On Whom I Have Mercy

Christian by faith and Jewish under the law, Katalin struggles with her dual identity in a Hungary caught up in World War II and its aftermath. She and Istvan, a Jew, fall in love. They struggle with their desire for marriage and to have a child in the midst of the increasing threat from Nazi violence. Istvan is deported to a concentration camp; four months later Kata and family seek refuge with Christian friends. Some are paralyzed by fear; others, acting on their faith, risk their lives to protect them. Even the welcomed liberation by the Russian Army poses its dangers. With the war over, the arduous attempts to survive in a devastated country and to assemble the family merge into a new struggle: power is shifted toward Communism and society is even more polarized than ever. Confronted with the resurgence of hatred, Katalin needs to come to terms with her faith and identity, to make sense of her survival out of the Holocaust and to find a direction for her life. In her soul-searching, she recalls Parsifal's quest for the Grail - a recurring motif in the novel - and knows that her own quest will continue.

Born in Hungary, Veronica Frame lived there for 30 years except for one year in Edinburgh, Scotland to study English. She survived the war, Nazi atrocities, Russian occupation and dangerously rising communism. Her passport denied, she skipped the border (a widow), with her six-year-old son. They awaited the American visa in Caracas, Venezuela and finally became United States citizens in 1958. In New York City, she earned her BS at Hunter College and her MSW at NYU. She was a family counselor for years and ended her professional career as a school social worker. Veronica started to write her book while gainfully employed and completed it upon retirement from the NYC Board of Education, in 1991. Her personal life was rich and also tumultuous. She was widowed three times but her last marriage to Dr. John Frame, a physician and former medical missionary, lasted 45 very happy years. She moved to New Jersey to be near her son, Mathew Erdelyi, in Princeton. Through him she has two granddaughters and one great granddaughter. She also has 6 step children and 15 step-grand children with most of whom she remained in close contact. Presently, Veronica is working on her memoir covering 90 years of her life with its tragedies, challenges, opportunities and fulfillment, too. All through this, she looked for and received sustenance and spiritual guidance through her search for Divine Will.