So I Married a Magician: Help Launch This Hilarious & Heartfelt Memoir of Magic, Mayhem & Mishaps

If you’ve heard me speak or read one of my previous books, you know I love sharing true stories that inspire people with hope and positivity.

Today, I’m inviting you into a new kind of adventure—one that’s a little more theatrical, a little more light-hearted, and a lot more magical.

ANNOUNCING...My new book is in the works!

It’s called So I Married a Magician: A Hilarious and Heartfelt Memoir of Magic, Mayhem, and Mishaps 

It’s the true story of life behind the curtains with Comedy Magician Elliott Smith—my husband, creative partner, and co-conspirator in the magic of life. Some of you may even know him or seen him perform.

In a world that can feel dark and overwhelming these days, this fun-filled memoir is my way of bringing light, love, and laughter to the world — and joy back into our hearts and conversations. As a cancer survivor turned author, speaker, and coach, I’m honored to share this story with you.

I’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to help bring this book to life, and I’d be honored if you’d take a look, share it, or support it in any way that feels right.

I first launched this campaign quietly with close family and friends, and now I’m expanding it to include you—my wider circle of readers, supporters, and kindred spirits. To those who’ve already supported the campaign, I thank you whole-heartedly for being among the first to support my mission to bring light, love and laughter to the world!

Your support helps me share this story faster — and reach those who need its light the most.

Watch the trailer and visit SoIMarriedAMagician.com.

Explore the campaign, learn how to contribute, and discover what you’ll receive in return:

Every contribution makes a difference, regardless of how big or small. I’m so grateful to welcome you into the growing community of supporters behind So I Married a Magician.

Thank you for being part of my journey. Your support—past and present—means the world. I can’t wait to share this new chapter with you.

With love and laughter,

Roslyn Franken

Award-winning Author, Speaker & Coach

Inspiring Hope & Positivity

www.RoslynFranken.com

https://www.facebook.com/roslynfrankenfanpage

From Surviving to Thriving: Celebrating 30 Years Cancer-Free with a Gift for Women Survivors

October 17, 2025 marks a powerful personal milestone: 30 years cancer-free since completing my final chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Diagnosed at 29 with a tumor in my neck, I endured nine months of grueling treatment and the emotional upheaval that followed.

It all started with a persistent pain and swelling in my neck that just wouldn’t go away. I knew something was wrong. An ultrasound revealed a tumor, and during the biopsy surgery to remove it, they discovered it was much larger and deeper than expected — so deep, in fact, that it was dangerously pressing against the main artery to my brain.

I still remember the following weeks of anxiously waiting on pins and needles for the results of the biopsy. And then the day came when the surgeon said to me three of the scariest words to come out of a doctor’s mouth — “You have cancer”. 

The fear and shock was immediate and overwhelming. What followed was months of physical pain and discomfort from the chemotherapy treatment with all its nasty side effects. But the hardest part wasn’t just the treatments — it was the emotional upheaval that came after.

People often talk about “getting back to normal,” but for cancer survivors, it’s not that simple. There’s no going back — only forward. 

It's not about getting back to normal, it's about finding your new normal and so you're left to redefine what your new normal looks like. You carry the fear of recurrence. You navigate a new relationship with your body, your health, and your future. And you ask yourself: How do I want to live now? How do I thrive with this second chance I’ve been given?

To mark this milestone, I’m sharing a complimentary guide I created for women cancer survivors. It’s filled with gentle strategies and insights to help you reconnect with your strength, restore your wellness, and rediscover joy.

Whether you or someone you love is newly out of treatment or years into survivorship, this guide is a meaningful first step.

And if the guide resonates with you, you’ll be invited to explore a self-paced online course I created for women cancer survivors, especially those navigating life after treatment while balancing professional and family responsibilities. It’s filled with tools for healing, health, hope, and empowerment.

I created it for women who want to go deeper — emotionally, spiritually, and practically — and who are ready to move from surviving to thriving, embracing life fully after cancer.

If this message is meaningful for you, please share it with others who could benefit.

With love and gratitude,

Roslyn

So excited to announce launch of "Meant to Be" eBook on Kobo

Ask and ye shall receive! When I speak at live and virtual events, I’m often asked if my book, Meant to Be, is available as an eBook. Until recently, it was only available on Amazon Kindle, but I’m excited to announce that due to popular demand, Meant to Be is now also available in digital format on Kobo!

Check it out today and enjoy reading my award-winning book on your preferred e-reader! 

Get the eBook on Kobo Now

I'd love to hear what you think of the book and what you liked best about it. If you like, you can even be one of the first to review it on Kobo 😊

Inspiring teens in the Netherlands with my parents’ story of love and hope after surviving horrors of WWII

I recently travelled to the Netherlands where I was invited to give a series of four school presentations to hundreds of students age 14 – 17 to tell the story of my parents’ remarkable survival, love and triumph over evil. I shared how my parents experienced and witnessed the worst of humanity first-hand during World War II and were able to still find love and joy in the aftermath despite the trauma of their past.

My mother, Sonja Pagrach, survived the concentration camps of Nazi Europe. First, she was taken at 15 to Camp Vught in the Netherlands, the only SS concentration camp outside Nazi Germany during the Second World War, where she was imprisoned for a year before being deported to Auschwitz. She faced death in the gas chambers three times and survived. My father, John Franken, was 18 and in the Dutch Navy Air Force when he was captured at sea by the Japanese to become a prisoner of war. He survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

With rising teen depression and suicide, teens need to hear this story, now more than ever. They need to know that you can go through terrible things in life, but you can still find love and joy in the aftermath.  My parents are incredible role models for all of us and especially for young people.

The presentation at Gymnasium Beekvliet school was covered by the media in the Brabant Dagblad DTV Niews television.

An important message for students I convey with this story is that at the end of the Second World War a global vow was taken by the United Nations that said 'never again'. These teens are the future, the next generation. They need to know that they can do things differently. They don't have to let things like this happen again and again. It all starts with them, and I want to teach them that they have the power of making their own choices in their thoughts, beliefs and actions.

I wrote an award-winning book about my parents’ story called Meant to Be: A True Story of Might, Miracles and Triumph of the Human Spirit.

"A daughter's moving tribute to her parents, full of heartbreak that leads to uplift"  - Kirkus Review

"A beautiful, moving book that will touch the heart" - NFAA Book Awards Program Review

My book is featured in the collections at the prestigious Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington. It is also available for purchase on site at the museum store of  the Florida Holocaust Museum of St. Petersburgin Florida and the Camp Vught National Memorial in the Netherlands. It is also available on my website, Amazon and other major online book retailers.

The book is being made into a feature film currently in development.

For more information, visit me online at www.RoslynFranken.com

Launching THE A LIST Kindle eBook for healthy eating and positive living at a limited time discount price Feb 19 - 25

The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, is a self-help book I wrote and first published back in 2006. As a proud cancer survivor who also overcame my food and weight issues, I am very proud of this book as it has helped thousands of others change their lives one bite at a time for a healthier body and happier life. After many requests, I have FINALLY published it as a Kindle eBook now available on Amazon.com for $7.99. If you buy the book between February 19 – 25, 2023, you can take advantage of the launch promo price at only $3.99.

Why and how did I come to writing this book? Here's the story...

When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at 29, I was in shock. How could I have cancer? I was only 29. I was full of plans and hopes and dreams for my future so battling cancer was not exactly part of the plan. The good news is that after 9 months of chemotherapy and keeping a positive attitude, I beat it. Yup, I beat my cancer and 27 years later, I remain cancer-free. 

At 39, I got on the scale to discover that I was at my heaviest weight. How could I have let myself put on all those unwanted pounds? Maybe I was subconsciously thinking, "Hey, I just beat cancer, I deserve that piece of chocolate cake. I deserve to celebrate just having survived it." Who knows, right? I can't say for sure how I allowed it to happen, but the bottom line was that I had already lost my health to cancer. So, now afraid of putting myself at risk of getting cancer again, or heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and/or any other diet and weight-related diseases, I chose to fight back once again, only this time to win my battles with food, weight, and lifestyle obstacles once and for all. I won that battle too. How? The answer is what makes up the life-changing principles that I discovered through my weight loss journey to a healthier body and happier life that I share in my internationally acclaimed book, The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, now available as a Kindle eBook.

In The A List book, I offer practical tools, personal insights and positive inspiration to help people BREAK FREE from self-sabotaging eating, thinking and lifestyle habits; REACH, MAINTAIN and ENJOY a healthy weight and positive lifestyle; TRANSORM their relationship with food for results to last a lifetime; MINIMIZE weight and lifestyle related health risks such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer and more; REDUCE menopausal symptoms; and INCREASE energy and sense of well-being. The book outlines the my 9 guiding principles for healthy eating and positive living each starting with the letter "A". I explore each as a necessary ingredient for achieving greater health, lasting weight loss and control, and enhanced quality of life.

Along with loads of practical tools and information, I share personal insights from my own struggles with food, weight, and life management challenges plus real life examples from my weight loss coaching clients. With self-reflective coaching style questions, I help people understand themselves and their relationship with food and their inner selves in a newer, deeper and more meaningful way. This helps them relearn how to eat properly and improve their quality of life by making healthy, balanced food and lifestyle choices. The book also includes fast and easy healthy recipes.

Available now as a Kindle eBook on Amazon.at a special discount promotion price in effect February 19 – 25 for only $3.99, regularly $7.99.

For more information, visit https://roslynfranken.com/about-the-a-list-book.html.

Daughter of Kamp Vucht Holocaust survivor spoke at Maurick College in the Netherlands

So excited to make my European media debut with this article in a Dutch newspaper called 'Het Klaverblad' about my speaking to over 300 students in the Netherlands. I told the students the story of my parents remarkable survival, love and triumph over tragedy as Holocaust and atomic bomb survivors and all the positive life lessons we can learn from them to better ourselves and help make our world a better place. 

It was especially meaningful for these students since my parents were also Dutch. For example, when I showed the video of my dad reading his love letters to my mom in Dutch, these kids could understand his every word and didn't need to read the subtitles. The students loved it. 

I look forward to speaking to more students in the Netherlands, North America and around the world!! If you know anyone in the school system where you live, please contact me and I will reach out to them. The original Dutch article is available HERE (page 5). 

Below is the English translation with a few slight modifications. 

Daughter of Kamp Vucht survivor spoke at Maurick College in the Netherlands

Students in the Netherlands listening to Roslyn Franken tell her parents'​ life story as told in her book, Meant to Be.

Roslyn Franken is the proud daughter of John and Sonja Franken, two unlikely survivors of World War II. Sonja, née Schoontje Pagrach, was taken by the Nazis at 15 from her home in Rijssen, a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel, to Kamp Vught, the first of 11 Holocaust concentration camps in Europe where she was held captive located in the city of Vught and the only SS concentration camp outside of Germany in Western Europe. John was born in the former Dutch East Indies and shortly after being drafted into the Dutch Navy Air Force at 18 was captured by the Japanese to become a prisoner of war. He was working as a slave laborer near Nagaski when the Americans dropped the atomic bomb there. He, too, survived.

How did these two young Jewish teens survive the horrors of their captivity continents apart to eventually meet, marry and make a beautiful life together in Montreal, Canada after all the trauma and suffering of their past? Roslyn recently answered all of these questions and more in a series of three virtual presentations she delivered to over 300 students at Maurick College in Vught, the city where Sonja was first held captive.

Roslyn says, “Young people learn about the Holocaust and World War II in school from history books, but as the daughter of survivors, I feel it is important for youths everywhere to hear about the real-life experiences of real people like my parents and not just statistics from a textbook. As my mother was their age when she was taken to Kamp Vught in the city where they live, it makes it even more relatable, which helps them develop a greater understanding and sense of empathy and compassion for what my parents went through.”

Roslyn wrote an award-winning book about her parents’ life story entitled, Meant to Be: A True Story of Might, Miracles and Triumph of the Human Spirit which is being made into a movie slated for production in 2023. Her book is currently being translated into Dutch.

Book cover of MEANT TO BE book by Roslyn Franken

In these times of growing division and adversity, and increasing rates of teen depression and suicide, youths everywhere need to know Roslyn Franken’s story of her parents' amazing survival over suffering, humanity over hate, and triumph over tragedy, NOW more than ever.

Sebastiaan van Oers, History Teacher at Maurick College, said, "The story of Roslyn and her parents came to us through her relative whose children attend Maurick College. In the context of living history and an increasingly international world, we thought it would be a good idea to have Roslyn give lectures in English at our school. The fact that her mother was in Kamp Vught and was then the age of the students who attended the lectures makes it very easy for the students to connect to the story. Roslyn's story is full of situations that students can identify with as they are real-life stories. Our students were impressed by the story and listened with fascination. The lectures were a unique experience for our students and we hope next year to bring Roslyn to Vught to give her presentation in person."

For more information, go to www.RoslynFranken.com.

Honored to be the only Reader’s Choice Couple

WOW!! Thank you so much to Community Reporter Megan Hussey and the Hernando Sun newspaper in Tampa Bay Florida for the awesome article about me and my husband, Elliott Smith entitled 'Reader's Choice Couple'. 

It all started back in May of 2022 when both my husband and I were delighted to find out that we were both nominated for the Hernando Sun Newspaper Reader’s Choice Awards. I was nominated for Best Author (www.RoslynFranken.com) and my husband for Best Entertainer (www.SeeTheMagic.com).

There were 16 categories total with 115 sub-categories including “Author” and “Entertainer”. There were 738,911 votes in total across all the categories both national and international so needless to say, Elliott and I were both thrilled to hear that we won. When we realized that we were the only married couple to be awarded GOLD winner in our respective categories, we were even that much more thrilled, as you can imagine. We are very grateful to all the people who voted for us. 

It's a few months later and here we are enjoying the thrill again with this wonderful article about me and my magical husband Elliott as the Reader's Choice Couple. 

Check it out at https://www.hernandosun.com/2022/11/18/a-readers-choice-couple/.