This appealing personal history combines autobiography with a picture of the international situation in the middle of the twentieth century. After some time spent visiting friends and family in war-torn France and Belgium, the author and her parents obtained passes to join her brother in Australia on a journey which was to change her life completely. Through her eyes we experience the sea voyage and Sydney life in the 1940s and gain an original perspective on Australia during this period. Her vivid descriptions clearly convey the impact of post-war migration, and the story of her subsequent return to Europe and later marriage to the Australian scientist, Henry Harris, make this a most attractive and authentic cultural history.

In Pursuit of a Dream: A Time in Australia

History

Brodsky, Alexandra Fanny

Australia & Oceania

Radcliffe Press

The author is a direct descendant of the prominent Kiev Brodskys, whose wealth derived from the sugar industry at a time when Ukraine formed part of Russia. This family's lavish benefactions - hospitals, educational institutions and a bacteriological institute - mainly to Kiev, Odessa and Zlatopol, gave them a certain power and influence. Alexandra Brodsky has drawn on family archives and Russian-language publications to sketch her ancestors' life of affluence before the Russian Revolution. Her personal account begins in pre-war Berlin among the Russian emigre community and childhood memories of bewildering situations and poverty. The humourless atmosphere is further darkened by the rise of the Nazis and Hitler. By the time she is in High School, the need to emigrate has become acute and the tension builds as expulsion looms. The reader shares these anxieties through the eyes of a child who has learned to watch in silence.

Smoke Signals: From Eminence to Exile

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

I.B.Tauris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Brodsky, Alexandra Fanny. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Brodsky, Alexandra Fanny