Nebenzahl

Donna Nebenzahl grew up in the 1950s, part of a close-knit Portuguese family in the South American colony of British Guiana. Nurtured by loving grandparents, she spent her childhood never asking why her mother lived a continent away or the reason for her father’s early death. Nor did she know why, having been brought up Catholic, she had a Jewish last name. As the colony gained independence and she moved to Canada, Nebenzahl began to explore the difficult issues that her family history raised. The answers emerge gradually in this luminous, compelling memoir that explores the aftermath of loss and the true meaning of home.