Discover a debut author: Helen Signy

Maya’s Dance is a powerful story of survival, resilience and enduring love for fans of Heather Morris, Anthony Doerr and Armando Lucas Correa.

A moving historical romance debut inspired by a true Holocaust story, Maya’s Dance follows the incredible escape of a teenager from a Nazi labour camp in Poland, 1942. 

Inspired by the true story of Lucie Pollack-Langford, a Holocaust survivor who lived in Sydney and died in 2021, Maya’s Dance follows seventeen-year-old Maya Schulze who is struggling to survive in a brutal Nazi labour camp. Maya finds courage and beauty in dancing, and falls in love with Jan, a guard. Fifty years later Maya tells her story to a journalist hoping to find Jan before it’s too late.

Maya’s Dance is thoroughly researched, but firmly a fictional novel that also examines the long-term effects of trauma, how survivors use the trauma to create something beautiful and have a desire for their stories to be heard.

Debut author Helen Signy is an Australian writer and print journalist who grew up in England. Most of her writing involves science communication for academics, governments and not-for-profits, but she never lost her passion for telling an amazing story. 

Come along and hear about Helen’s extensive research into Lucie’s story that led her to Auschwitz, Sawin, Sobibór and Majdanek in Poland and her journey to publication. 

This author talk is part of our Discover a Debut Author Series, helping you discover your next great read by connecting you with an exciting new voice in fiction. Read outside your comfort zone, get a new perspective, and discover a new favourite!