Inspired by true events, action in the novel Feet of Wax moves from the idyllic countryside of Lithuania to St Petersburg, Warsaw, Berlin and New York from 1914 to 1918.

Of Polish ancestry herself, Hempel said her book would be of special interest to people of Polish descent, many of whom probably knew little of the history of Lithuania and Poland.

“Many of these people might read English fluently, but have only a smattering of Polish,” Hempel said.

“However, they may have heard some family stories of their former countries.”

Hempel plans to be in Maitland at the end of April when her book will be on sale at McDonald’s Bookstore.

“I have wanted to write this book for 20 years, but I had been writing plays for young people,” she said.

“My parents were born in Warsaw and my book deals with the complicated history that led to Poland's rebirth in 1918.”

Hempel now lives near Vacy.

“Through my book, I think people will understand the tensions that existed in Eastern Europe,” she said.

“I have done a lot of research over five years and the book itself took me five years to write.

“There is very little material available on the First World War regarding the Eastern Front, compared to the vast amount of literature about the Western Front.”

Feet of Wax depicts the separation and trials of two young people and their families during WWI.

The couple are finally forced to decide whether to become Bolsheviks or to flee through a landscape ravaged by war.