Estevan author Marie Donais Calder is honouring her father and the victims of war with a new eight-book series.

Each book will have the name “The Other Side,” with Donais Calder's father, Edmond Donais, a protagonist in each novel. The first book is “The Other Side of War.”

Edmond volunteered with the Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers in 1942, even though he and his wife, Frances, already had one young child and another on the way. When he was deployed overseas in 1945, the family had grown to three children.

Edmond remained in Europe in a peacekeeping capacity until midway through 1946. Much of his time was spent in Germany.

“Of course he had trepidation, thinking about going to Germany, and I'm sure he and his fellow soldiers had many, many thoughts about what sort of climate there would be in Germany in terms of the people there,” said Donais Calder. “They were quite surprised that a lot of them were just regular people.”

While in Germany, Edmond befriended a starving German family in the northwest community of Leer. The family included two soldiers, Otto and Arthur, plus Arthur's siblings, Marlene and Johann. Johann was 10 at the time. Marlene and Otto would eventually wed.

The growing friendship between Edmond and the German family is probed in the first five “Other Side” novels.

“Many of the Germans were people like you and I, however, they were living in Germany, and that made them, in some people's eyes, the Nazis,” said Donais Calder. “Dad didn't see that. He just saw people.

“They developed a close friendship. He attended church every Sunday with the family. He spent every Sunday evening having supper with them, unless he was on duty, in which case he couldn't leave. And on Saturday night, when the other soldiers went out dancing, he spent his time with the German family.”

The fifth book in the series, “The Other Side of Torn,” delves into Edmond's pending return to Canada.

Edmond would never see the German family again. After the war, Edmond, Frances and their children moved from Alida to Tilston, Manitoba, to purchase Tilston's hotel. Edmond died in a car accident in 1959.

Donais Calder and her mother eventually connected with the German family. Frances travelled to Germany and met a surviving member in 1998. The family member explained how much they owed to Edmond.

The tales of Edmond and the German family will create a busy schedule for Donais Calder in the next few months. “The Other Side of War” was released on July 14. A book launch was held in Tilston on July 17, which would have been Edmond's birthday. Donais Calder will have book signings, readings and other appearances over the next two months.

The second book in the series, “The Other Side of Fear,” will be released in September. “The Other Side of Pain” will come out in November, likely around Remembrance Day.

“The Other Side of Trauma” and “The Other Side of Torn” will be available in 2011.

At least three more unnamed “Other Side” books will chronicle Edmond Donais' life after he returns to Canada.

Donais Calder completed the first three books several years ago, and she submitted manuscripts to several publishing companies. Nobody was willing to take a chance on Edmond’s story. In May of 2006, Donais Calder sent the manuscripts to Borealis Publishing, but the company was in the process of moving.

The manuscripts were placed in a box, and gathered dust in a warehouse until early in 2010. Somebody noticed the box and shipped it to Borealis' new office.

When Borealis' representatives opened the box and read Donais Calder's efforts, they loved it, and they wanted to print the entire series.

“The publisher said 'I think you've got something unique here. I think you've got something heartwarming, and I think it's a humanitarian message that the children need to hear, as well as adults,'” said Donais Calder.

The books are classified as historical fiction. The people in the stories are real, she said, but she couldn't talk to her father to verify everything in the novels.

“I can only go by what I was told from the (German) family, what my mother remembers, what his letters tell me, what his discharge papers tell me when he was there … and what I remember as a child,” said Donais Calder.

People who have read the book have been pleased, she said. Requests for the book have come from as far away as Ohio. About 95 per cent of people who have approached her about “The Other Side of War” want to read the entire series, she said.

“The Other Side of War” can be purchased in Estevan at A & A Jewelers, Innovations Hair and Tanning, Profile Esthetics Salon, or by contacting Donais Calder.