Shirley's Story: from Fear in Poland to Freedom in America

This memoir recounts my parents' life from their youthful experiences in Poland to their honeymoon on a ship to America (not steerage, but their own cabin!) to their working-class life in their beloved new country. They had met by happenstance when my father, Sol, was trying out a newly purchased horse (his bearded, orthodox Jewish father raised horses after getting special permission from the local nobleman who liked him) and the chain of the buggy he was driving broke miles away from his home. A passing farmer directed him to a hardware store nearby. Shirley was working in her mother's store when a thin, blond young man came in. They chatted as he replaced the chain (too heavy for a young woman to do, he chivalrously told her) and shared their dreams and learned of their mutual loathing of Poland and passionate desire for a future in America. Both grew up experiencing anti-Semitism covertly on a daily basis, overtly periodically, but when it reared its head, it terrified them and left indelible scars. Within months they married and were on their way to a new life.

This ''never-fitting-in'' immigrant story (although Shirley never considered herself an immigrant and felt superior to her 'low-class' American neighbors) with its difficulties and sweet pleasures has universal appeal. The pain from the constant clash of personalities of mother and youngest daughter and Shirley's unrelenting memories of the past will intrigue and engage all who read this remarkable memoir.