Gerda Christensen

Fragments of a Childhood: in Memory of My Mother and Grandparents Gerda Christensen

Fragments of a Childhood presents a collection of short stories offering an intimate glimpse into author Greda Christensen's childhood in Denmark. She reminisces about the sacrifice, love, and the close-knit ties that can only be created by the strength of family. She talks about the greatest trauma her family experienced-her father's struggle with alcohol, which eventually took him away from the family forever. After the departure of their father, Greta, her mother and her five brothers and sisters had to live with her grandparents until her mother remarried six years later. Although theirs was a difficult childhood, she recalls many good memories from their early life along with the bad ones. From the joys of fishing on their grandparents' farm on a long summer day to the first meeting with an estranged father by the children too young to remember him, the memories of her childhood come shining through in these short stories. There are also stories of school, a horse named Pejer, and the tragic end of the cows that she hated so much. Through all of the stories, the common thread is her love for her family and her homeland. Although she would eventually migrate to Canada, the memories of the past are lovingly recounted for all to enjoy in this collection.