They Never Left Me

The dramatic story of nine-year-old Evelyn's survival of the Holocaust through the determination, bravery and ingenuity of her mother and grandmother as they hid in the dense forests of Belarus. Evelyn is a cherished only child in a loving family in a small shtetl in Eastern Europe. With evocative and rich detail of rituals, foods, and the rhythms of daily life, she brings to life the textures of her early childhood. Then came WWII and Evelyn and her family are launched on a harrowing eight-year odyssey of survival that will change them forever. After her father is rounded up and murdered in Zhetel, Belarus, her remaining family survive two ghetto liquidations and a week hiding in a bunker under a kitchen floor. They flee into nearby forests and live there for two years, constantly on the move to avoid capture, while battling hunger, disease and cold. Post war, continuing anti-Semitism will drive the family west, to a displaced persons camp in Berlin and eventual emigration to New York. Evelyn's memoir is a testament to the resilience and courage of women - mother, grandmother and aunt-- without whom Evelyn would have been a victim, not a survivor.