Herman and Roma Rosenblat married in June 1958, six months after meeting on a blind date.

But this was no ordinary love story. It actually began in Nazi Germany during World War II.

In 1942, when Herman was 11 years old, he was separated from his mother. She was sent to the gas chamber at Treblinka. He was sent to a work camp in Schlieben. Life was unbearable.

Suffering from long hours of physical labor with little food, Herman nearly lost the will to survive. His mother appeared to him in his dreams and told him she would send him an angel.

Two days later, an angel arrived in the form of 9-year-old Roma Radziki, a Jewish girl posing as a Christian. She appeared on the other side of the barbed wire fence with an apple for Herman. Every day for seven months, Roma would come to the fence with an apple.

That daily food supplement helped Herman survive and gave him hope. They never spoke a word to each other for fear the guards would shoot them. Herman called Roma his Angel Girl.

When he learned he would soon be transferred to another camp, he told Roma, ``Don't come back. I won't be here.''

The war ended and Herman became an electrician. Roma went to nursing school in Israel. Eventually, Herman went to New York. He was engaged three times but never married, feeling that something was missing. One day a friend called. He wanted to fix Herman up with a girl, but Herman was not interested.

He didn't like blind dates, he said.

The friend persisted and Herman finally relented.

The couples met at Coney Island. Eventually, talk turned to their wartime experiences. Herman said he had been a prisoner at Schlieben. Roma told Herman she was hiding there with her parents on a farm.

''There was a camp next to the farm,'' Roma said. ``I saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day.''

Herman's heart was racing. ''What did he have on his feet instead of shoes, rags?'' he asked.

''Yes,'' said Roma.

''Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?'' Herman asked.

Roma looked at him in amazement.

''Yes, that was me! That was me,'' he said.

Knowing he couldn't risk losing her again, he proposed to her that very night. She thought he was crazy, but two months later, she said yes. They were married in a synagogue in the Bronx.

Many people have read about Herman and Roma's love story in an e-mail chain letter circulating on the Internet. Most wonder if it is true.

This was how award-winning children's author Laurie Friedman first learned of the Rosenblats' story.

''I was so moved. I put my head down on my desk and just wept. I knew this would make a fantastic children's book,'' said Friedman, the author of the popular Mallory chapter book series as well as many award-winning picture books, including I'm Not Afraid of This Haunted House and Love, Ruby Valentine.

Friedman, a Coral Gables resident, knew she had to tell this story to children. She set out to find Herman and Roma Rosenblat, who by chance lived only 30 minutes away in North Miami Beach.

Together, the three collaborated on a picture book for kids ages 7 to 10. Called Angel Girl, it was published in September.

''They met with me and hour after hour told me all of the very difficult details they went through,'' Friedman said. 'It was a very collaborative effort. I would bring illustrations to them and ask, `Is this what the fence looked like?' I wanted to make sure I got the details right.''

Rosenblat, now 80, and Friedman recently spoke about Angel Girl at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center's Jewish Book Festival in Davie.

''Five hundred people attended the program, one of our largest audiences for a Jewish Book Festival program,'' said the center's Nancy Steinberg Stearn. ``It was inspiring to see.''

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