My Father's Shadow: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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My father, political activist Samuel Mark Goldbloom, was my hero and my nemesis all the days of his life.

Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo grew up in thrall to her father, a prominent socialist and covert member of the Communist Party. From an early age, she adopted his political beliefs, becoming a supporter of the Soviet Union and an anti-war advocate. She travelled with him, meeting figures such as Indonesian president Soekarno, and greeting Paul Robeson and North Korean delegates at home.

But Sam could be withholding and difficult. He had a fierce temper and a sharp backhand and was not always a faithful family man. When Sandra entered adulthood and began to navigate a patriarchal world of work and relationships, she came to question aspects of her fathers worldview. As the communist ideals of the Left were tested and faltered over the Soviet Union, the mood of the times gradually shifted to embrace the counterculture. Sandra, working in the artistic swirl of Melbournes Pram Factory and the lively independent publishing scene, absorbed ideas about women, family and Jewish culture that often led to tense conversations with her father. When Sam falls sick and hopes to end his suffering, his daughters devotion undergoes a final test.

My Fathers Shadow is a portrait of life on the Left during a time of great social change. Lyrical, sharply observed and affecting, it is a candid exploration of the fraught dynamics between father and daughter and, ultimately, the love that underlies them.

Author Bio

Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo is the author of the novel The Book of Rachel (Allen & Unwin). Several of her short stories and poems have been published in literary magazines, including Griffith Review and Westerly. In 1982 Sandra established Dead Set, the first desktop publishing company to work specifically with book and journal publishers. Concurrently, and for the past forty years, she has worked as a non-fiction editor and proofreader for leading academic and trade publishers. Born and raised in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, she now lives, gardens and writes in Castlemaine, a goldfields town in central Victoria.