First reviews of The Golden Daughter

Publication date is creeping closer. As I write this, there are just six days before The Golden Daughter: My Mother's Secret Past as a Ukrainian Slave Worker in Nazi Germany hits the bookstores on August 5th.

Actually some outlets have copies already. A couple of my spies report being able to buy copies in their local bookstores.

I'm excited to be less than a week away from publication date. And I'm honoured beyond words by the generosity of some of the first reviews I've been reading.

First I must mention the words of someone who prodded me into writing The Golden Daughter. Journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, my dear friend and a former colleague at the CBC, had this to say when she read the finished book: "This is a powerful and cathartic story - full of emotion, discovery, and a history few have chosen to share. I couldn't stop reading."

Journalist, news anchor, and author Nancy Regan calls it 'a rare and precious gift of a book.'

Here's a little more from Nancy's review: "From the opening page, The Golden Daughter captivated my imagination and then seized my heart and soul. Although the characters in this tragic love triangle are crafted from personal and historical fragments, they are vivid, deeply human, and unforgettable. And Halina St James's reflections at the end allow you to accompany her on a profound journey of healing and hope."

Nancy, the long-time former host of CTV’s Live at 5, wrote her own national best-selling book, From Showing Off to Showing Up: An Impostor’s Journey from Perfect to Present.

Another Nova Scotia author, Pauline Dakin, called The Golden Daughter "part memoir and part a deeply researched historical retelling of one of the lesser-known atrocities visited upon Eastern Europeans by the Nazis."

Pauline noted: "In this deeply touching memoir, Halina St James mines historical documents and archives, as well as the softest places of her heart, to empathetically tell the story of her beautiful but damaged young mother."

Pauline is the author of Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood, which won the Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction writing in 2018.

Another review that touched my heart came from prolific author Marsha Skrypuch. Here's how she described The Golden Daughter: "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."

I've posted their reviews, and a few more, on the Reviews & Media page on my website.