Chaucer’s Books will host local author Hendrika de Vries for a book talk and signing of “Open Turns: From Dutch Girl to New Australian,” 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14.
The book is an inspirational coming-of-age memoir set in 1950s Australia where an immigrant girl swimmer turns challenges and disappointments into opportunities for success.
Henny was a little girl when she experienced brutal violence and hunger in World War II Amsterdam, but as a teenager in 1950s Australia, she must learn to turn challenges into success.
She is smart, she swims fast, and she has definite opinions about the kind of woman she intends to be.
Henny hears the timeless Land speak and sees the Southern Cross as a beacon when she walks in the bush with her father.
She enjoys swimming star fame and championship victories and turns to the pool in her search to belong, to face fears and dashed hopes, until at every turn she sees more clearly her unique path ahead.
Hendrika de Vries is a retired family therapist, a teacher and a writer. She had her own life experiences with oppression and resistance in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, migration, competitive swimming, misogyny in 1950s Australia, and feminism in the U.S.
She is also the author of “When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf” and the “Moon Broke Curfew.”