Eveline: Tales of a War Bride

by Mac Chaz

It is not possible to simply imagine what I felt as my whole world suddenly got flushed down the toilet of human history when the most lethal military machine ever known to man rolled over the top of us. The machine cared for no one, and it spared no one. I have to tell you what it was actually like or you will never believe it. Until the summer of 1940, I had experienced a relatively typical childhood. That all ended abruptly a month before my fifteenth birthday when the Nazi death machine destroyed all semblances of sanity and compassion, and my serene world decayed into complete madness. I was not afforded the luxury of normal maturation but was hurled into the adult world at hyper speed as overnight I became the guarantor of survival for my parents and myself. I fought with the underground and played cat and mouse with the Gestapo. Betrayal was the enemy living next door; hunger was my closest friend; and revenge became a bitter sweet poison. Those years spent in war scarred me forever. I am Eveline, and these are the Tales of a War Bride.

280 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2014

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very descriptive and profound auto-biographical narrative of a mother's experiences in WW II as told to her now adult son. There are moments of horror and moments of family love, but in wartime these latter are fleeting. The destruction of the war over all of western Europe (and in other regions) should not be underestimated. Its deadly tolls were in the natural realm as well as the human one--and we know how devastating the human toll was. Eveline comes of age and resists despair and subjugation as best as she can throughout WW II--inspired by her Aunt Maria who was already a war hero from WW I and found herself once again fighting for her country's right to be free. The outcomes are not all happy ones but Eveline adjusts and persists. Will she finally overcome the final barrier placed in way of achieving her freedom? Her and others' memories of her Aunt Maria's bravery will serve her well.