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    A Place to Call Home?
    A Place to Call Home?
    A Place to Call Home?
    Ebook66 pages36 minutes

    A Place to Call Home?

    By Lynda Smith

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    About this ebook

    A Place to Call Home? by Lynda Smith is set in 1936, a time between the two world wars, but Jacobs story begins in 1905. He is a Russian Jewish immigrant whose parents and younger sister are desperate to escape the escalating danger of the Russian pogroms. They embark on a long, perilous sea journey and arrive in the northwest of England where, at the age of ten years, Jacob starts a new life in his adopted country. His ambition is to be a successful businessman, and he achieves that goal. His life becomes even more complicated when he falls in love with one of his female employees. They enter into an affair, resulting in the birth of a son, who is blissfully unaware that Jacob is his father.

    Torn between his loyalty to his wife and daughters, his deeply embedded Jewish roots, and his mistress and his son, Jacob is in constant turmoil about what to do so as to cause the least amount of hurt and pain to all the people he holds dear.

    The story takes into account the horror of the Great War, in which Jacob enlisted as a boy solider in 1916.

    Threaded throughout this story are the themes of socio-economic disparity, religious bigotry, ignorance, and anti-Semitism.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse UK
    Release dateDec 2, 2013
    ISBN9781491885659
    A Place to Call Home?
    Author

    Lynda Smith

    Lynda Smith was born in 1946 in Manchester, England, and was raised in a typical working-class childhood. She married at the age of twenty but is now divorced. Lynda has three adult children aged 45, 43, and 26. Ms. Smith took early retirement due to poor health and so decided to renew her interest in writing, completing the sequel to A Place to Call Home?, which was published in 2013.

    Read more from Lynda Smith

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      Book preview

      A Place to Call Home? - Lynda Smith

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter 1 Curry Street, 1936

      Chapter 2 At Home

      Chapter 3 Mimi’s Warning

      Chapter 4 Home Again

      Chapter 5 Becky And Jake Remember

      Chapter 6 Esther At The Factory

      Chapter 7 Miriam Sarah

      Chapter 8 Refuge

      Chapter 9 Becky’s Story

      Chapter 10 Kathleen’s Story

      Chapter 11 The Fight

      Chapter 12 Agnes’ Notes

      Chapter 13 The Confrontation

      Chapter 14 Esther Meets Patrick

      Chapter 15 Chanukah V. Christmas

      Chapter 16 Foxhole

      Chapter 17 Full Circle

      About The Author

      Acknowledgments

      Chapter 1

      Curry Street, 1936

      Jacob Dolovitch turned up the collar of his overcoat against the biting November wind. He allowed himself a wry smile, recalling a time when he had not even owned a coat… but all that was a long time ago, a lifetime ago; now he was doing very nicely, thank you, with his own lucrative garment business, a beautiful home in the leafy, affluent suburbs, a lovely wife, and enchanting twin daughters who adored him. What more could a man ask? His well-shod feet turned onto a long and narrow cobbled street. His footsteps quickened as he passed the tiny terraced houses—their curtain-less windows and grimy windowpanes like a row of sad eyes, he thought to himself. He lengthened his long strides in anticipation of reaching house number 10 at the far end.

      He knocked sharply on the polished door knocker, noting that this house boasted crisp net curtains and gleaming windowpanes and had a well-cared look to it. The door opened slowly to reveal a small boy of about eight or nine years of age. His brown eyes squinted quizzically into the semi-darkness. Recognising the visitor, he yelled excitedly, Uncle Jake, it’s you! Shall I get Mam?

      Jacob smiled at him, delighted by the warm welcome. Yes, please, Patrick, if she’s not too busy.

      Oh, she’s not, the boy replied with some authority. Then he bellowed up the miniscule hallway. Mam, come quick. It’s Uncle Jake. He’s come to see us!

      A tall, slim woman appeared. She was wearing an old-fashioned wraparound floral pinafore and was hurriedly wiping her hands on a tea towel.

      Patrick, for goodness sake! Stop that shouting, please!

      Jake, what are you doing here? It’s not Tuesday, is it? she asked, looking confused.

      No, Kath, it’s Friday—just wanted to see you.

      But about your Sabbath? I thought you weren’t allowed to… Her words trailed off as she noticed the concerned look in his eyes. There’s nothing wrong, is there?

      Nothing for you to worry about, love.

      She looks so thin, he thought, thin and tired. She works too hard. He observed her pushing away obstinate strands of long, fair hair that had escaped the neat, long plait she always wore for work. He saw the dark circles under her blue eyes and then beheld her pale face, which in his opinion only enhanced her fragile Irish prettiness. She works too hard, and her bloody stubborn pride won’t let her accept my help… . Things have got to change; enough is enough.

      His musings were interrupted when she said, "Don’t stand

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