Crossing the Waters

Rosemarie Sumira was a young woman at the time of the Second World War. It brought an end to her idyllic life in Silesia, once a province of Germany. In Crossing the Waters, she remembers the happy days of her childhood, from festivals and special events to everyday pleasures. She demonstrates herself to be an incredibly strong, resilient person when faced with the catastrophic consequences of war and the invading conquerors. She overcame every setback and difficulty with spirit and courage, making a new life for herself in England, eventually becoming a nurse, a midwife, tutor and lecturer, and a wife and mother herself. She narrates the sometimes fascinating, sometimes shocking events of her life with an understated calmness and detachment that renders them all the more intense. One cannot but wonder at the amazing, indomitable human spirit when reading this account of one woman's struggle to take control of her destiny in a world that struggled with its own at times.