Synopses & Reviews
This fictionalized account of real-life occurrences chronicles one womans amazing survival of the Hungarian Holocaust. Through the authors creative first-person telling of her mothers lifebased on her mothers written and oral observations as well as the authors own childhood memoriesa portrait of the remarkable Eva Leopold emerges. After spending an idyllic childhood on a pastoral estate in rural Hungary, Eva settled in Budapest where despite having been raised Catholic by parents who'd converted from Judaism and being married to a gentile, Eva was considered Jewish by the Nazi regime. Beginning in 1944when exemptions for Jewish women married to gentiles were liftedher daily life was dominated by desperate attempts to stay alive, avoid deportation to a death camp, and protect her family. Initially saved by taking shelter in the Papal Legation, Eva also hid in the air raid shelter in the basement of the familys apartment building, which disappeared when the building went up in flames, consuming the horses stabled on the first floor. Having been widowed, Eva remarried, and she and her new husband made a death-defying escape to Austria. At risk of losing their U.S. visas, Eva and her husband enrolled their daughters in a Catholic boarding school, and boarded a ship to New York where they awaited their daughters' arrival six months later. A touching epilogue, written by the daughter-author, is also included.
Review
"In this powerful imagining of her mother's autobiography, Agatha Hoff explores how the carefree world of pre-World War II Hungary was made to face the most awful realities of Nazi occupation and war." —Clifford Chanin, president, the Legacy Project
Review
"Writing in a style and language faithful to her mother's voice, Agatha has achieved a powerful piece, a testament to her mother's indomitable will to survive, and a lasting legacy to her Jewish-Catholic roots. This is a must read for all." —Sister Nancy Morris, RSJC, president emerita, San Diego College for Women
Synopsis
"Agatha Hoff's reconstruction of her mother's life is based on Eva Leopold Badic's writings, the many discussions between both of them, and Agatha's childhood memories. The story is told as if Eva herself were telling it"--P. 12.
About the Author
Agatha Hoff is a former attorney and a court commissioner whose column, "Tales from the Bench," appears in the San Francisco Attorney. She lives in San Francisco.