God, Give Us Wings - Softcover

Brown, Felicia Prekeris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1484189124 ISBN 13: 9781484189122

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

In this riveting memoir, a small family struggles to survive the upheavals of World War II—first the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, when they barely escape exile to Siberia, then the bitter years under the Nazis. In 1944, as the communists return and their home is destroyed, the parents leave all they have known, determined to give their two daughters a chance at life. On foot, then by horse and cart, they scavenge and beg their way through the ravaged lands of Prussia and Poland into Germany—where further ordeals await.

The end of the war does not end their difficulties. The victorious Allies assign them to displaced person camps in Germany and pressure them to go back “home” to face Stalin’s tyranny in Lithuania. When at long last Father and Dalia, aged eleven, are allowed to go to England, it is on the condition that she lives with English foster parents. She is terrified: if they do not like her, the family must return to the D.P. camp.

Life in post-war Britain is demeaning to war refugees, and immigrating to America feels impossible—but with hope and determination, they achieve their dream of a better life in this inspiring tale of love and sacrifice.

This book will fascinate anyone connected to the events of World War II in Europe, whose ancestors struggled to survive or suffered exile from their homes, and readers interested in the challenges that ordinary people must endure living under foreign occupation in wartime. God, Give Us Wings is a captivating personal snapshot of one of the darkest periods in recent history and of the indomitable power of the human spirit.

About this title

About the Author

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown was born in Lithuania in 1937, just before World War II unleashed its terrors in Europe. This memoir vividly recounts the family’s harrowing struggle to escape the Soviets, the enemy they feared most. After years in displaced person camps in Germany, and living as a foster child in England, Felicia and her parents achieved their dream: a better life in the United States.

Following a lifetime of satisfying work—first as a teacher, then as a court investigator, Felicia and her husband retired to the central coast of California. Currently, she enjoys Greek dancing, participating in a local lifelong learning program, and going on outings with her Red Hat friends. And over the years she has collected more than a thousand dolls, hoping to compensate for the one she longed for throughout her childhood.

Review

The air raid sirens wailed their cries of oncoming grief unusually early one morning in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania during the summer of 1944, jolting the author’s father, Felicius, from his sleep. His first thought was to thank God that he had sent his wife and two children to the countryside.

The premonition of danger was so strong that he dressed hastily, grabbed the briefcase containing his family’s documents, and ran to hide. The bombing was brutal. When the dust settled, he saw his home reduced to a pile of smoking rubble. The Soviets were returning.

At that moment, Felicius took the first step on a journey to rejoin his family and lead them to safety. He did not know that it was a journey that would last more than seven years.

Nor did he know that it would stretch across two continents, embracing on the one hand, the acts of cruelty, injustice, and bureaucratic indifference that ravaged the refugees streaming out of Eastern Europe, and on the other, unexpected acts of kindness that would spell the difference between life and death.

Along the way, Felicius and his family are caught up in a whirlpool of harrowing events, such as the bone-chilling night in 1945 when they are forced to leave their refuge in Poland, unprepared and on foot, or face imminent delivery into the hands of the Soviets. They are saved when a friend driving a cart appears and offers a means of escape.

By writing “God, Give Us Wings”, Felicia Prekeris Brown has done more than just create a family memoir. She has chronicled the experiences of an entire generation of refugees whose lives were shattered between the clashing fists of Nazi and Soviet oppression.

Seen through the innocent eyes of a young child, the events in the book showed me that the relentless march of human pain does indeed echo with acts of remarkable kindness, giving wing to hope for refugees everywhere.

 - The Lithuania Tribune

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1484189124
• ISBN 13: 9781484189122
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240