The Great War in the early 20th century was devastating and filled with heartache and brutality. Regardless, there are things to be thankful for.
Berta Lorkis is a young, Ukrainian Jewish woman who's many attributes are exposed in the changes she encounters in life. Initially, her self-centered and greedy heart overtakes her life goals as she is brought up with luxury of every kind all around.
She expects to marry a man that can keep up with her demands, even after she returns home to help with the family grocery store. She figures the hard labor is temporary.
Her attention to a handsome merchant, Hershel Alshonsky, is rewarded with marriage and children. Hershel is absent for months at a time, presumably selling and buying wheat. Berta accepts this as long as she can buy anything and socialize to her standards.
It's when her life in Little Russia turns to wondering what she can sell to keep up appearances and food on the table that a new attribute of her is realized. Hershel comes home less and less. Berta doesn't believe he's only conducting business. She becomes frustrated with her life being peeled away one piece of furniture or art and one bite of food at a time.
WWI is at her doorstep, but Hershel isn't. With the realization that it's up to her to survive on less and less, she endures the horrors of war, loss and deprivation. She doesn't know if Hershel is alive or dead, thinking of her and the children, or if he left for a better life.
Years of hardship and rumors that Hershel is alive and searching for her have a small space in her heart. A space she does not give up on until she fulfills her search, replenishing love.
Happy reading,
Dawn
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