From Generation to Generation

The mountains were almost 3,000 metres high…. We had to climb to the peaks, where it was frozen and slippery. One single misstep could mean certain death.

Hiding from the Nazis in the forests of Slovakia’s Low Tatra Mountains in the fall of 1944, in constant danger from the Germans occupying nearby villages, fourteen-year-old Agnes Grossmann and her family make the daring decision to escape high into the mountains and hike along treacherous ice-covered peaks to safety. Twenty-four years later, Agnes Tomasov – now married with two children – finds herself on the run from post-war Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime and defects to Canada with her family, carrying only what they can fit in two suitcases. Her sweeping memoir of life under two totalitarian regimes is an extraordinary and inspiring tale of courage, love and hope in the face of tragedy. Imbued with the author’s warmth, unflagging resilience and determined independence, From Generation to Generation is a true testament to the strength of the human spirit.