Notes from the Trunk by Marian Gowan 111 pages. Memoir of Helene Belger Lindblade’s early life (1920-1940) in New England as the only child of a German textile engineer and a nurse.  Based on letters from her father, and her diaries for summers of 1938 and 1939 while she traveled in Germany. $14.00 + $2.50 P&H. To order send check or money order to:
Marian Gowan
1717 Glenheath Dr.
Hendersonville, NC 28791
Email the Author
Available in eBook format.


 

About the Book
About the Author

About the book

The “notes from the trunk” included not only letters and diaries, but also advertising materials for textile machinery, business records, school records and old books and photographs.  Marian Gowan’s mother, Helene Belger Lindblade, had saved these to be the basis for her memoirs.  She died at age eighty-one, memoirs unwritten.  Using documents from the trunk and her own research, Gowan has chronicled her mother’s early life, including summer vacations in New Hampshire, boarding school and travel abroad.  The book offers a unique perspective on pre-WWII-Germany from the viewpoint of a teen-aged American girl on holiday.

Excerpts:
Diary Entry for Saturday, August 26, 1939: The war scare has started again, and I really don’t think there will be a war.  Main roads from Berlin are all closed, food is rationed, and there is an unbelievable calm over it all. 

Diary Entry Sunday, August 27, 1939: My visit to Cottbus was terminated on account of the Polish situation.  Trains are only running on half schedule, and even therefore very crowded...All regulars are at front.  Only reserves are here.  I can’t leave now.  The situation is too interesting. 


About the Author
Marian Gowan retired in 2001 with her husband, William, to Hendersonville, NC after a thirty-year career with Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY.  Her interests include writing, quilting, classical music, and cheering her husband’s senior softball team.  She is a graduate of Northfield Mount Hermon School, East Northfield, MA; and Tufts University, Medford, MA. 


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