Book
All ships follow me : a family memoir of war across three continents / Mieke Eerkens.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781250117793 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: xxi, 312 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Picador, 2019.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Eerkens family. Eerkens, Mieke > Family. World War, 1939-1945 > Netherlands > Biography. World War, 1939-1945 > Indonesia > Biography. |
| Genre: | Biographies. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Branch | 940.5309253 Eerke-E | 31681010147452 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
"In March 1942, Mieke Eerken's father was a ten-year-old boy living in the Dutch East Indies. When the Japanese invade the island he was interned in a concentration camp, where he is forced to do hard labor for three years. Meanwhile, across the globe, police in the Netherlands carry a crying five-year-old girl out of her home, abandoned and ostracized as a daughter of Nazi sympathizers. This was Mieke's mother. It was the post-war period of reckoning, referred to in Holland as the so-called 'hatchet day,' where Nazi collaborators were beaten in the streets and sent to the same concentration camps where the country's Jews had recently been imprisoned. Many years later, Mieke's parents meet and move to California, where she and her siblings are born. But though her parents are far from their families and the events of the past, the effects of the war are still felt in their daily lives and in the lives of their children. All Ships Follow Me moves from Indonesia to the Netherlands to the United States, as Mieke recounts her parents' stories and journeys with them to the important places of their childhood, in an attempt to understand their experiences on two different 'sides' of the war and bring to light events and experiences often overlooked in WWII histories. All Ships Follow Me is a deeply personal, sweeping saga of the wounds of war and the way trauma is often inherited through generations"-- Provided by publisher. - Baker & Taylor
The author recounts the stories of her parents' vastly different experiences during World War II, detailing how her father was interned in a Dutch East Indies concentration camp and her mother was ostracized as the daughter of Nazi sympathizers. - McMillan Palgrave
An engrossing, epic saga of one familyâs experiences on both sides of WWII, All Ships Follow Me questions our common narrative of the conflict and our stark notions of victim and perpetrator, while tracing the lasting effects of war through several generations.
In March 1942, Mieke Eerkensâ father was a ten-year-old boy living in the Dutch East Indies. When the Japanese invaded the island he, his family, and one hundred thousand other Dutch civilians were interned in a concentration camp and forced into hard labor for three years. After the Japanese surrendered, Miekeâs father and his family were set free in a country that plunged immediately into civil war.
Across the globe in the Netherlands, police carried a crying five-year-old girl out of her home at warâs end, abandoned and ostracized as a daughter of Nazi sympathizers. This was Mieke's mother. She would be left on the street in front of her sealed home as her parents were taken away and imprisoned in the same camps where the countryâs Jews had recently been held. Many years later, Miekeâs parents met, got married, and moved to California, where she and her siblings were born. While her parents lived far from the events of their past, the effects of the war would continue to be felt in their daily lives and in the lives of their children.
All Ships Follow Me moves from Indonesia to the Netherlands to the United States, and spans generations, as Mieke recounts her parents' lives during and just after the war, and travels with them in the present day to the sites of their childhood in an attempt to understand their experiences and how it formed them. All Ships Follow Me is a deeply personal, sweeping saga of the wounds of war, and the way trauma can be passed down through generations.
