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The Golden Daughter is the story of my mother’s secret life, the love triangle that imprisoned her, and the dreams she could never fulfill. I knew nothing of this until she died and I found her stash of secret letters. I decided to find the truth about my parents, my heritage... and myself. My journey led me to write her story, The Golden Daughter: My Mother's Secret Past as a Ukrainian Slave Worker in Nazi Germany, but - beyond that - my discoveries led to love and forgiveness.
"An unputdownable book about a mother who dies holding on to her secrets, and a daughter determined to uncover the truth. An absorbing journey of hope, forgiveness, and finding family. A must-read."
- Marsha Skrypuch, author of Making Bombs for Hitler.
In bookstores now
The Golden Daughter: My Mother's Secret Past as a Ukrainian Slave Worker in Nazi Germany is published by House of Anansi.
You can secure a copy, either paperback or digital, at Indigo and Amazon, or your favourite local bookstore.​
Sold-out launch for The Golden Daughter
Halina and Anna Maria Tremonti outside Pier 21 in Halifax.
Halina and Anna Maria Tremonti outside Pier 21 in Halifax.
My sincere thanks to everyone who turned out at Pier 21 in Halifax for the official launch of The Golden Daughter.
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Special thanks to my former CBC colleague, and good friend, Anna Maria Tremonti for moderating a conversation about the book, and to my new-found nephew Krzysztof Zebrowski, who flew in from Poland for the sold-out launch and found himself up on stage explaining his part in my journey.
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This short video tells the story of how I found my mother's secret letters, and how they led me on a wonderful journey of discovery through Germany, Poland and Northern Ontario.
Meet the characters in The Golden Daughter
One story among five million
The Golden Daughter is not just about my mother. It's a story of over five million people, just like her - the slave workers of Nazi Germany. The majority came from Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine and Poland. They were called Ostarbeiter. Some were as young as 12, forced to work as slaves in factories, farms and homes, fed starvation rations, treated as sub-human, and made to wear the OST badge. Later, if they went home, many were called collaborators. These are the forgotten victims of World War II.
"In this deeply touching memoir, Halina St James mines historical documents and archives, as well as the softest places of her heart, to empathetically tell the story of her beautiful but damaged young mother. The Golden Daughter is part memoir and part a deeply researched historical retelling of one of the lesser-known atrocities visited upon Eastern Europeans by the Nazis."
- Pauline Dakin, author of Run, Hide, Repeat