Judith Bognar Bean
BITTERSWEET FREEDOM - A Magnificent Drama of human suffering, courage, man’s mortality, and selfless love. Gripping, funny, sad, galvanizing. Difficult to put down. A lesson inspiring each of us to appreciate every moment of life, and to love one another as if there were no tomorrow. A timeless and stirring work. (Amazon Review - Karolyet Greytonson)BITTERSWEET FREEDOM's sweeping allegory peels back seven-decades in the lives of the author's family: from the shores of Europe to the shores of America, telling the mesmerizing Romantic Tale of her parents, two young, star-crossed lovers caught up in the turbulence of World War II and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a Majestic Story (both a memoir and biography) embedded with accurate historical accounts, entwined about the horrific atrocities suffered by her parents (as children) during World War II in Hungary, describing the unimaginable terrors inflicted upon them, and, the Hungarian people during the 1956 Revolution. The author's father, Jozsef, a 1956 Hungarian Freedom Fighter, is caught up in surreal events beyond his control as he assumes the position of one of the major leaders of that revolt, rallying and urging his raggedly armed fellow countrymen onward as they fight in the bloody streets of Budapest against Soviet Oppression, taking Evil lives to save Valiant lives. Thousands of poorly armed Freedom Fighters gave their brave lives for Freedom's Sake as they pushed doggedly on against their superiorly armed oppressors to extinguish the Tyranny of Soviet rule from their beloved country of Hungary. Written as a "story", not using traditional memoir format. the author has composed a shocking account, of how, with a death-sentence pronounced upon him by the Soviet Government, her father, her mother and the author (age two), make a harrowing, death-defying escape, fleeing at a moment's notice on foot through treacherous enemy terrain, to free themselves from the perils of tortuous persecution during the bleak, mournful days of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, seeking a small, narrow bridge shrouded in the mists of a swampy marshland. The boards of those rickety planks would carry the family into a vast, unknown void called "Freedom. The Bridge at Andau, Austria, the infamous bridge that would carry thousands of Hungarians to Freedom, for they would rather have died in their quest for liberty than to live forever-bound in the Iron Chains of Soviet Domination. BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a True Story of refugees seeking acceptance and refuge in America - A story echoing the headlines of today about immigration, survival, strong family ties, love, and sentiment. However, even in America - the family faces countless formidable enemies - Hateful ethnic persecution, destitution, and communal conflict. BITTERSWEET FREEDOM is a True Story that proves that Love can last a lifetime, that Love can last even beyond a lifetime, that Love can last for eternity! Now, more than ever, as the shadow of today's turbulent world events of Immigration, cultural inequity, national rebellion, and family discourse cloud our lives, the True Saga of BITTERSWEET FREEDOM will teach the divine life lesson of holding onto hope in the face of devastating adversity, and, to believe in the promise of the omnipresent, magnificent power of Love Everlasting.
