About the Book
A narrative of cultural translation, identity, and belonging.
The thrill of a new place fades quickly for Caroline Topperman when she moves from Vancouver to Poland in 2013. As she delves into her family’s history, tracing their migration through pre-WWII Poland, Afghanistan, Soviet Russia and beyond, she discovers the layers of their complex experiences mirror some of what she felt as she adapted to life in a new country. How does one balance honoring both one’s origins and new surroundings?
Your Roots Cast a Shadow explores where personal history intersects with global events to shape a family’s identity. From the bustling markets of Baghdad to the quiet streets of Stockholm, Topperman navigates the murky waters of history as she toggles between present and past, investigating the relationship between migration, politics, identity, and home. Her family stories bring history into the present as her paternal grandmother becomes the first woman allowed to buy groceries at her local Afghan market while her husband is tasked with building the road from Kabul to Jalalabad. Topperman’s Jewish grandfather, a rising star in the Communist Party, flees Poland at the start of WWII one step ahead of the Nazis, returning later only to be rejected by the Party for his Jewish faith. Topperman herself struggles with new cultural expectations and reconciling with estranged relatives.
A study in social acceptance, Topperman contends with what one can learn about an adopted culture while trying to retain the familiar, the challenges of learning new languages and traditions even as she examines the responsibilities of migrants to their new culture, as well as that society’s responsibility to them.
About the Author :
Born in Sweden and raised in Canada, in 2013 Caroline Topperman returned to her ancestral roots in Poland to live, and to explore her love of traveling and experiencing different cultures. From sampling authentic Neapolitan Pizzas in Naples, to photographing a piano, frozen in a river in Užupis, an independent artist’s republic in Lithuania, to pitching Poutine as a great comfort food to a local French baker in Poland. She speaks fluent English, Polish, and French. Caroline holds a BFA in screenwriting from York University (Toronto). Her book credits include Tell Me What You See: visual writing prompts for the wandering writer (One Idea Press) and a complementary guide to her blog, FitWise: straight talk about being fit & healthy. Caroline has written a column for Huffington Post Canada and was the Beauty Editor for British MODE.
Review :
"With a nimble mind and a steamer trunk of emotions, Topperman's account of her shaky repatriation to her family's native Poland bristles with fear and adventure. She serves as an excellent tour guide to the unexpected joys of Warsaw and a bold interrogator of her family's peripatetic history. Anyone who has ever gone down a genealogy rabbit hole will appreciate her reconstruction of past generations. Ultimately, Topperman is an intrepid surveyor of what makes a place feel like home."
–Lisa Levy, writer, essayist, and critic
“Your Roots Cast a Shadow is a fascinating exploration of identity and belonging, refracted through Caroline Topperman’s research and imaginings of the turbulent, complex lives of her grandparents and parents. Using archival materials and personal correspondence, Topperman reconstructs her maternal grandparents’ flight from Nazi-occupied Poland, not along the more usual path to Western Europe or North America, but eastward into Soviet Russia. This is a well-written book that reads in some parts like an action-packed thriller, and in others as an introspective search through history and ideology to uncover the truth about her family and herself. Readers will find much to learn and enjoy as they follow Topperman on this personal and multi-layered journey.”
–Dr. Nora Gold, author of In Sickness and In Health/Yom Kippur in a Gym and 18: Jewish Stories Translated From 18 Languages; editor of Jewish Fiction .net
“Caroline Topperman, a curious, bold, and compassionate writer, reinvents herself in new places, tells frank, well-paced stories about the living, and writes so powerfully about ancestors that they seem alive. She questions herself and readers: Can you guess? Are you able to imagine? Her historical and geographical imagination roams deftly across Canada, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Russia and the United States. Her ancestors cast shadows but shed light on current questions: Are you communist, Jewish, Catholic, liberal, conservative? Do political, genealogical, religious and national categories make messes of human lives, or do they orient lives like a compass? Topperman’s account of her family history is an alluring lead into global controversies.”
–Dr. Ronald L. Grimes, author of Deeply into the Bone: Reinventing Rites of Passage
“Braiding together generational stories and memories, Caroline Topperman guides readers through decades of one family’s hopes and struggles during harrowing political times and highlights the complexity of family relationships. Your Roots Cast a Shadow is meticulously researched and beautifully written with compassion and honesty. This memoir speaks to our interconnectedness and will have you reflecting on your own family story and its place in the world.”
–Liisa Kovala, author of Sisu's Winter War and Surviving Stutthof
“Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down! Your Roots Cast a Shadow expertly connects the present with the past as the author takes you on an emotional journey of how historical events shaped the lives of her family over three generations.”
–Miranda Schell, author of Save Me a Dance and Paint Me a Story
