The Storks Did Not Return

The arrival of storks had heralded spring in Wiktorowka ever since the village was founded. When they arrived in 1940, it was to a scene of total destruction, as all the villagers had been loaded onto cattle trucks and displaced hundreds of kilometres to the icy gulags of Siberia, never to return to their homes in north-western Ukraine.From one camp in Siberia, a twelve year old boy started an epic journey across Europe, Asia and Africa, defying almost impossible odds to survive as one of five hundred orphans ultimately shipped to South Africa to start a new life. For seventy five years, wars, the imposition of the Iron Curtain, the international isolation of the South African apartheid regime and hostilities in the Middle East made it impossible for him to return to his village. He grew too old to travel. But in 2013 his daughter retraced much of his journey and discovered both physical harshness and incredible human compassion as she travelled. This is their dual story.

Pagina's: 182, Paperback, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform