The Dignity of Silence

Description

Prague. It’s l942, and all Jews are being summoned to the Death Camps.

Ernst’s wife dies in childbirth, and he escapes to London with his two-year old daughter Sophie. Grieving and guilt ridden he believes the pain of their loss can only be dealt with by remaining silent about their past.  A decision that determines Sophie’s future.

Sophie, motherless with an over-protective father, grows up to be submissive and lacking confidence.   Friendless at University she meets Mark, a man quite unlike her father, falls pregnant, marries and after childbirth suffers a puerperal depression. She is befriended by Angelica and Emma who have both also given birth to boys.   The three young mothers, each providing something lacking in the other, become firm friends.

Twenty years pass; Sophie is bereft when Angelica dies.  She goes with her father to Prague and is devastated to learn why he would never speak of the past.  Back home Mark is having an affair.  Sophie sees everybody she loves: Her husband, her children, her father and her friends – all sensitive to her vulnerability have tried in their silences to protect her. Now, knowing her past, she is more able to face the future.

June Felton was born in South Africa and following the completion of her Post Graduate Studies in Child Development in London, she founded and directed a pre-school unit for autistic children. She has lectured extensively in England and Europe. Married with four children, she now lives, writes and paints in Israel.