By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Darkest Corner is a novel of heritage for author Artscene 25 · Wednesday, November 14, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Decades of Soviet rule have kept Estonian history in the dark, but Oakville's Urve Tamberg has heard the stories first hand from the people who lived them: her parents. Now, the first-generation Canadian has taken those stories, along with stories written in academia and history books and merged them all together to write a young adult novel about her people during the Second World War. Tamberg recently published the novel The Darkest Corner of the World and will be doing a book signing at Chapters Oakville on Saturday (Nov. 17). "When I was growing up, there were never any books on Estonia. Part of the reaeric riehl / oakville beaver / @halton_photog son was because it was behind the Iron it's heritage: Oakville author Urve Tamberg is pictured with her novel, The Darkest Corner Curtain and there were no stories that were of the World, about a young Estonian girl who is in the middle of Nazi and Soviet fighting during getting out, other than the stories that peothe Second World War. ple have brought with them," the married life and the things that children would be maybe even boring. mother of three said. "I didn't realize the front actually passed "I basically wrote a book that I would interested in, which is how did you live, what did you do, what were the politics, how have wanted to read as a teenager." Both of Tamberg's parents fled Estonia in would you react towards it," Tamberg said. NOVEMBER 30 FRIDAY OAKVILLE The novel starts in the summer of 1941, 1944 when the Soviets returned to the Baltic SATURDAY DECEMBER 1 & DECEMBER 8 DECEMBER 2 & DECEMBER 9 SUNDAY country to drive the Nazis out, who had just prior to the Nazi invasion. Life under Soviet rule was already bad enough for driven them out in 1941. Both of her parents F E AT U R I N G spent time in refugee camps and made their 15-year-old Madli and her fellow Estonians. STUDENTS OF way to Canada in the early 1950s where they Books were burned, the school curriculum The Oakville Beaver changed, bank accounts were changed to met. Soviet banks and Madli's father, a history Tamberg has heard the stories of Estonia as she grew up from her parents and her professor, was arrested. After mass deportations to Siberian labour weekly Estonian school. In recent years camps, the character realizes her life is in though, she became more interested in the danger. Furthermore, she has a manuscript country's history. Now, as the people who her father had written that details the true told her the stories are aging, the novel has history of Estonia, which is contrary to the given her a forum to capture their histories Soviet propaganda, says Tamberg. and to share them with younger generaMuch of the book is set on the Estonian tions, including her own children. island of Hiiumaa, where Tamberg's moth"There are a lot of untold stories. They er's family had a farm. Growing up, Tamberg really haven't been written because the stoimagined life on the island as a peaceful one, ries were buried behind the Iron Curtain and there aren't that many Estonians around either," she said. So, Tamberg went to researching the setting for her novel. From textbooks, she has been able to get am 23 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE account of historical events that are CALL TO REGISTER accurate in the novel. 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"I did read most of those to get a www.oakvilleballet.com lot of the snippets and details of daily 3100 Ridgeway Dr. Unit # 41, Mississauga through her farm, literally, twice, once in 1941 when the Nazis were driving the Soviets out and then again in 1944 when the opposite happened," Tamberg said. "A lot of (the novel) is predicated on my mother's stories and the experiences that she had and the community had. The very last stronghold of that time was the Hiiumaa island, and that is based on my mother's story." As hardships hit Estonia, Madli is driven to protect the manuscript and her family. Writing the novel took a long time, Tamberg admits. Researching the events in history and in people's personal lives took a long time. Furthermore, this is Tamberg's first novel, so learning the craft of writing, through writing groups, books and conferences, took time to perfect. The novel is available at Chapters-Indigo stores, independent bookstores or online at www.chapters.ca or www.amazon.ca. Chapters is located at 320 North Service Rd. W. Tamberg will be at the store from 1-4 p.m. BALLET 7:30PM 2PM & 7PM 1PM & 5PM "An Oakville Tradition" MONA'S Beauty Salon Inc. Presented by: 289.997.9198