GUILTY SURVIVOR - MEMOIRS OF TAMERLA KENDALL
BLURB:
Tamerla Kendall is the woman you see rooting for her son at sporting practice or shopping in a grocery store. Perhaps you’ll see her planting a garden behind her home, or talk to her at school or work. She’s a student, worker, wife and mother. Surviving her dark past is hidden by her façade of an everyday, average life. Reading her memoirs will reveal her true struggle to survive in a war zone, and is a testament to her courage.
As a Bosnian Croat, Tamerla, lived through the carnage and chaos in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War (1992-1995). Hers is a story of courage, fear, ingenuity, and survival. Difficult choices she made then still disturb her peace of mind and life today.
She made a few trips out of Sarajevo, only to return to keep the family restaurant business operating. One carefully planned, secretive trip was made to remove her daughter from the dangers of fighting, but this created a heartbreaking rift in their relationship. For her second trip, Tamerla masqueraded as a United Nations Protection Forces soldier and rode in a tank. With each trip, she risked being arrested or shot.
Her hopes for a return to normalcy at war’s end diminished as corruption and religious zealots took control. She married an American, and this marked her as an outcast by some she’d trusted. When her life was threatened at gunpoint, she faced a critical decision concerning her family’s safety in her beloved country.