Leonard Szczesny was born in 1931 on the Polish-Russian border to a Polish family. Because in 1933 his father Josef was banished for five years of hard labor to Siberia and was not allowed to ever return to within two hundred kilometers of his village, Leonard’s travels started at an early age. In 1937, with his mother Antonina and his older brother Jan, he traveled east to rejoin his father at a new place of employment. World War II broke out in 1939, and by 1943 it became clear that the Russian Army was getting the upper hand. Josef, being an “unreliable element” because of his banishment, decided that his family would have a better chance of living a peaceful life in Poland. On the way, the family had the misfortune of falling into a German roundup providing free labor for the German war industry. The rest is history: forced labor camp, several displaced persons camps, work for American and British occupational forces, and finally emigration to the United States. At that moment fortune returned: job, school, marriage, home, children...and the chance to reflect on the past and a happy ending!

You can learn a lot from storms. They have a purpose, and without them rainbows have no meaning. From There to Here is an inspiring and candid story about one man’s journey through life—from a child who met his parents at age 7 and found himself living alone at age 15 to becoming a PGA golf professional flying around in private jets to finally finding peace as an endurance mountain bike racer sleeping soaking wet on the ground in the middle of some of the most remote country in North America. It’s a story about being lost and never really knowing that you were, a story of how a bike and a grandson can change one’s life forever. It will make you rethink who you are and how you came to be that person. You will laugh, you will cry, but in the end, perhaps you may find what he found.

From There to Here is a look at the severe abuse one person had received at the hands of her parents. She had four people in her life that helped her through it. She survived and thrived, despite them. She went through college and became someone successful anyone would be proud to be, a survivor. Never to be a victim again.

The stories he tells here were written at random over a period of several months, appearing as layers peeled off a consciousness onion, never knowing which ones would "arise" next. Eventually they were arranged into a chronology which resulted in a rather unusual autobiographical form. Each story is complete and essentially stands alone, yet together all blend into one encompassing and distinct story. As new stories continue to take shape, and more old ones emerge from the onion, these may serve the possibility for future stories. The acclaim Rock's stories have begun to receive is evidenced by one having already been selected for reading over National Public Radio, June past of this year within only one week of submittal the Striped Pen story.

Leonard Szczesny was born in 1931 on the Polish-Russian border to a Polish family. Because in 1933 his father Josef was banished for five years of hard labor to Siberia and was not allowed to ever return to within two hundred kilometers of his village, Leonard's travels started at an early age. In 1937, with his mother Antonina and his older brother Jan, he traveled east to rejoin his father at a new place of employment. World War II broke out in 1939, and by 1943 it became clear that the Russian Army was getting the upper hand. Josef, being an "unreliable element" because of his banishment, decided that his family would have a better chance of living a peaceful life in Poland. On the way, the family had the misfortune of falling into a German roundup providing free labor for the German war industry. The rest is history: forced labor camp, several displaced persons camps, work for American and British occupational forces, and finally emigration to the United States. At that moment fortune returned: job, school, marriage, home, children...and the chance to reflect on the past and a happy ending!

Within a split second, life can change forever. The comforts, conveniences, and relationships we take for granted can be lost without warning. Trauma comes to us all at some point in our lives, whether as a sudden shift or a slow erosion of trust, but God’s plan for our lives—our divine destiny—will stand firm. We can be victorious through trauma and come out on the other side more whole and complete than ever before. With God leading us, trauma isn’t the end of our story … it’s just the beginning!

We asked people from any background to send us their true personal accounts of immigration to Britain. The response was significant, and the range of entries overwhelming. Six judges - including Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty and the novelist Kate Mosse - selected the best, most illuminating and most powerful entries to be published in this book. The result is the widest-reaching contemporary survey of the immigrant experience published in many years. In these pages you'll discover sixteen very different voices, each one presenting a very different point of view. In taking us around the world, each account shows a new side to the most complicated journey of all, Finding a place to call home. 'The country's ethnic and religious make-up is already making a vivid mark on our literature. I am proud and delighted to be its patron' David Lammy MP