Written by Sydney author Inara Strungs, this is a fast-paced and informative novel about survival, resilience, family and love, appealing to anyone interested in how history shapes us, or in their Latvian heritage.
On a midsummer's night in 1941, a family is illegally arrested, by order of Stalin, in cosmopolitan Rīga, Latvia, and deported in cattle wagons to the frozen wilderness of Siberia.
Sixty years later, the son, Laimonis aka Lucky, now an actor, visits Sydney and recounts the events to his long-lost sister, Māra, and her household. Māra, an architect, missed out on arrest and suffers survivor guilt. Her son, Andy, is a depressive musician and her daughter, Zinta, a wayward activist, their problems probably effects of the initial trauma. There are many family secrets, and a mysterious old man who spooks Lucky in the supermarket. Lucky's tale helps each family member reach some stability.
SYDNEY VIA SIBERIA - a book by Inara Strungs
Ināra Strungs is a Latvian Australian who writes contemporary fiction and nonfiction, with her previously published novel being Sunstone. She has qualifications in medicine and pathology, and a BA (with a major in German and honours in English). She works as a pathologist and lives in Brisbane with her partner and teenage daughter.
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