Independent ReviewReview by: Dr. Grace Kaiser,
Member, National League of American Pen Women. Author Elizabeth Lenci-Downs was captivated by the account of her friend Lise's six year family escape from Russia to freedom in Canada. "The story demanded to be told, and I had to write it." Lise's ancestors, Mennonite Brethren in 1840 to 1953 become a part of Russian history, in Gulags, hidden archives erased from history books. Tsars, Lenin, Stalin exploit their black-earth farms. Husbands and sons disappear into Siberian Gulags and work camps. 1941 purges of minorities include people of Jewish and German descent. We walk with 140 women and children, two uncles of Lise's family, singing hymns as they flee Siberian exile between two fighting armies. Booming cannon allow no time for rest or food. They cross open steppes in their passion for freedom, a loving family with uplifting spirits, leaving no-one behind. Lise's mother, Elizabeth age thirty-two, teaches her four children to survive, Lise, eleven, Mary, twelve, Nick, nine, and Agnes, four, eating nothing but tomatoes and frozen potatoes wrested from snowy fields. Their clothing is inadequate, feet barely covered. Making it to Poland they must escape Nazi occupation in a dash to freedom ahead of the Red Army pouring out of Warsaw. From secret diaries, five years research, interviews with Lise's help, this well-written saga was prepared for publishing. A can't put it down must reread book. |