All of Greater Hartford is invited to Congregation Beth Ahm’s “Annual Author’s Brunch”, featuring award-winning author Hanna Perlstein Marcus, whose mother kept a secret that lasted a lifetime. At this event, the author will talk about her poignant memoir, “Sidonia's Thread: The Secrets of a Mother and Daughter Sewing a New Life in America”. The program will be held on Sunday, June 10 at 10:30 a.m. at Congregation Beth Ahm. The synagogue is located at 362 Palisado Ave. (Route 159) in Windsor, and reservations should be made in advance for the $15 brunch.
Ms. Marcus was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after World War II. When she and her mother, Sidonia, came to Springfield, Mass., they know no one in America. With no other family, except each other, they built a world that revolved around Sidonia’s exceptional talent with a needle and thread to create beautiful garments, while Hanna served as her model.
The book features sewing metaphors throughout to stitch together the fabric of their lives. It isn’t until Sidonia moves to housing for the elderly that Hanna discovers some of her mother’s old letters and photographs, hoping to find clues to her paternity, her mother’s solitary behavior, and her heritage. Only then, can she begin to unravel hidden secrets from her mother’s past. A trip to her mother’s Hungarian homeland, together with a phone conversation with her father, provide Hanna with surprising discoveries that revise her view of her life with her mother and replace her conflicting emotions toward her mother with reverence.
Guest author Hanna Perlstein Marcus lives in Vernon, Conn. She is the First Prize winner in the 2011 Short
Story competition of the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association, and has authored a number of articles in the human services field. Sidonia's Thread is her first full-length book. A licensed social worker, Ms. Marcus has worked for local governments in the state for more than 30 years. She has two children and two grandchildren and holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut.
►Tickets for the Sunday, June 10 event at Congregation Beth Ahm, which includes a kosher brunch, are $15 per person and should be made in advance by calling the synagogue at (860) 688-9989 and leaving a message.
Now celebrating its 61st year, Congregation Beth Ahm is a Modern Conservative synagogue whose members include people from throughout Greater Hartford, including interfaith families. Many of its members live in Windsor, West Hartford, Suffield, Windsor Locks, Bloomfield, Enfield, the Farmington Valley, South Windsor, and Ellington. The synagogue maintains afterschool children’s religious education, and adult programs include Learn to Read Hebrew classes, Coffee with the Rabbi discussions, and Conversion Education. Congregation Beth Ahm also invites Jews who are not affiliated with any synagogue to come worship with them during the High Holy Days. For more information about the synagogue, visit www.congregationbethahm.org or call (860) 688-9989.
To find out more about Sidonia's Thread and author Hanna Marcus, visit the author’s website at www.sidoniasthread.com/book
