The County of Birches

Lori A. Dunn is a ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster, B.C.

The County of Birches is a series of connected stories about a girl
growing up in the shadow of World War II and the Holocaust. In the vein
of the new generation of Jewish books about the war, this one is about
the aftermath: it takes a warm, lighthearted look at life after sorrow
and at the troubles that come with life changes.

It is the story (seen mostly through the eyes of the younger daughter)
of two people who lost everything but survived, found each other, and
started a new family. The two daughters are continually reminded of the
world that their parents inhabited before the war, as well as the terror
that they lived through. They are always aware of their place, having
“sprouted from the ashes of the dead.”

The family makes the drastic move from Hungary to the West, first to
London and then to Montreal. Each story brings into focus another aspect
of their immigrant experience, of adjusting to their new lives, and
especially of the difficulties of being a child in the New World. The
girls have to fit in at school, the parents have to learn the language
and find work, and, most importantly, they all have to come to terms
with being Jewish in North America. After the harsh realities of being a
Jew in Europe, the upper-class Montreal Jewish community, with its
B’nai B’rith club for the young people, is the most extreme form of
culture shock.

In this fascinating book, there is nothing simplistic about the
characters, the stories, or the issues that the family has to face.