Bloodline: A Family History
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Moishe, like his father Yehiel, loved to learn Torah and Talmud. So while Sophie ran the general store – on credit as it turned out, as her customers never had much money; while she baked daily in her own family oven enough of her famously delicious and popular cakes to sell to just about the entire town; while she weekly beheaded and plucked chickens breeded in the back yard coop; while she milked the family’s one cow every morning before anyone got up; while she cared in every wifely and motherly way for her husband and their growing, energetic brood of five boys and two girls; and while she scrubbed her small house and outhouse until they sparkled; Cape Breton legend has it that he, Moishe, simply sat all day and learned. When Moishe wasn’t studying Jewish law, he was learning English by reading newspapers, particularly sports sections. His exercise breaks consisted of taking the family’s two border collies for walks up and down the only major street in Reserve, stepping high with his walking stick, smiling and waving at all his neighbors.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Bloodline caprtures the moving and terrifying stories of the author's paternal relatives, who travelled from nineteenth century Russia to the New World, only to later experience violence, fear and sadness at profound levels. A brutal double murder in Nova Scotia of a beloved family patriarch and his wife; a deadly fire in Sackville, New Brunswick, that almost killed the author's father, as it turned out a hero that cold December night; and the Cuban revolution that forced other of the author's relatives to flee with only the shirts on their backs: this book has it all, and more. The book also describes the inspiring history of the author's recent maternal ancestors, who came from Ireland and settled in the "town of canals" – Lowell, Massachusetts -- in order to do what everyone there did: work in the massive, grimy textile mills.) Au also wanted to change the "About the author" to ( About the author: Lynne Cohen was a journalist for 30 years before she wrote Bloodline, which combines her talent for gripping, humourous writing and her profound love of family. A grandmother of three, a non-practicing lawyer and an amateur stand up comedian, Cohen lives in Ottawa with her husband. She discovered – in researching and writing about her amazing family – the beauty of and need for personal connections with recent ancestral history.
About the Author
Lynne Cohen was a journalist for thirty years before writing Bloodline. A grandmother of three, Cohen lives in Ottawa with her husband. While writing and researching the story of her amazing family, she discovered the beauty of and the need for personal connections with recent ancestral history.