Stories of Survival Begin in the Shtetl and End in the Comforts of an English Garden

London, United Kingdom (PRWEB) August 4, 2005

BookSurge proudly announces the publication of "Linking the Threads, A Tribute to a Litvak Tailor" by Hilary Rudick.

In a Lithuanian shtetl, Gittel is about to marry the rabbi. To commemorate the occasion, she embroiders a curtain for the synagogue's ark, which houses the torah, and weaves into it jewels given to her father by the tsar. Years later, Gittel's son, Doniyel, flees to the Cape in South Africa, unaware that his mother has sewn the jewels into his travel pack. With new-found wealth, Doniyel pursues his trade, becomes a landowner, and falls in love with Tuvia. They marry and the chuppah under which they stand is made from that travel pack and those jewels.

Decades pass and their granddaughter, Hilary, has a sense of loss for all that she does not know of her family's history. Who were these grandparents she dearly loved? How can she relate to a heritage that stands before her like a stranger? We follow her inner journey, one that takes her into her family's past, into the heart and soul of the people who came before her. We share with her the anxieties and frustrations of early chemotherapy treatment when she loses her husband. A Quarter century later we read of the courage she musters when she leaves her country.

London is where her new life begins. Like those who came before her, she is an immigrant struggling to find a place for herself. It is not until fate prescribes Hilary's return to Lithuania and her familial village where she can acknowledge who she is and from whence she came.

Linking the Threads takes the reader on a journey viewed through the eyes and souls of people who are now little more than a fading photograph neglected in a bottom drawer.

Like the threads and jewels woven into this saga, so are the stories of survival that begin in the shtetl and end in the comforts of an English garden.

About the Author

Hilary Rudick, born in South Africa, is a fiber and textile artist whose work is exhibited and collected internationally. She is a member of the American Guild of Judaic Art and the European Textile Network. She specializes in chuppot, the wedding canopy used in a traditional Jewish marriage ceremony. These hand painted pieces are passed through the generations as a family heirloom. The author lives in London, where she is surrounded by her husband, children, and grandchildren.

For more information or to obtain a free review copy, please contact the author at hilary.rudick@gmail.com. Books are available to order at Booksurge.com, Amazon.com, Alibris.com and Abebooks.com.

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