The Long Trek to Solola

Book excerpt: From Stalin to Hitler to Peron, the Solonevich family survived not one but three oppressive regimes on their trek to find the home of their dreams in the mountains of southwest Virginia. This warmly human story in her unique English follows Inga from childhood in Finland & art school in Helsinki, where she met Yura shortly after he & his father had escaped on foot from the Soviet Union. Marriage & life with a baby in Nazi Germany during World War II was not easy for anyone. The family joined six million others fleeing west when the Russian army began its invasion. Inga's words & Yura's sketches bring alive those few months of terror & hardship in 1945. Four years in a Displaced Persons camp, more years in Argentina, then New York City -- & finally SOLOLA -- where mountains & a river meet, in Virginia. Raising horses, cows, corn, goats, pigs, rabbits, children & -- most of all -- friends, Inga & Yura have displayed the creativity & ingenuity of true pioneers, reminding us of the importance of following dreams & the significance of the trek to achieve freedom.