{"id":2072,"date":"2026-03-05T16:30:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:30:26","slug":"have-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/?p=2072","title":{"rendered":"Have A Dream?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Friends & Readers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first submitted Run, Darling<\/em>, the story of the glamorous Gabor sisters\u2019 near-death escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, I was told the market wasn\u2019t interested in a Jewish story. Ouch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I refused to take no for an answer, and I published it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what happened: Actually, thousands of readers were interested in the story. In an Amazon marketplace of nearly four million books, Run, Darling<\/em> has consistently ranked in the top 30 of its Historical Biographical Fiction category, often in the top 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read Run, Darling<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Readers showed up. Book clubs showed up. Organizations invited me to speak about these women\u2019s courage, survival, and reinvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson? The Gabors survived a world war, reinvented themselves, and refused to be told who they were allowed to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose I learned from the best. Powerful women have always rewritten the rules. I just followed their example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what utterly iconic writers are saying about Run, Darling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKaren Essex has a gift for humanizing the so-called bad girls of history, and she does it again in this fascinating, untold story of the Gabor sisters during World War II.\u201d \u2014Stephanie Dray, NYT bestselling author of Becoming Madam Secretary, etc. @stephanie.dray<\/a> on instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLoved this book! @karenessex<\/a> is one of my auto-buy authors. This story was hard to put down. I read it in two days. \u2764\ufe0f\u201d \u2014Trisha R. Thomas, bestelling author of the groundbreaking Nappily Ever After, etc. Trisha R. Thomas<\/a> mas<\/a> on instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRUN, DARLING is a splashy soap opera romp of a good time, with surprisingly serious themes of sisterhood, family, and the danger of being a woman who knows her own mind.\u201d \u2014Kate Quinn, NYT bestselling author of The Astral Library, etc. @katequinn5975<\/a> on instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So don\u2019t listen to gatekeepers and experts. Be your own!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As ever,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends & Readers, When I first submitted Run, Darling, the story of the glamorous Gabor sisters\u2019 near-death escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, I was told the market wasn\u2019t interested in a Jewish story. Ouch! I refused to take no for an answer, and I published it myself. Here\u2019s what happened: Actually, thousands of readers were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,192,175],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-feminism","tag-run-darling","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2076,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions\/2076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karenessex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}