Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery

Filled with photos and personal reflections, Letters from the Lost follows the author’s rediscovery of her family’s experience with the Holocaust through a box of letters and a photo album. This book has a dual story stream, the first being the historical experiences of Waldstein’s family and the second being Waldstein in more modern times reading and connecting with family letters. Together this creates a very personal tale of survivor guilt and intergenerational trauma told in an empathetic, accessible way. Sprinkled through the narrative are moments that drive home the impact of the Holocaust on real people and real families. While excerpts could show personal perspectives of historical events, the story is best read as a whole and could be used as a novel study to support both social studies and English lessons.

Awards: Winner, 2011 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
Winner, 2010 Alberta Readers’ Choice Award

Supplementary Resources: Athabasca University Press is an open access publisher. An open access version of this resource can be found here.