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To A Brighter Future

by Ursula (Pankow) Delfs

377 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); Black and White, Photos; catalogue #05-2183; ISBN 1-4120-7288-3; US$30.43, C$35.00, EUR25.00, £17.50

Readers will experience homesteading in Canada's west; poverty during the Depression years; education in a one-room country school; the far-reaching effects of W.W. ll, including internment in Canada.

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About the Book

About the Author

Excerpts

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About the Book

To A Brighter Future is the story of one family's dream and prayer to make a better life for their children. It tells of the growing-up years in a relatively affluent Germany, which quickly changed during the great inflation of the early twenties, then fell into ruin after World War ll

This book chronicles the immigration of two young people to Canada in 1928 and follows their struggles to create a "brighter future" for their children in a new homeland. For the young man who came first, there was job searching, jumping the freights, and finding the right piece of land. Together, they experienced the trials and adventures of homesteading in the Peace River Country of northern Alberta. There are vivid personal descriptions of education in a one-room country school; the poverty and hardships of the depression years, but also the rich social life and community spirit of that difficult era. Also portrayed is the fear and anxiety when illness, accident and tragedy struck an isolated wilderness home.

The far-reaching effects of World War ll are portrayed in a very personal manner by way of a journal written by a German-Canadian civillian prisoner of war, while interned in Kananaskis, Petawawa and Fredricton.

The story includes interesting characters, adventure, romance and tragedy, all portrayed in a candid, thoughtful style. The story is greatly enhanced by authentic photographs of the settling years in Western Canada. Also included are numerous excerpts from journals and letters written "at the homestead table," to family in the old homeland, creating a truly authentic story. To a Brighter Future is much more than a story of one family. It's a powerful legacy for every community that felt "the settling pains" of a new homeland.

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About the Author

Ursula (Pankow) Delfs was born in Alberta to parents who homesteaded in the Peace River Country. She grew up experiencing the hardships and poverty, as well as the community spirit and sharing typical of a rural pioneer ares. She is a farm wife, mother and grandmother, a retired teacher, a writer, an amateur horticulturist and community volunteer.

She was the editor, chief writer and researcher in the publication of "Burnt Embers" a valued local history, and she is pleased to chronicle her community's as well as her family's journey To a Brighter Future. She hopes that her efforts will inspire other to write their family stories.

Ursula, together with her husband Hans, lives on a farm in the Woking area, north of Grande Prairie, in Alberta's Peace River Country.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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