Irina Reiches

Can You Hear Me Whisper Irina Reiches

Chaos reigned the streets of Lithuania as Sonia emerged into the world into the loving arms of her parents, just after the Soviets rolled their tanks into the streets of Vilnius, to take charge. Sonia grows up as an idealistic young girl in the post - World War II Soviet Union and embraces Communism for all of its promises. But when she receives a surprise invitation from the Israeli Consulate, everything changes.

After Sonia's true identity is revealed, she learns not only that she is Jewish, but that her birth mother, who now lives in Israel, wants her back. Although she attempst to ignore the news and move forward, the question of her heritage beckons to prove into her past. Sonia searches for answers to the introspective question: What does it mean to be Jewish?

She decides her answer that the answers can only be found in her birth mother's home, in Israel. But getting there is complicated and Raisa, Sonia's birth mother, has secrets about her past that are too painful to reveal. Their final reunion, secured through persistence, politics and luck, is far from idyllic. Sonia resents Raisa's attempt to erase or, worse, " re-write" the first 20 years of her life.

As she ventures on a quest for spiritual enlightenment and romantic love, love for Sonia, Israel is the land of opportunity; a place where she can truly embrace her new found Jewishness and be true to herself.