"A book in two parts, one by mother Ibolya Grossman (1916 2005) and the second written by her son, Andy (1942-), who both survived the Holocaust. Ibolya describes her childhood in Pecs, Hungary; her move to Budapest in 1933; and the increasingly antisemitic atmosphere after she marries Zoltan Rechnitzer and gives birth to their son, Andy, in 1942. In 1942, Zoltan is drafted to the Hungarian forced labour service for Jews, to the Felvidek region. With the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, conditions for Jews worsen, and in October 1944, after the Arrow Cross regime coup, Ibolya receives her last postcard from her husband. In December 1944, she and her son are sent to the Budapest Ghetto, and the ghetto is closed. In January 1945 the ghetto is liberated by Soviet troops, and in February 1945 she learns that her husband was shot by the Germans. After liberation, Ibolya and her son continue living in Budapest with her in-laws. They attempt to escape Hungary in 1949 with the hope of crossing the border into Czechoslovakia. They are caught and Ibolya and her son are sent to prison; she is released in December 1950 under an amnesty in commemoration of Stalin's birthday. October 1956 brings rumblings of the Hungarian Revolution and an increase in antisemitism. Ibolya and her son (now 14) escape across the border to Austria in December 1956. From there they immigrate to Canada and arrive in Halifax in January 1957. Andy's memoir is a complement to his mother's story and describes his life as a new immigrant in Winnipeg and Toronto and, later, as a Holocaust survivor speaker and educator."-- Provided by publisher.

Includes index. Contains edited and condensed versions of: An ordinary woman in extraordinary times / Ibolya (Szalai) Grossman; The son of an extraordinary woman / Andy Réti.