When Sharon found typewritten pages tucked in the back of her deceased father's accordion folder, she had no idea she was holding an invitation to the greatest writing adventure of her life. The pages were her mother's final attempt to record her Jewish family's history - a history that she had kept secret for decades. Sharon's mother was clear in her writing, "All I ask is that you not forget me."
With her mother's written permission to explore the past, Sharon embarked on a journey that would take her from the Russian Revolution to Nazi-occupied Lithuania, onto rural Nova Scotia, Canada. The journey was often painful, as Sharon learned more about her Jewish identity and uncovered the trauma her family had experienced before and during the Holocaust.
Grieving for the murdered aunts, uncles and cousins whom she never got to meet, Sharon found herself struggling with depression and sleepless nights. Sharon's journey was one of grief, but it was also one of love and perseverance.
Adolf Hitler failed in his attempt to eradicate the Jewish race. The Nafthal and Isserlin families live on in the three generations born in Canada since Sharon's mother and grandparents fled Europe weeks before World War II. Thanks to Beach Moose & Amber: Finding My Jewish History the family descendants know the great courage, strength and determination that run through their blood.
