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Pamela Atherstone is the great-granddaughter of German-Russian immigrants and an amateur genealogist focusing on Russians of German heritage. She is a member of the American Historical Society of the Germans from Russia and the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, as well as the Genealogical Society of Stanislaus County. She attends the Writer's Workshop at the Modesto Institute of Continued Learning (MICL) where she enjoys combining her love of family with her love of horses in the stories she writes. She is a mother and grandmother. A lifelong Californian, this is her first novel, and she is currently working on a continuation to this story. She lives in the Central Valley of California with her husband, Jim, and her horses and dogs.
Reviewed by Alice Recker for Readers' Favorite
In Pamela Atherstone's novel ". . . Like Footprints in the Wind" the saga of a family torn apart takes us from unrest in a German-Russian village at the hands of Stalin to their separate destinies. Under Stalin's rule families are uprooted overnight and forced on a journey of unimaginable consequences. Johannes and Katerina pack items they feel can't be left at home and along with their four young children and their two teenage daughters, they begin a trek that ultimately is destined for Siberia. On the treacherous trip Katerina must find a respectable gravesite to bury her baby, Rosina. Eventually they are loaded onto cramped and windowless boxcars and after many days reach their destination. The family is quickly separated and this is the ultimate dagger in the hearts of each of them. Only one daughter is saved and Anya's quest is to find the rest of her family.
Pamela Atherstone's ". . . Like Footprints in the Wind" is a riveting story of a dark phase in history few of us recall. She has the unique ability to tell the tale of the dislocation of German-Russian families in a way that brings home the cruelty of leaders toward their own people. The family Atherstone depicts is like any loving and hard-working family. Their individual destinations end the similarities. Atherstone's talent for telling a story brings the reader to admire the unusual way this particular family learns to cope and the realization of how many others endured unspeakable hardships. My hope is Pamela Atherstone continues her stories to both enlighten and to entertain us all. I look forward to more books coming from this author.
