Mani Feniger was living a full life in the Bay Area…family, friends, an interesting job…and then the Berlin Wall fell, changing everything for her…

Mani left home at 16, ready to be out of the house, and went off to college and a whole new life, sometimes challenging, sometimes rewarding, and always somewhat removed from her mother and her mother’s past, a past that was a mystery until Mani found a photo that set off years of detective work.

The photograph showed her mother at age 18 and although it was clearly her mother, the person in the photograph looked to be filled with hopes and dreams…things that weren’t present in the mother that Mani grew up with.

Who was this young woman from Germany who moved to the United States as Hitler’s threat to the Jewish people intensified?

Mani’s search and the resulting memoir are inspiring others to look more deeply into their roots and uncover new insights into relatives and themselves.