The Embrace

by Irene Guilford

During World War II, when the Communists invade Lithuania, twenty-one year old Edvardas flees while his eighteen-year old brother Pranas stays. At war's end, each brother marries and raises a family, one in the free West, the other in the Communist East. For forty years, a harsh separation lies between them, a no man's land of love, envy, and guilt. When the two brothers and their grown children finally meet, first in Lithuania, then in Canada, they reach out to one another. Craving connection and forgiveness, they discover a territory that divides as much as it unites. The Embrace tells the story of two families, separated by politics and war, but fiercely tied to the past and to each other.

150 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 1999

Reviews

[Anastasiya Kryvasheyeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

70-е, литовская семья в Канаде. они уехали от советской власти и с родственниками общаются только письмами и посылками. родственники думают, что в Канаде всем жить хорошо.

Алдонута, пятнадцатилетняя дочь эмигрантов, неосознанно впитала от родителей всю боль, горечь и тоску по дому. она не знает, как это выразить в письме своей сестре в Литву. она не знает, как прижиться в чужом обществе.

рассказ-отчаяние. рассказ-крик. написан легко и точно, простым слогом, в эпистолярном жанре. но читать чертовски тяжело.

[Martyna Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

How will you know a Lithuanian maiden?

By her modest dress,
her long braids, her sparkling eyes,
her pleasnat voice and industrious hands,
and her garden of flowers.

She loves daisies and lilies, roses and rue.
If there is no garden,
she grows them in her room
or embroiders them in her linen.

“Such grief is too great for one body to bear. It cannot help but apill over.”

[Augustė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selections from the parts on Aldona's childhood and teenage years.

[Akvile · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Canada may have been his home for fourty years, but it was only in Lithuania that he was truly alive"