Title: Nurturing From Afar
Author: Jean Anderson
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media LLC
ISBN: 978-1-64908-620-4
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 94
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Pacific Book Review
Jean Anderson had what may be considered a peculiar childhood. When she and her twin sister were just seven months old, their mother and a few other immediate relatives were hospitalized with tuberculosis. Quarantined, Anderson’s mother and father sent their little girls away to live with a grandmother in Newfoundland. Although their parents are an ocean away, Anderson and her sister are nurtured by their mother’s love in the form of letters and gifts mailed to them. While America struggles to surface from the Great Depression, the little twins grew strong and healthy in Newfoundland, nurtured by the love of their adoring, distant parents.
In her book, Nurturing From Afar, author Jean Anderson describes the way, despite their unconventional upbringing, she and her twin sister were filled with love from their mother. Having a gift for descriptive writing, Anderson makes her early childhood home of Fortune, Newfoundland come alive. “There were dirt roads read and there and paths out into the country,” she writes about the small, fishing village. “Large wood piers and docks lined the ocean side of town. Fishing sheds, fishing boats, and a few stores crowded along the docks. Above and below town, the North Atlantic spread as far as we could see.
Nurturing From Afar is a book of vivid storytelling. Reading the bittersweet letters sent from their mother in America to her little twins in Newfoundland, readers can see where Anderson got her gift for writing. Including copies of her mother’s handwritten letters in her book is equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. Anderson’s mother draws pictures of her daily activities to make her letters come to life for her daughters, and to read these letters from a mother who loves her little girls so much and misses them dearly, leaves no doubt as to the woman’s genuine affection towards them.
The black and white photographs of her childhood, along with the letters from her mother, make Anderson’s story come to life in a spectacular way. The author includes a variety of mediums to make her upbringing vivid enough to step into; such as a recipe for the pea soup that when left “in the side oven… would stay warm and get thick enough to slice with a knife.”Nurturing From Afar is a heartfelt ode to the everlasting affection between a mother and daughters. It’s an inspiring memoir for anyone disheartened by the thought of separation from their family because it proves, truly, that loves knows no boundaries.
