This is actually the third volume of the Alberta trilogy. I think the review written by "a reader from London" refers to the first book, Alberta and Jacob. Alberta Alone is quite different. The novel borders on modernistic in its exploration of the process of becoming a writer. Alberta struggles with a failing relationship, motherhood, and questions of identity. The story, which takes place a few years after the First World War, is set in Bretagne, Paris, and Southern Norway. As usual, Sandel's writing is outstanding.

Alberta has finished school and lives at home in the north of Norway with her parents and younger brother. She's fond of her father, a magistrate who drinks too much, and mostly fears her mother who wants Alberta to be attractive and accomplished in domestic skills. Jacob is a failure at school and also causes their parents only anxiety over how he can maintain the family standing. The atmosphere at home is tense, stifling and depressed. Alberta is excruciatingly shy and doesn't know what to say to anyone. She spends most of her time reading and going for walks, taking routes that will avoid bumping in to other people. Only out in the countryside does Alberta become confident and alive. She yearns to get away, for her life to change, to meet different people. Throughout small dramas occur in the Selmer family and the town, usually about money, marriage or sex including one where Alberta becomes aware of her own sexual feelings.

Although she always feels inadequate, Alberta never compromises, refusing to marry to please her parents and keeping her inner life intact. The book's strength is its portrayal of Alberta, an unusual character in literature. The book has had many fine reviews.

A wonderfully-supportive, optimistic book--the best book I've read on how to deal with the emotional aspects of childlessness. I'm 40, a woman and don't have children mainly because of chronic illness; this book has helped me a lot. Written by a social-worker-therapist who is childless due to infertility, it is easy to read and gentle with readers. Anton writes that she was determined not to let childlessness ruin the rest of her life and later wrote the self-help book she had needed. She understands the emotional pain that can occur when a woman wants children but doesn't end up with a child for whatever reason.

My favorite things about this book are:
(1) Anton shares the stories of dozens of childless women who she interviewed or who completed her written questionnaire. Reading their stories, presented as composites, was fascinating and very supportive. Many of them had successfully resolved their grief and moved on to other things in life.
(2) She broadens the picture from women who have experienced infertility to include single women, those with medical or genetic problems, disabilities, problem pregnancies such as miscarriage or stillbirth, relationship issues such as husbands who don't want children, women who inadvertently waited too long to have children and lesbians. I appreciate this approach because many people are left out of infertility resources and it shows us that we aren't alone.
(3) She presents ten practical steps to work through the grief. Examples of the steps are Acknowledging and Experiencing the Loss, Understanding the Loss, Surviving the Loss, Letting Go of Blame, and Talking to Significant Others. I found some of her suggested exercises helpful and skipped others.

It was well worth my trouble to buy and read this excellent, helpful resource. In fact, I wish I had read it several years ago. Reading this book before exhausting all options or making final decisions about whether to adopt or to stop infertility treatments could be helpful. I would also recommend this book for family and close friends who want to understand what a loved one is going through. Index and bibliography included.

Another excellent self-help book that can be applied to childlessness from any cause is "Sweet Grapes: How to Stop Being Infertile and Start Living Again" by Jean W. Carter and Michael Carter (revised 1998 edition); that book is written for both men and women.

What does Anton mean by "childless" and "childfree"? She uses childless as a neutral word to describe all women who once wanted children but are permanently non-mothers. Hence, "childless women" excludes those who did not want children and those who eventually adopt but includes those who now happily appreciate the advantages of childfree living. Childfree describes all non-parents; it does not imply that children are disliked or not wanted. (This differs from how Jean W. Carter and Michael Carter use childless and childfree in "Sweet Grapes.")

I found this book at a library after purchasing several "infertility" books and books dealing with childlessness. This one has helped me so much more than any others in coming to terms with the finality of it all. I'm having Amazon.com hunt down a copy of my own.

This slim publication (150pages) is full of wonderful quotes and positive thoughts to live by. Recently learned that Disney,Inc. has shared this unique book on building personal relationships with everyone on their management team. Speaks for itself, it's a winner!

This, the second book in the Alberta trilogy, breaks with the past in more ways than one. While the first book concerned itself with the struggles of an adolescent girl growing up in a cold and alienating small town in Northern Norway, the first book examines Alberta's life seven years later. She is now a woman living on the fringe of the expatriate artist community in Paris, and she struggles to maintain her autonomy, develop her voice as a writer, and stave off crushing loneliness and poverty. Sandel is a master of Norwegian prose fiction, and although Alberta's situation is often desperate, the writing is always exquisite.

Every year I am the envy of onlookers as I write my daily notes in my French Country Diary. Every other page is a beautiful picture of some site from the French countryside or a quaint cafe in the region. It is a quality hardback journal/datebook/diary that is easy to store and keep in a desk drawer for future references. The new 2000 book is now available.

The use of real-life stories communicates the basics of job interviewing in a way that is fresh, entertaining and powerful.

I love this book! Reassuring statements to children that Jesus cares for them backed by bible verses. Makes learning these verses easy and fun for children. The illustration of this book is so precious! It and the message of this book make it #1 in my book! I have the whole series for my 8 month daughter and I am buying it for all my friends with children.

Mexican Treasure Hunt is one of my favorites in this series. Hannah is a sixth grade girl who is sent on mission by four angels: Demi, her bossy guardian angel; Aurora, who sends her messages in clouds; Lyra, who sends her messages in code; and Lorielle, who sends her Messages in codes.

Wherever Hannah goes, she's sent to help other kids or animals. Children can relate to this book, because Hannah isn't perfect, and gets in lots of tight spots.She's a mordern kid. When Hannah's sent somewhere. she comes with a backpack full of usefull things she's never seen before. The best part is, she can bring things (hats, instruments etc.) back home!

The illistrations in this book explain what words cannot. They arn't half pages or whole page illistrations, but rather small artwork off to the side. I read this book when I was 10, and think that other people will also enjoy it.

Linda Lawrence Hunt has crafted a real gem from her extensive research. Helga and her daughter Clara set out on their trek across America on a dare, from an anonymous sponsor, promising a whopping $10,000 if they could walk the distance in the time alotted and under strict rules. The lure of money was strong, because at the time Helga feared they were about to lose the family farm to forclosure. This little book ought to be required reading for young people, who cannot imagine what life was like for these pioneer women. Hunt takes the reader through Helga and Ole's homesteading years on the Minnesota prairie, living in a sod house, a harsh environment which included fires, tornadoes, winter blizzards and illness.

Lured to Spokane, WA life seemed much better, till the big fire of 1889. After that the big financial panic of 1893 sent life tumbling for just about everyone in the country, especially for Helga and Ole.

That Helga and Clara's feat could not be celebrated, and in fact was never talked about over the years is so sad. They deserved a parade, and instead were not even given train tickets home.

Author Hunt reminds us that silencing of family stories prevents grand children and future generations from knowing interesting and sometimes awsome personal revelations. History books dwell more on very big events and momentous catastrophies. But our own family history gives us a sense of where we came from and who we are.

Eighth grader Doug Bahr knew he had a good story when he wrote an essay in a history writing contest, and I admire Linda Lawrence Hunt for recognizing that it was a story worth presenting to a wide audience. Thank you.

... I'm an opera singer, and I read this book during my long waits between entrances during a run of performances for Mozart's Don Giovanni.)

Linda Hunt weaves a fascinating story from the old newspaper accounts of the extreme challenges and dangers faced by Helga and Clara Estby as they walked across America in a bid to win the money that could save their family farm. Once I started reading, I could hardly put the book down.

As I read this book, I expected to learn more about the role and place for women in late nineteenth century American culture, and I expected to learn about the silencing of stories that happens within families. However, I was surprised to find the story so relevant to my own history. I gained a new insight for myself from Ms. Hunt's description of "breaking the central code of a culture"; that a story simply cannot be heard when the actions of the characters in the story go beyond or "break" what is accepted in the prevailing culture.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in a glimpse of what life was like for independent thinking women at the turn of the last century, and I also recommend it for anyone who cherishes family stories.

I read very little non-fiction, but have really enjoyed two non-fiction books this summer, this book (BOLD SPIRIT) and SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand. They are similar stories about overcoming the odds and doing what no one thought possible. I hope BOLD SPIRIT gets the attention it deserves.

Hunt's book unfairly malign's Wernher von Braun and the German Rocket Team that came to America to develop our embryonic booster program. She lumps von Braun in with ardent Nazis and the historical record shows that von Braun was an apolitical rocket engineer and manager and he was never a goose-stepping Nazi. Neufeld's book, "The Rocket and the Reich" is well-researched but suffers from the author's need to find blame without any evidence. The attack on von Braun and his team by Hunt, Neufeld and others has little to do with accurate history but is rather an opportunistic vendetta to garner attention, fame and book sales. Lost in this smear campaign is the great work done by von Braun and his team for our nation during the Cold War that culminated in landing on the moon. Shame on you Linda Hunt.

A modern classic! A very,very important book for anyone who has any interest in this shameful phase of history. A must read!

Let me begin by saluting AMAZON.COM for coming through with a truly difficult task. Sure other e-book.com sellers can get you the latest best seller. But can any one of them get you Linda Hunt's, SECRET AGENDA!

It is time for the present generation to find out who is running what in the world and why. LINDA HUNT'S out-of-print book ansers some difficult questions. Her book was painfully assembled by the graces of the U.S. Congress' July 4, 1976, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. Without FOIA there would simply be no book.

Basically, SECRET AGENDA reviews the results of the Executive Order signed in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman (called by the Pentagon, "Operation Paperclip"). This was a little known Cold War directive for secretly spiriting specially skillful Germans into the United States. However, Truman had written a clearly up front provision into his directive: "NO FORMER NAZIS ARE TO BE ALLOWED INTO THE UNITED STATES UNDER THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER."

What SECRET AGENDA reveals for the first time (in 1992) from purposely buried FBI and CIA files is that not only did former German Nazis get cushy leadership positions in the United States Army, the U.S. Air Force and major corporations, but many of them were either indictable (or in some cases already indicted by the U.S. Army) Nazi war criminals! Truman's national security justification for "Operation Paperclip" was that the United States needed technically advanced scientists to effectively compete in military technology with the Soviet Union.

Historians still argue whether or not it was necessary for the U.S. to import Verner von Braun and his team of V-2 rocket experts. They had earlier supervised slave laborers who built the weapons that rained down fire on London in World War II. See for example: "THE ROCKET AND THE REICH: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era" by MICHAEL J. NEUFELD (just published). Indeed, it only recently came to public attention that, as the Huntsville Times in its 28 February 2000 edition wrote, " ... the V-2s were built by slave laborers from concentration camps [who were] worked to death by Nazis ..."

Eventually, von Braun's Arthur Rudolph was charged by the U.S. Justice Department with concealing his Nazi war crimes, and forced to leave the country. But as prize-winning investigative reported Hunt points out, it is hard to explain the American importation and protection of the Nazi doctors who had supervised cruel medical experiments at death camps such as Dachau and Auschwitz.

Indeed, in SECET AGENDA Hunt cross references FBI files and Nuremberg Trial records discovering that many of the close Wehrmacht medical colleagues of the men who were convicted of crimes against humanity were brought into the United States and were made directors of medical research at Randoph Field Air Force Base in Texas. Men such as Strughold, Luft and Schreiber who had financed, directed and reviewed the (criminal) medical experiments of men like Josef Mengele became part of the American medical establishment, Hunt points out.

For her troubles, Linda Hunt seems to have been marginalized. However, SECRET AGENDA is a valuable historical sourcebook painstakingly assembled from government documents that provides an unvarnished and rare view into ... as the book's title suggests ... the secret agendas of the wickedly powerful.

Amazon.com is to be congratulated for serving its "offbeat" customers who sometime deviate from popular culture; just long enough to find out what's going on behind the scenes. It took the able staff of Amazon.com special effort to locate a copy of SECRET AGENDA for me. In their own way, Amazon.com serves the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution by providing rare and controversial literature at a fair price. For that I am grateful.