About me
Hello! I'm Sue Klauber, author of upper middle-grade/YA historical novels Zinc and Cobalt, published by Troika Books. I'm also an experienced fundraiser and former media educator. I have produced films made by refugee children from Colombia, Kurdistan, Kosova, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Armenia and Romania, worked as a fundraiser in arts and social care charities and am now the Trusts and Foundations Lead for Jewish Care where I raise grants across the areas of residential care, disability and Holocaust survivors’ services.
Zinc was launched in November 2022, and is a novel borne out of my passion for finding out about my family’s recent history. It is based on the World War Two adventures of my father called John, his brother George, and their sister Eva. They died when I was young, and they couldn’t tell me anything about what they had got up to because they had signed The Official Secrets Act which barred them from telling anyone, anything, for the rest of their lives.
I later found out from research that John was a code breaker, George was a secret agent, and Eva was involved with the resistance in Hungary. As I couldn’t find out everything they did, the novel is fictionalised based on what people in those roles were expected to do.
Cobalt is the sequel, as when Zinc ends John, George and Eva still need to continue to fight to overthrow fascism and protect their Jewish family in any way that they can. John is sent by the code breakers at Bletchley Park to the Sahara desert, which did indeed happen to my dad, the real John. George goes on another mission, and Eva is finding ways to resist, even though she is still trapped in Hungary. John and George recall an incident from when they were children, which they must come to terms with to repair their relationship and restore their self belief.
You can read more about the books and the story behind them here and find out about my speaking events here.
