Maria Sutton
Author of The Night Sky: A Journey From Dachau to Denver and Back
Works by Maria Sutton
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The Night Sky: A Journey From Dachau to Denver and… by Maria Sutton
Although this book tells an important story about WWII's displaced refugees in a moving and personal account of research and self discovery, it could have had better editing to smooth out the author's tendency to write like she was preparing a government report. Overall though, an easy and telling read.
When Maria learned as a middle-aged woman that the man she knew as Father all her life actually wasn’t it devastated her. That she found out by overhearing her mother in conversation with a friend from the old country was purely accidental yet this former federal investigator made it her purpose in life to discover who her real father was.
She found out that like her mother he had been in the camps at Dachau and was with her afterwards in the displaced persons camp, that he was a Polish air force hero and had worked on a farm where she and her sister had been born. The mystery was why this man had then abandoned them and her mother married another. It also explained why her mother had really never shown much affection to her hard-working husband after they had been placed in Denver rather than go back to war-stricken Ukraine after the war.
In a search that took decades Maria travelled all over Germany and Eastern Europe holding out against all hope that her real father had perhaps survived, and although would know be in his eighties, still be thrilled to see her. She craved knowing who he and her extended European family would be and hoped they would accept her. Would the fantasies she had carved out in her mind come to fruition when she finally found him?
Not only did her journey answer her questions but gave her frail aging mother the benefit of seeing her elder brother again after over forty years apart it helped her mother discover the truths about her own father too. A compelling story that left me both weeping, smiling but satisfied by journeys end.
… (more)
She found out that like her mother he had been in the camps at Dachau and was with her afterwards in the displaced persons camp, that he was a Polish air force hero and had worked on a farm where she and her sister had been born. The mystery was why this man had then abandoned them and her mother married another. It also explained why her mother had really never shown much affection to her hard-working husband after they had been placed in Denver rather than go back to war-stricken Ukraine after the war.
In a search that took decades Maria travelled all over Germany and Eastern Europe holding out against all hope that her real father had perhaps survived, and although would know be in his eighties, still be thrilled to see her. She craved knowing who he and her extended European family would be and hoped they would accept her. Would the fantasies she had carved out in her mind come to fruition when she finally found him?
Not only did her journey answer her questions but gave her frail aging mother the benefit of seeing her elder brother again after over forty years apart it helped her mother discover the truths about her own father too. A compelling story that left me both weeping, smiling but satisfied by journeys end.
… (more)
When Maria learned as a middle-aged woman that the man she knew as Father all her life actually wasn’t it devastated her. That she found out by overhearing her mother in conversation with a friend from the old country was purely accidental yet this former federal investigator made it her purpose in life to discover who her real father was.
She found out that like her mother he had been in the camps at Dachau and was with her afterwards in the displaced persons camp, that he was a Polish air force hero and had worked on a farm where she and her sister had been born. The mystery was why this man had then abandoned them and her mother married another. It also explained why her mother had really never shown much affection to her hard-working husband after they had been placed in Denver rather than go back to war-stricken Ukraine after the war.
In a search that took decades Maria travelled all over Germany and Eastern Europe holding out against all hope that her real father had perhaps survived, and although would know be in his eighties, still be thrilled to see her. She craved knowing who he and her extended European family would be and hoped they would accept her. Would the fantasies she had carved out in her mind come to fruition when she finally found him?
Not only did her journey answer her questions but gave her frail aging mother the benefit of seeing her elder brother again after over forty years apart it helped her mother discover the truths about her own father too. A compelling story that left me both weeping, smiling but satisfied by journeys end.
… (more)
She found out that like her mother he had been in the camps at Dachau and was with her afterwards in the displaced persons camp, that he was a Polish air force hero and had worked on a farm where she and her sister had been born. The mystery was why this man had then abandoned them and her mother married another. It also explained why her mother had really never shown much affection to her hard-working husband after they had been placed in Denver rather than go back to war-stricken Ukraine after the war.
In a search that took decades Maria travelled all over Germany and Eastern Europe holding out against all hope that her real father had perhaps survived, and although would know be in his eighties, still be thrilled to see her. She craved knowing who he and her extended European family would be and hoped they would accept her. Would the fantasies she had carved out in her mind come to fruition when she finally found him?
Not only did her journey answer her questions but gave her frail aging mother the benefit of seeing her elder brother again after over forty years apart it helped her mother discover the truths about her own father too. A compelling story that left me both weeping, smiling but satisfied by journeys end.
… (more)
Imagine finding out that the man you thought as your father, who had provided, cared and reared you was not. How would you react?
The author takes us on a totally amazing journey through her own history, as well as her mothers history. Discovering her father was a prisoner of war, as was her mother, she starts to uncover the horrors that were inflicted upon the people at the time, what both drew her mother and father together and also what made them separate. Her mother then met another man in a similar position to herself and married him and came to live in America.
Her story of her life in America is a happy one until the bombshell of her father rocks her world. On travelling to Germany to find her father she traces him to his native Poland, where he has fathered more children. On trying to find our what her father was like, will her hopes and dreams of him be shattered? Along the journey she finds out that her uncle, who was separated from her mother at a young age in the prisoner of war camp, is still alive and living in America. Can the lost souls make up for 35 years of being apart, thinking that each other was dead.
In retelling her story, the authors trail to find her real father is one of trepidation, excitement and hope. A really moving and emotional read, touching the heartstrings ,as the journey can be compared to riding a roller coaster. The amount of time and patience shown by the author is one of immense proportion - which is shown throughout the book. An excellent read.… (more)
The author takes us on a totally amazing journey through her own history, as well as her mothers history. Discovering her father was a prisoner of war, as was her mother, she starts to uncover the horrors that were inflicted upon the people at the time, what both drew her mother and father together and also what made them separate. Her mother then met another man in a similar position to herself and married him and came to live in America.
Her story of her life in America is a happy one until the bombshell of her father rocks her world. On travelling to Germany to find her father she traces him to his native Poland, where he has fathered more children. On trying to find our what her father was like, will her hopes and dreams of him be shattered? Along the journey she finds out that her uncle, who was separated from her mother at a young age in the prisoner of war camp, is still alive and living in America. Can the lost souls make up for 35 years of being apart, thinking that each other was dead.
In retelling her story, the authors trail to find her real father is one of trepidation, excitement and hope. A really moving and emotional read, touching the heartstrings ,as the journey can be compared to riding a roller coaster. The amount of time and patience shown by the author is one of immense proportion - which is shown throughout the book. An excellent read.… (more)
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