This moving episode with Halina St James is a conversation about intergenerational trauma, an exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, the Second World War, family secrets, love and forgiveness. Our conversation is centred around Halina’s new book, The Golden Daughter.
The Golden Daughter takes us on a journey with Halina as she tries to uncover her mother’s past after discovering her mother’s secret stash of letters upon her passing. Halina translated these letters and then embarked on a journey that took her back to Germany, where it all began, to put the pieces together to find out who her mother was. This journey led her to her biological father’s grave and into the embrace of long-lost family.
Show highlights
- The beginning of the past: how the book began
- Managing the emotional toll of writing a painful memoir
- The structure of truth
- Stark abandonment: Finding family and belonging
- The irony of secret keepers and the truth teller
- A journalist’s perspective on visions
- Finding closure
“It’s a story, as I said, of mother and daughter relationship, it’s a story of intergenerational trauma. And ultimately, what I really wanted was this book to be about love and forgiveness. I think forgiveness is the greatest thing we can do for each other.”
Halina St James
There are several painful moments in this book, but I think what you will find most compelling about it is the sincerity with which Halina wrote this book and the reality of family love when trauma impacts it.
The Golden Daughter is out now from House of Anansi Press.
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About Halina St James
Halina St. James is a former international TV News journalist from Canada, whose assignments included Iraq during the first Gulf War, the Romanian Revolution, and three Olympic Games. When she retired from journalism, she became a presentations skills coach and professional speaker.
Halina relied heavily on her journalistic skills when researching material for her book, The Golden Daughter.
About The Golden Daughter
Sorting through her late mother’s possessions, Halina St. James found a secret stash of letters. They told how her mother, Maria, was abducted as a teenager in Ukraine by Nazis and sent to Germany as a slave.
After the war, Maria found herself pregnant in a displaced persons camp. She married the father, an older man from a noble Polish family. But her life changed when her husband introduced his friend, a young Polish freedom fighter. In Canada, the younger man betrayed his friend and ran off with Maria and Halina.
The letters made Halina realize how little she knew of her mother or her heritage.
The Golden Daughter is the gripping story of a mother and daughter shaped by forces they had no control over.
Guest’s links
Buy The Golden Daughter: House of Anansi Press
Find out more about Halina: www.halinastjames.com
Host’s links
Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/
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