Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind
Sarah Wildman
Feb 2015 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Tavia Gilbert
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12 hr 54 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
Years after her grandfather's death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters in a file labeled "Correspondence: Patients A–G." What she found inside weren't dry medical histories; instead what was written opened a path into the destroyed world that was her family's prewar Vienna. One woman's letters stood out: those from Valy—Valerie Scheftel, her grandfather's lover who remained behind when he fled Europe six months after the Nazis annexed Austria.
Valy's name wasn't unknown to Wildman—she had once asked her grandmother about a dark-haired young woman whose images she found in an old photo album. "She was your grandfather's true love," her grandmother said at the time and refused to answer any other questions. But with the help of the letters, Wildman started to piece together Valy's story. They revealed a woman desperate to escape and clinging to the memory of a love that defined her years of freedom.
In the course of discovering Valy's ultimate fate, Wildman was forced to reexamine the story of her grandfather's triumphant escape and how this history fit within her own life. In the process, she rescues a life seemingly lost to history.
Valy's name wasn't unknown to Wildman—she had once asked her grandmother about a dark-haired young woman whose images she found in an old photo album. "She was your grandfather's true love," her grandmother said at the time and refused to answer any other questions. But with the help of the letters, Wildman started to piece together Valy's story. They revealed a woman desperate to escape and clinging to the memory of a love that defined her years of freedom.
In the course of discovering Valy's ultimate fate, Wildman was forced to reexamine the story of her grandfather's triumphant escape and how this history fit within her own life. In the process, she rescues a life seemingly lost to history.
Years after her grandfather's death, journalist Sarah Wildman stumbled upon a cache of his letters in a file labeled "Correspondence: Patients A–G." What she found inside weren't dry medical histories; instead what was written opened a path into the destroyed world that was her family's prewar Vi...
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About the author
Sarah Wildman has reported across Europe and the Middle East for the New York Times, Slate, and the New Yorker, among other publications. She received the Peter R. Weitz Prize from the German Marshall Fund of the United States for the series in Slate where Paper Love originated. Wildman lives in Washington, D.C.
Audie Award finalist Tavia Gilbert is a classical theater and public radio-trained actress who has earned AudioFile Earphones and Parents' Choice awards for her audiobook narrations. Tavia has narrated more than 250 multicast and single-voice audiobooks.
Sarah Wildman has reported across Europe and the Middle East for the New York Times, Slate, and the New Yorker, among other publications. She received the Peter R. Weitz Prize from the German Marshall Fund of the United States for the series in Slate where Paper Love originated. Wildman lives in ...
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