The historical novel Modena: The Call of the Homeland describes the vast differences between democracy and dictatorship playing out before World War II.

In 1930s Berlin, a group of liberal German citizens come together to fight against the growing draconian measures that are becoming increasingly dire after Hitler has come into power.

When the Berlin liberals decide to become active, they print flyers and glue them at night in various places, which is extremely dangerous. The Gestapo see the flyers but cannot determine where they originate.

When the liberals see more and more of their friends leaving the country they love, one couple heading the group, Gertrude and Erich, decide to follow suit and leave Germany as late as 1937 to relocate to Modena, Italy, where they begin musical careers.

Gertrude and Erich get married after Gertrude’s first husband, Martin, is killed during a firefight between Martin’s group of communists and the Nazis. These fights were numerous in Berlin from the late 1920s until Hitler’s election as chancellor.

But the fighting will eventually reach Modena, Gertrude and Erich’s peaceful Italian refuge, where they learn that the cost of freedom is dear.