My Sister's Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin's Siberia (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780299308506)

Donna Solecka Urbikas grew up in the Midwest during the golden years of the American century. But her Polish-born mother and half sister had endured dehumanizing conditions during World War II, as slave laborers in Siberia. War and exile created a profound bond between mother and older daughter, one that Donna would struggle to find with either of them.
In 1940, Janina Ślarzynska and her five-year-old daughter Mira were taken by Soviet secret police (NKVD) from their small family farm in eastern Poland and sent to Siberia with hundreds of thousands of others. So began their odyssey of hunger, disease, cunning survival, desperate escape across a continent, and new love amidst terrible circumstances.
But in the 1950s, baby boomer Donna yearns for a "normal" American family while Janina and Mira are haunted by the past. In this unforgettable memoir, Donna recounts her family history and her own survivor's story, finally understanding the damaged mother who had saved her sister.

Finalist, Best Traditional Non-Fiction Book, Chicago Writers Association

Author: Donna Solecka Urbikas
ISBN-10: 0299308502
ISBN-13: 9780299308506
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 04/27/2016
Pages: 312
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2019 pg. 145