.The Dragons Under the Skin is a warm, witty historical novel about race, family, migration, and the histories we carry within us. It asks whether inherited wounds must become our destiny-or whether love can finally open the gate.