Born in the United States to Greek parents, Anna Christake Cornwell was trapped in Greece during the Nazi-fascist occupation in World War II. Her mother and father had returned to Greece to educate their young son, Tasio, and their daughter, Anna, in the mother tongue and to visit the homeland. But, in 1940, in spite of the growing danger of world war, her father opted to return to the United States. Alone. Mother often rued his selfish decision. She was left to protect her two young children from the Nazis for the next five and one-half years.

The horrors of war brought Anna, Mama and Tasio to know hunger and the constant threat of starvation, disease, exposure to the elements and enemy bullets. Constantly on the alert to raids, the refugees often ran to the mountains to hide, abandoning what little of their belongings remained. Anna was fired-up by the countrywide struggle for freedom.

She became active in the youth liberation movement. Later, emerging into womanhood and self-realization, she became a freedom fighter, a leader risking her life for her ideals of independence and freedom. 

Only The Birds Are Free is a story of action and emotion: the characters are robust, and the descriptive passages are unforgettable. Anna's s story was originally published in Greek. She has done the English translation. Anna and her family reside in New York.