The Gift of Gisela

This amazing story is about a German woman who was orphaned in the thirties, taken in by a foster family in a      working-class neighborhood in Berlin, grew up under the scrutiny of Jewish oppression during her school years and lived through the horrors of the War.  She survived through bombings, starvation, brutal Nazi rule, and the terror of Russian occupation.   She married a man who would abuse and humiliate her, then convinced her things would be better if they started a new life in America.  In 1959 the family immigrated to the the US only to have her husband abandon her for his mistress (her best friend) once the affair was uncovered.  She found herself alone in a foreign country with two young daughters where she barely spoke the language and had no family to support her, no money and no idea how to survive.  How she was able to manage and forge ahead is the crux of this writing, but there is so much more to her story.  It is one of perseverence, strength, determination, and growth as she learned how to find her own voice and rise above those who would hold her down.  It is the story of learning to love again and overcome decades of heartbreak and unthinkable losses.

                                                 It is the story of my mother, Gisela.


                                                $14.99