Belle's Story

Deborah and Ben Goodman plan a getaway weekend to New York. They can see museums, check out a show and visit Deborah’s grandmother, Belle. When Deborah and Ben arrive at Belle’s apartment, the couple learns Belle is dying and she has a story to tell before she dies.

Belle takes Deborah back through time as she retraces her steps to the United States. The year is 1917. Czarist Russia is crumbling and World War I is slogging into the its final throws of carnage and despair. Belle’s trip takes her from Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, and finally Holland, where she gains passage to the New World in search of Mae, her little sister.

Belle’s shares her story with Deborah to give her a sense of who she is and where she comes from. But, Deborah, as Deborah listens to the tale of courage and determination while helping her grandmother prepare to die, she learns so much more about her family, and herself.

Historical Fiction
Approximately 10,000 words