Something to Hold On To: Stories of Courage, Perserverance, and Love by Ann Hajdu Hultberg - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Ann Hajdu Hultberg and her new book, “Something to Hold On To,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Ann and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Something to Hold On To

by Ann Hajdu Hultberg

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GENRE:   Memoir / Anthology

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BOOK BLURB:

In life we hold on to our faith, family, friends, our sense of humor, our memories, and our promises. As a child, it might be a make-believe world. Sometimes it’s something physical like a prayer card or a twist tie, a school bag or a rosary bead. Maybe it’s a photo. Everything we hold dear brings us hope and comfort during both good and bad times.

I write what I and others have held on to; I recount my experiences as a late Baby Boomer raised in rural Pennsylvania, and most importantly, by a Hungarian father, an immigrant, who escaped the Soviet Invasion in 1956.

I hope that you the reader will connect to some of the stories and the things we hold on to.

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EXCERPT THREE:

From “Something To Hold On To”

A mother smothered her child to save fifty adults. She held a wool blanket tight over her infant’s face to stop her cries because their group could not be given away, could not be found in hiding. They all would have been shot or sent to prison camp. The pressure to stop the baby’s sounds stopped her breath.

My father was one of the last of the 200,000 Hungarian refugees who fled the country, traveling by train, truck, or foot, to escape Hungary’s Soviet-imposed policies.

Small in stature, but immense in resourcefulness and survival, dad beat all odds. As a young man he was captured by the Russians and placed in a group to be sent by boxcar to Russia. The people were told to stay in line, or they would be shot. He escaped by pretending to be a doctor to tend to a woman who had fainted. When the guard left to get water for the woman, he made his move and ran to a nearby building. Here a man hid him in his house until the Russians gave up their search.

He was later captured a second time by the Hungarian Gestapo, again to escape by using his wits. He found a Hungarian doctor to falsify a report that he had contagious T.B. and he was released. But others were not so lucky. Raping, killing, stealing-- these atrocious crimes were all part of the Russian occupation. The young, the old, the sick were captured off the street and sent to Russia to work, or to fight for their army, but most died before reaching their destination.

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GUEST POST:

Some of My Favorite Items in My Office

I really like this question! My writing area is cluttered yet organized. All that surrounds me has some significance, some memory that makes me happy. It’s my haven, a place of peace and concentration, where I can fall into a trance of words and sentences.

I write in my computer room at a desk top. My oak desk, made for the family by a good friend, is large with an attached hutch. On the top shelf of the hutch is where I keep my collection of distractions! I sit in a chair where I can no longer work the lever that raises and drops the chair, it’s broken, and so I sit on a pillow for height.

In the center of the hutch is a coffee mug given to me by my good friend, former colleague, and newly published author, Jude. The cover of my book is somehow laminated onto the front and back of the cup. I love that she ordered this for me and it reminds me of what I’ve accomplished in four years: writing, publishing, and promoting a book. I will never drink from this vessel but display the mug as I would a precious piece of crystal.

Next are three wooden blocks, all inscribed with a different saying: “I am silently correcting your grammar,” “Life is short smile while you still have teeth,” and “Relax we’re all crazy.” The latter two remind me to not take myself too seriously. And the former, well, people, let’s write using proper grammar! I’m on the prowl to catch those Facebook posts when I see the misuse of your/you’re or saw/seen, as examples.

On the right side of the shelf is a six inch tan, ceramic owl my dad bought for me on one of his business trips. As a teenager, I collected owls, and this one reminds me of my dad. I write many stories about his escape from Hungary during the 1956 Uprising, and I always want to do good by his name.

I have a jelly jar full of white chalk, which is obsolete now.  The lid holds a cushion with Mrs. Hultberg’s chalk in needlepoint, my name in red and the word chalk in white. Underneath the word chalk is a red apple. My friend Conny made this for me; her needlepoint work is beautiful, and it reminds me of a nearly 40 year teaching career, both at the high school and college level.

A black 1 inch by 2 inch eraser has stamped on one side “Out, damned spot!” Macbeth V. As a high school English teacher, I taught this play many times, along with Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello. I loved teaching Shakespeare’s tragedies and deem him as one of the greatest writers ever.

My sister-in-law gave me a travel mug and wrapped within the clear, plastic cup is a collage of pictures taken over our many girls -only- trips to the beach. Over a dozen pictures capture sunrises, bathing suit poses, beach chairs near the water at low tide.  Then the somewhat scandalous—drinking way too many lemon martinis, who left her bra on the porch?, drinking champagne at sunset and attempting cartwheels afterward, while in sundresses, on the hard sand, and having pulled leg muscles the next day.  What happens at the beach stays at the beach…!

On a tamer note, a globe, which belonged to my husband’s grandmother, sits atop three books: the Webster Dictionary, A Word a Day, and A Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate. I consult all three frequently. Did you know that a supernumerary actor appears in a film with no speaking parts? Or that a pococurante person is indifferent to others?

My walls are equally distracting, but also in a good way. Behind my chair is a painting my dad did years ago of my maternal grandfather, sitting in a lawn chair, near the lake, our favorite spot at the local state park. He is wearing his straw hat and holding a Camel cigarette, two staples he was never without. His good leg is crossed over his wooden leg, replaced by the one he lost in the railroad accident. I remember all of the family picnics we had with my grandparents at that location.

Above my hutch I have the letters- travel- 10 inch wood letters covered with parts of maps, reminding me of places as a family we have visited: Washington, DC, Louisville, NYC, Arizona, and Virginia Beach.

To the left of my chair is a window which allows me to glimpse into my backyard where I have a grapevine and apple tree, both planted by my husband and dad, so many years ago when we first bought our house. Behind the tree is another apple tree taken from dad’s house after he died. Behind that is a two story barn built by my husband and behind that the forest. Occasionally I get to see deer feed in the yard. My setting is bucolic, typical of the town where I live.

Lastly, I have a framed picture of a bird on a tree with the inscription COUNT BLESSINGS.  Yes indeed, each day I am thankful for all that I have, all that I’ve done.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Ann Hajdu Hultberg, born in Buffalo, New York, grew up in rural Bradford, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and St. Bonaventure University, Ann spent 34 years teaching English at Limestone, NY, and Allegany, NY, School Districts; she was also an adjunct college composition instructor and student teacher supervisor at University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for 15 years. She and her husband split their time between Bradford and Naples, Florida, and visiting with their daughter and son-in-law. Something To Hold On To is her debut book.

Ann can be found on Facebook as Ann Hajdu Hultberg. Her Twitter handle is @HajduAnn and Instagram is annelizabeth59. https://www.facebook.com/ann.hultberg.

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CONNECT WITH ANN:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ann.hultberg

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/HajduAnn

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/annelizabeth59

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22537632.Ann_Hajdu_Hultberg

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61468290-something-to-hold-on-to

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3XY8Ws9

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3XYgXgW

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Something-Hold-Ann-Hajdu-Hultberg/dp/1667856413

BookBaby Paperback:

https://store.bookbaby.com/book/something-to-hold-on-to

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Ann will be awarding a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.