Emboldened

Emboldened by Belinda Alexandra

Belinda Alexander, an internationally translated Australian, Sydney based author, blogger, cat lover and avid gardener brings history to life in her fiction. Emboldened is a fusion of non-fiction memoir, an account of her family’s history with references to key historical events and her life as a writer.

Belinda’s memoir recounts the experience her great grandparent’s Alexandra and Pavel, who with Russian revolution are forced to leave Moscow and find refuge in China, Harbin. Fear of punishment prevents the family returning to Russia for many decades as they witness political upheavals, famine, wars and adapts to living cautiously in Harbin, China.

Belinda’s grandparents prosper as the Chinese employ White Russian engineers in the construction of the railways. In 1937 the Japanese come to ruthlessly occupy the area and Tatiana; Belinda’s mother loses her father at an early age. Belinda grandmother, Alexandra not jaded by her life experience is able to find happiness again and marries Sergei Morosoff, who adopts Tatiana as his own and they enjoy a period of success.

With the outbreak of World War II, the family once again abandon all that they know and move to Shanghai. Due to unrest, they flee communist China and end up on a small island in the Philippine’s, where conditions are less than hospitable. As the war ended Australia takes in refugees and the family ends up in Sydney. Belinda’s mother Tatiana (Tania) marries a Scottish-Irish Australian. Belinda is born with both parents playing an important role in shaping who she is now, with a remarkable cross-cultural awareness, education and motivation to succeed.

Belinda recounts the remarkable stories of real-life women in history and in her family, who face insurmountable challenges that influence her and her writing. She finds their stories as a way to cope with her own struggles, anxiety and experience of displacement caused by a bushfire.

Belinda’s memoir draws you into her life, family and the past. For her it is all about having an emboldened attitude that is shaped by the strong female role models. It is evident this is a well written memoir by a talented author that is well worth the read, to learn more about the experience of being an author/writer and history.

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