THE LAST GREEN VALLEY opens as the Martel family, caught in a dangerous, no-man’s land between advancing and retreating armies, embark on “The Long Trek,” a series of marches in the final days of World War II. The Martels are one of the many families of German heritage whose ancestors farmed in Ukraine for more than a century. After already living under Stalin’s horrifying regime, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make an impossible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure blood” Germans? Ultimately, they decide they must retreat from their land and go in search of freedom. Together with their two young sons, they pack what’s left of their possessions into a small wagon and make the dangerous trek, clinging in their most desperate moments to their dream: a new life in a beautiful green valley surrounded by mountains and forests.



To research the book, Sullivan trailed the Martels’ route through present-day Moldova, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. He, along with Bill and Walter Martel, who are now both in their eighties, traveled to the Ukraine where they visited the ruins of the childhood home they fled with their parents. He interviewed historians as well as other participants and eyewitnesses to “The Long Trek.” He listened to recordings of people describing the ordeal and writes in the book’s preface that he “felt in awe of the grit, humanity, and spirit the showed in the face of seemingly unsurmountable challenges and odds.”

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