Mom's Tree House

A story of miracles, courage and life after tragedy, Bending Toward the Sun  tells the story of  Leslie Gilbert-Lurie and  her family’s survival from the Holocaust. Three generations of women use their own unique voice to tell their story on how the  Holocaust played a role in their life. We first meet Rita as a child in World War II, then decades later, we meet her daughter Leslie and grand-daughter Mikaela.  The stories will move and inspire you. Bending Toward the Sun is a story of strength, survival, psychological healing and hope. A powerful lesson to the human spirit.

The first story is Rita’s account at the age of five, of when she is first forced to leave her home in Poland with her family to escape the Nazis. From the summer of 1942 to 1944, she and fourteen members of her extended family hide in a dark, cramped attic, barely living on scraps of raw food and always on constant fear of being found.  For two years, Rita watches as members of her family are gunned down in the farm yard, become sick with malnutrition and depression and also watches as her baby brother and mother dies. The war then comes to an end, but the trauma is far from over. For the next five years, Rita and her family wander through Europe, moving from one displaced person camp to another, finally ending up in Italy. Her father remarries and later upon obtaining visas, move to NYC and then Chicago. Experiencing loss and displacement, Rita is never able to form a functional relationship with her stepmother and finds it difficult to maintain friendships. Rita constantly feels alone, unprotected and unwanted. Medical issues as a result of  her confinement and malnutrition also plagued Rita, adding on to the family stress. She is then taken to a hospital to regain her health but in the process, also feels abandoned. Rita then grows into a young woman and marries Frank Laurie. Entering adulthood, and becoming a mother herself, Rita copes with the memories of her past, her fears and at times depression.

The second part of the book, we meet Rita’s daughter Leslie. Leslie is now growing up exploring the impact of her mother’s experience and trauma on herself, her siblings and the next generation, Rita’s grandchildren. Leslie soon finds that her mother, Rita unknowingly passed feelings of fear, apprehension, and guilt. Reasons explaining for never wanting to be far from her mother, leaving home for trips, and always thinking of death. The same behavior she will also see in her daughter, Rita’s granddaughter, Mikeala. Leslie then embarks on a journey with her mother Rita, to find and understand how traumatic events of her mother’s childhood has affected Leslie’s life but also her own daughter, Mikaela, who when then meet toward the last part of the book.

A heartfelt and at times painful collaboration between mother and daughter, Bending Toward the Sun reveals how deeply, the trauma and pain are imprinted in the souls of those that survived the Holocaust. I loved this book, as it reminded me of an awful time in our history and it also showed me how trauma reaches far and beyond than the initial victim. Conducting interviews with other survivors and with the Polish family who hid Rita, this book brings together the stories of three generations of women. Mother, daughter, and granddaughter to explore history as to understand the pain that touches all of them.

For those who are interested in reading about the Holocaust and it’s aftermath, then “Bending Toward the Sun”is a book to be added on your “to read” list. It will not disappoint you.

This book is not available for a giveaway but, you can purchase your own copy here. 

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from FSB Media in exchange for my review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.