Estelle Laughlin at Cook Memorial Library (Aspen)

Estelle Laughlin, author of Transcending Darkness: A Girl’s Journey Out of the Holocaust


(Texas Tech University Press $26.95)

Tuesday October 29 at 7:00 p.m.

Cook Memorial Library (Aspen), Vernon Hills

To register call 847-362-2330

“Please, Mama, I don’t want to live like this,” pleaded

thirteen-year-old Estelle Glaser’s older sister as they watched the

bodies of friends dangle from the gibbet in the center of the appelplatz

of the Madjanek concentration camp. “I cannot take the indignities and

brutalities. Let’s step forward and make them kill us now.”

But Estelle’s mother fiercely responded to her two daughters: No! Life is sacred. It is noble to fight to stay alive.

Their mother’s indomitable will was a major factor in the trio’s

survival in the face of brutal odds. But Estelle recognized other heroes

in the ghetto and camps as well, righteous individuals who stood out

like beacons and kept their spirits alive. Their father was one, as were

hungry teachers in dim, cold rooms who risked their lives to secretly

teach imprisoned children. Estelle herself learned to draw on a joyful

past, and to bring her own light into the void.

Estelle’s memoir, published sixty-four years after her liberation

from the Nazis, is a narrative of fear and hope and resiliency. While it

is a harrowing tale of destruction and loss, it is also a story of the

goodness that still exists in a dark world, of survival and renewal.

There will be a book signing with books provided for sale by Lake Forest Book Store.

 

Location: 





Cook Memorial Library (Aspen) 701 Aspen Drive Vernon Hills, Illinois 60061