Shoshanna's Story: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Shadows of History - Paperback

by Elaine Kalman Naves (Author)

At the end of World War II, Shoshanna, a survivor of Auschwitz, made her way home to Hungary. Of all her family, only she and one sister survived the camps. Years before, her young officer husband had disappeared into Russia. Believing herself a widow, Shoshanna fell under the protection of an older man who, like her, had lost everything in the Holocaust. Having given birth to this man's child before her beloved soldier returned, she made a choice that would cloud her life-and her daughter's-ever after. Elaine Kalman Naves is the daughter whose earliest memories were shaped by the consequences of her mother's decision as well as by haunting family tales. Shoshanna raised Elaine amid a wealth of family lore and all-too-vivid memories: the glamorous and eccentric aunts, handsome suitors and faithless husbands, death by order of the state, and murder at the hand of a lover. This is a lush and exotic family memoir set against momentous events, yet timeless in its truth-telling lessons. Elaine Kalman Naves, journalist and author, lives in Montreal. Her books include Storied Streets: Montreal in the Literary Imagination, written with Bryan Demchinksy, and Journey to Vaja.

Front Jacket

At the end of the Second World War, a survivor of Auschwitz makes her way home to Hungary. Of all her family, only she and one sister have survived the camps; her young officer husband disappeared into Russia years before. Believing herself a widow, Shoshanna falls under the protection of an older man who, like her, lost everything in the Holocaust. She gives birth to this man's child by the time her beloved soldier returns, and she has to make a choice that will cloud her life - and her daughter's - ever after.
Elaine Kalman Naves is the daughter whose earliest memories are of growing up with the consequences of that decision. Shoshanna raised Elaine with a torrent of family lore and all-too-vivid memories: the glamorous and eccentric aunts; handsome suitors and faithless husbands; death by order of the state and murder at the hand of a lover.
Shoshanna's stories, haunting and vivid, were both a gift and a burden to her daughter. This is a lush and exotic family memoir set against momentous events yet timeless in its truth-telling lessons.

Author Biography

Elaine Kalman Naves, journalist and author, lives in Montreal. Her books include Storied Streets: Montreal in the Literary Imagination, written with Bryan Demchinksy, and Journey to Vaja.