Newly Released Historical Novel Tells Tragic World War II Love Story
and Closely Examines the Importance of Virtuous and Corrupt Intentions

A young German womans life changes forever during World War II when she falls in love with an American soldier whose life she saves; historically accurate events in both Germany and the U.S. are interwoven throughout the book

Jϋrgen D. Beck explores the topics of vice and virtue in his new historical novel The Intent. This heartfelt and poignant story, at its core, asks readers to ponder the following question: What is the intent of the heart? Notes Beck, “To some extent, the book is born from my need to reconcile postwar years in my native Germany as a young boy.”

To that end, Beck’s novel returns readers to Germany during World War II, where a young woman’s actions save a young American aviator shot out of the sky. After nursing him back to health and protecting him from authorities with the help of her initially reluctant family, Helga Berger and Tom Williams fall in love.

For seven weeks, Helga’s family cares for and protects Tom; eventually he is safely smuggled out of the country. He fully intends to be reunited with Helga, but for now he returns to the United States, where he inevitably begins to question his former willingness to perform what he has been told is his duty. He loves Helga and wants desperately to marry her, but while the war rages, this is impossible. When time and tragedy intervene, Helga desperately tries to reconcile the life ahead of her, with the life she once dreamed of.

Throughout the novel, which depicts numerous historically accurate events in both Germany and the U.S., Beck explores what he calls “the fallacy of ‘War for peace’” and concludes that “The nastiest form of evil is pretending to do well while having alternative motives.”

Beck’s The Intent brings to mind the old proverb “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” and makes you wonder: what is the road to heaven paved with?

Jürgen D. Beck was born in Schweinfurt Germany in March of 1944. At age fourteen, he left home and moved to Essen Kray, where he worked in a coal mine for the next four years. At age eighteen, he boarded the creek liner Akadia and immigrated to Canada where he earned a living as a construction labourer, dishwasher, and bartender. Within a few short years his command of the English language allowed him to become a banker and restaurant owner. Always ready to seek new challenges, he obtained his pilot’s license and sold pleasure aeroplanes for several years. This venture in turn led him to the insurance and investment field

The Intent is his first novel.

Jürgen lives with his second wife Felicia and his adopted son Alex on Lower Beverly Lake, in Eastern Ontario, Canada. He has three children from his first marriage, and seven grand children. A life long passion for meeting people with diverse backgrounds took him to South and Central America, Hong Kong, Taiwan, across Canada, the U.S.A. and most of Europe, several times.