A Woman in Amber

Über

A Woman in Amber: Healing the Trauma of War and Exile is a part autobiographical, part fictional novel written by Agate Nesaule. The first half of the novel describes Nesaule’s experiences of exile from Latvia imposed by the invading Soviet army, and her family’s emigration to the United States in 1950.
The second half of the novel describes Nesaule’s experiences in the United States. Through Nesaule’s novel, the reader becomes acquainted with the Latvian community in Indianapolis during the 1950s. The novel also explores the experience of immigration as seen from Nesaule’s point of view: that of a teenage girl in the 1950s. By the novel's end, Nesaule is able to heal from the harmful wartime experiences that fractured her life at such a young age.