The Seaboard Review of Books: A Wednesday Edition
March 11, 2026
In this issue:
Definitely Thriving by Kerry Clare (Fiction)
Sincerely, Katherine. By Katherine Dudtschak (Non-Fiction)
The Mixed-Up Owl, story by Marzena Sowa, Pictures by Joanna Lorho (Children)
Learning to Write Cursive (Creative Non-Fiction)
Hot Take: Family Secrets: A Daughter's Search for Her Parents' Hidden War (Non-Fiction)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Children’s Books
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Family Secrets: A Daughter's Search for Her Parents' Hidden War by Alice Switocz Goldbloom (Pottersfield Press, 2026)
Alice Switocz Goldbloom’s intriguing memoir of her parents’ past in Poland offers more than her family secrets: It sheds light on the tragedy of Polish Christians murdered by the Nazis during World War Two. Whereas memorials to Jewish victims of the Holocaust appear throughout the Diaspora, far less attention has been paid to the almost three million non-Jewish Poles who suffered a fate similar to their fellow citizens. Indeed, the book’s design features two barbed wires, which allude to the concentration camps in Europe, but they may also be seen as railway tracks that contrast the tragic transport of innocent Polish women and children with redemptive railways in Canada that helped settle survivors and immigrants.
Goldbloom describes her childhood in Sarnia, Ontario, which she labels “Smalltown.” The most important part of her education occurs at Carleton University in a history course given by Professor G. Peter Browne, who also taught her grammar with a focus on the semi-colon – a punctuation mark that is almost entirely absent in Family Secrets; nevertheless, Alice’s felicitous prose flows flawlessly, drawing the reader in with each compelling chapter. Her tribute to him appears in her rare use of the semi-colon: “I never had another teacher like him; forty years later, I still wonder if my sentences would pass his test.” In all of the poignant details describing the life of her father Edward, mother Maria, and her own marriage and children, her sentences would surely have been approved by Browne. Read this engaging memoir or family portrait and learn about historical and personal events beyond Browne’s teaching. (Reviewed by Michael Greenstein)
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