By the Grace of God: A True Story of Love, Family, War and Survival from the Congo

FROM THE PUBLISHER

By The Grace of God is the riveting saga of one family's love and survival through the wars, tyranny, corruption, and epidemics that have plagued the Congo over the past 40 years. The story centers on Georgette, a mischievous tomboy from a small, isolated town in Central Africa, who overcomes a harrowing childhood as a war refugee to earn a masters degree from an American university and become a passionate convert to Judaism.

Through her eyes we see a child's view of the family's desperate escape from a town ringing with the gunfire of civil war; of children fleeing past corpses of family friends and seeing their father get shot and disappear into a river; of a woman who twice throws her body in front of the muzzle of a soldier's rifle to save her children's lives; of six children marching 150 miles to safety, sleeping under the sky on beds of leaves, scavenging insects and exotic plants to survive; and of a family miraculously reunited with its patriarch.

In the second half of the book, Wechsler powerfully presents the degradation of life in one of the most corrupt dictatorships of the 20th century; the unspeakable pain and suffering inflicted by the AIDS epidemic; and the profound gratitude Georgette feels for the freedom she finds in the United States and the spiritual peace she finds in Judaism.

More than anything else, however, By the Grace of God is an inspiring account of the close family ties and great personal courage that hold the family together through terror and deprivation. At the center of the story is Georgette's father, Benoit, a man of great kindness, wisdom, and decency. In a land torn apart by racism and tribalism, Benoit teaches his children to judge people by their characters, not their ethnicity. He works hard to attain financial security only to see all his savings wiped out not once but twice by civil war. He never complains about his luck, however, and, through hard work, he manages to put it all back together again. Benoit, the son of a village chief, defies the sexism of his culture and earns the scorn of his peers by insisting that his girls deserve the same opportunity for education that any boy would get. Thanks to their father's vision, Georgette and her sister both overcome enormous obstacles to earn college degrees, an extraordinary accomplishment for girls from the Congolese countryside.

The other central character of By the Grace of God is Georgette's older sister, Josee. Talented, beautiful, and highly disciplined, Josee is more than an older sister; she is Georgette's role model, best friend, and great protector during a childhood marred by war and a broken home. The sisters together survive the war, hunger, and oppression that plague their nation, but they cannot escape the viral plague that surfaces in the 1980s: Josee becomes infected with HIV and passes away soon after her fortieth birthday. Georgette then travels back to Africa to adopt Josee's three children and takes them back to live in the United States with her husband and their two children.

Through the story of one family, By the Grace of God traces the fascinating modern history of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire): from the brutal racism of the Belgian colonial administrators to the thrill of independence to the horrors of civil war to the tragedy of Mobutu's staggeringly corrupt, 32-year dictatorship right up to the revolution that ousted the tyrant in 1997 and the new civil war that followed in 1998. This book also provides a compelling portrait of Congolese family life and culture that will enlighten readers about what life is really like in the heart of Africa.

Georgette's remarkable quest for a spiritual home is another important theme of By the Grace of God. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Georgette had wavered in her faith since childhood. Many of the nuns who taught her classes did not take well to her intellectual inquisitiveness; she was often punished by being forced to write 100 times, "I will not ask blasphemous questions in religion class."

After moving to the United States at the age of 26 to work at the United Nations, Georgette became romantically involved with Howell Wechsler, an American who had served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in her native land. He was the first Jew she had ever met. Through Howell and his family and her own studies, Georgette grew to appreciate the beauty of Judaism. When the couple got married, she agreed that they would raise their children as Jews. In the tenth year of their marriage, Georgette converted to Judaism in a beautiful ceremony that is detailed in By the Grace of God.

By the Grace of God will be of great interest to anyone who enjoys a captivating story that is, in turn, funny and terrifying, heartbreaking and heartwarming. This unforgettable story ultimately transcends geographical and cultural boundaries to deliver an inspiring and universal tale of love, family, and survival.

FROM THE CRITICS

Christy J. Zink

These are stories no outsider could tell...Wechsler smartly stays true to a child's point of view in retelling her early experiences as a refugee, and the reader is carried along through the hide and seek game played by soldiers and the pursued. Remarkable here is the mindset of a child raised on war: In her world the terrifying becomes ordinary. -- Washington Post

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

From the Author:

Writing this book was a cathartic experience for me. Many times while writing my story, I would start laughing out loud. Many other times my keyboard would be all wet with tears. But I just couldn't stop writing. The death of my beloved sister, Josee, in 1993 pushed me to write this book. We had shared so many extraordinary experiences that nobody else knew about; I wanted our children to understand and remember what we had gone through.

By the Grace of God is the story of my life. It is a story that, I think, will move you to tears AND uplift your spirit. I think you will be fascinated to learn about what life is really like in Central Africa. You will be amazed to see how many similarities there are between family life in Africa and family life in America. At the same time, you'll be intrigued by the differences in culture and beliefs.