Meet the Author
Edwin Orion Brownell
Over the last three decades Edwin Orion Brownell has been a professional concert pianist / composer / rock keyboardist / singer and songwriter, electrifying audiences in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and across North America. While making music for a living, he finished his BA (Honours) in History at Concordia University (Montreal) in 1996, specializing in the Sino-American relationship. He then completed his Masters in 2000, writing an oral, cultural history of the Montreal Rhythm and Blues scene.
After editing his wife’s book (Nechama Surik Brownell’s 2009 publication “The Will to Live”), launching four rock albums, four classical solo piano albums, and four chamber music albums (1996-2018), Edwin is now focused on the publication of his first written work, “Operation Hannibal.” This book, inspired by his mother’s escape from the Eastern Front, looks at her journey west, and will be the first historical examination in English of the greatest sea-evacuation in history: the German Navy’s successful withdrawal of over two million civilians in the last four months of the war.
At the present time Edwin has already started writing his second book entitled “Panzers in Retreat.” This work will examine the armoured forces and the tank to tank actions between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the closing months of the Second World War.