Letters From Latvia

Plot

(Blurb from book cover) Letters From Latvia is an extraordinary account by an extraordinary woman of an aspect and a battleground of World War Two little documented and less known. Lucy Addison was born in Latvia, and had lived there all her life. When war broke out, she and her husband refused to leave the country with the rest of the British community, but stayed on to face first the Nazi, then the Russian occupations. Lucy's beloved granddaughters had been sent home to England, so Lucy wrote to them regularly, describing her life with humour and resilience. When the postal system broke down, she kept a journal. What emerges is a remarkable picture of a country, and of a family, at war.Already seventy-nine when the war began, Lucy Addison remained calm and uncomplaining, accepting the freezing winters, giving language lessons to survive, and observing events with a sharp and unbiased eye. Totally fearless, she was not afraid to stand up to the Russians - 'very unhygienic', she told them when they suggested that several people should share a bedroom - or to berate the Germans when a synagogue was burnt down. Her account of the sufferings of the repatriated Balts, and of the persecution of the Jews, makes chilling reading.But there is nothing depressing about these letters. It is clear that Lucy Addison was brave, indomitable, above all, greatly loved, for it was the gratitude of their Latvian neighbours for past kindnesses that ensured the Addisons' survival. Without the extra supplies donated by friends and colleagues, life would have been impossible.Letters From Latvia, an engrossing and gritty authentic slice of history, and a self-portrait of the kind of woman who made the British Empire possible.