Faraway...
the Candle Softly Flickers
The first 15 years on
my beloved island
–Fehmarn
by Edy Elfring
Filled with both pathos and humor, Edy Elfring's memoir of the first fifteen years of her life on a small island called Fehmarn has you alternately laughing or crying and frequently doing both. It is the story of a young girl growing up in the post World War II era where hunger, cold and illness were part of each days struggle for survival. It is also the story of a family as seen through the eyes of a child who never knew her father, a five year old who witnessed her grandfather's suicide, and a somewhat older child who tried to burn her little sister at the stake almost losing her own life when her enraged mother tried to burn the building where she was hiding. Through it all, her grandmother was the glue that held them together. She was the person who understood the young girl's need to help every stray or injured animal and she understood why Edith could never learn to kill - even to feed herself. For such a girl, there was never any choice when her mother announced that she had gotten her a job in the butcher shop of a neighboring village. The girl who dreamed of being a veterinarian could not watch while animals were slaughtered. She wrote a last letter to her mother, trying to explain why she could not live her life watching animals die, and walked around her beloved island one last time before boarding the ferry to an unknown, but hopefully better, life. Such is the lasting impression of this wonderful book. We all face the unknown for our convictions when given no other choice.
Book Review by Volunteer Pat Jett
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Faraway... by Edy Elfring
