Books In Sync

Books In Sync Author Alexandra Tesluk Promotes Her Books The Ashes of Innocence, A Memoir And Hope Is My Absolute, My Journey with Acute Monocytic Leukemia.

Author Biography:

Dedication, The Ashes of Innocence: “This book is dedicated to the concept of hope, the kind of hope my parents never knew existed. This is my story of mental and physical abuse, slavery, sorrow and love . . . and ultimately, the victory of understanding.”

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“No life is easy. No life is a straight line. But how you approach the hardships that inevitably arise during the course of a lifetime is what develops both individual character and the stamina to stay within the eye of the storm. The life of Alexandra Tesluk has seen great pain and great challenge. Even now, in the past year, since the publication of The Ashes of Innocence, she has been sent yet another life challenge, undergoing aggressive treatment for leukemia.

Born in a camp in war-torn Europe, suffering the separation from her father, and the emotional abandonment of an indifferent mother, Alexandra suffered great loss and trials, including suicide, sexual abuse and emotional betrayals. There was little comfort or joy in her formative years as the barriers between her, a refugee in Canada, and her peers were great with little common ground. She suffered an isolating childhood, longing for stability and security she imagined available to Canadian children.

With little education, leaving an abusive husband to raise a child alone, Alexandra overcame these obstacles to become a successful businesswoman and loving mother and wife. Striving to gain clarity and peace and to write her way into forgiveness, The Ashes of Innocence is the intimate and miraculous story of a woman overcoming and surviving—and the story continues as she writes about her current experiences with cancer.

The most oft repeated comment about The Ashes of Innocence from readers is that you cannot put it down, and that it has a conversational narrative style which invites the reader to participate and recognize their own strengths. It is, in that true sense, inspiring—Abigail Thomas, the author of Thinking About Memoir, suggests that “writing memoir is a way to figure out who you used to be and how you got to be who you are … The writer of memoir makes a pact with her reader that what she writes is the truth as best she can tell it. But the original pact, the real deal, is with herself. Be honest, dig deep, or don’t bother.

Alexandra Tesluk, by writing The Ashes of Innocence, has been true to that pact.

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Hope Is My Absolute
by Alexandra Tesluk

Hope Is My Absolute: A Woman’s Battle To Conquer Leukemia.

We are all – each citizen of Planet Earth – on the journey of a lifetime. We will take differing roads and unique, separate pathways, but ultimately, we will all arrive at the same destination at life’s end. For some, the road travelled will be regrettably short – and perhaps not so sweet. For others, it will be a long and winding road, a lifelong journey that will inevitably have its moments of joy, of pain, of satisfaction, of love, sorrow and perhaps even regret over dreams left unrealized.

Alexandra Tesluk knows, perhaps better than most, what a life’s journey can reveal. She was born in a camp in war-ravaged Europe and, early in life, suffered a separation from her loving father and the emotional abuse of an indifferent, callous family life. She became a refugee to Canada, but felt isolated, never feeling as though she belonged, and had her education cut short. She married an abusive husband, finally leaving him to raise a child alone, and later became a very successful businesswoman, a wife for the second time, and a loving, nourishing mother. That part of her life’s journey, that part of her inspiring story, was chronicled in her first published memoir entitled The Ashes of Innocence.

But the story of Alexandra Tesluk didn’t stop there. Later in life – in Toronto, in the early autumn of 2008 – she was diagnosed with a severe, debilitating illness known as Acute Monocytic Leukemia, a disease that ravages the body and spares only the most fortunate – or perhaps the most courageous. Tesluk’s most recent publication, Hope Is My Absolute: My Journey With Acute Monocytic Leukemia, is now in release, detailing the difficult pathway of Tesluk’s journey along the road to cancer remission.

It is not enough to describe Hope Is My Absolute as a story of inspiration, although it is most certainly that. What makes this memoir both remarkable and memorable is its power, both in the narrative of the story itself and in Tesluk’s informative, objective style of presentation. She details her medical journey as it walks her through the valley of fear and desperation and back onto the road of remission and newly gained health. The reader never once gets the sense that the author ever felt even remotely sorry for herself; what there is instead is the compelling, courageous story of a woman who was dealt a very difficult hand, but who used her resilience and the love of her family to summon up the courage to trump a disease that claims so many.

Hope Is My Absolute invites the reader to walk alongside author Tesluk on her gruelling, inspirational medical journey. It invites the reader to share in the fear that a blood-cancer diagnosis can bring; it takes the reader through the process of chemotherapy – the trauma of the procedure, the horrific nausea, the hair loss; it tells of the sorrow of the loss of hospital friends who didn’t make it. Most of all, and certainly most importantly, it takes the reader straight through the process of treatment and healing and back into the bright, joyful light of healing and remission.

The medical journey of the battle against acute monocytic leukemia is remarkably compelling. The story that Alexandra Tesluk tells is even more so. Hope Is My Absolute is enriching, informative and a tribute to the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Review:

 “I found the compelling autobiographical diary of Tesluk's fight against cancer to be, first of all, educational--a self-published how-to on graciously surviving the ravages of an aggressive disease. The book brims with poetic word pictures (rosary beads wrapped around her hands; the white carpet of frost glistening in the morning sun). Certainly Tesluk conveys the harsh realities of physical illness and the truth that cancer robbed her of her "blissful ignorance" in believing that "tomorrow stretched forever." But she argues with logical and spiritual clarity that, since death is the separation of body and soul, the question of life concerns the indestructibility of that soul. Throughout her narration she calls the reader to prayer, to gratitude for the "divine gift" of life, and to faith in a loving God who ultimately holds our destiny”

Reviewed by Deb Elkink

Book Details:

Publisher: Self-published (September 20, 2010)

ISBN-10: 0980894212

ISBN-13: 978-0980894219

Language: English

Paperback: 129 Pages

Genre: Non-Fiction/Self-Help With Acute Monocytic Leukemia

Print List Price: $16.00

Amazon Print Purchase Link

http://www.amazon.com/Hope-My-Absolute-Monocytic-Leukemia/dp/0980894212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321280119&sr=1-1

Author Alexandra Tesluk Books Purchase Website

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=212

Alexandra Tesluk’s Blog

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=333

For Your Autographed Copy Of Hope Is My Absolute, Please Contact Me:

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=54

The Ashes of Innocence ~ 2nd Printing ~ New content and Epilogue Book Description

by Alexandra Tesluk

EVEN AT THE AGE OF SIXTY AND SEVENTY, THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN OF THE GERMAN DP CAMPS, BORN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, ARE STILL ASKING QUESTIONS.

THE ASHES OF INNOCENCE IS AN ADULT CHILD’S JOURNEY BACK TO THAT HORRIFIC BEGINNING. UNCOVERING THE EMOTIONAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS SURROUNDING HER BIRTH, AND AS AN IMMIGRANT CHILD NEWLY ARRIVED IN CANADA, ALEXANDRA TESLUK PUTS A VOICE TO A GENERATION OF DISPLACED CHILDREN.

“Who is my father?” All through The Ashes of Innocence, this is the central question that has haunted author Alexandra Tesluk’s entire life, emotionally and physically, from her birth as a displaced person in Camp Lyssenko to her life in Canada.

Arriving in a country where refugees from Europe are still being touted as “Europe’s unwelcomed” the struggles and choices of her mother implicate Alexandra as a young girl into a life of servitude and abusive family situations. With every year in Canada, from the cruelty of the schoolyard to the dubious equality of the workplace, Alexandra reinvents gossamer memories of an absent father at every stage of life as her own personal glimmer of hope during times of extreme struggle.

Through adversity Alexandra finds her strength; through strength, the human spirit excels: Out of Europe, a fragmented family emerges, broken, hungry, seeking stability. The Ashes of Innocence takes up the thread in the new world as layers of social isolation and emotional longing, offer a harrowing and precarious narrative. As each experience, from being rejected by her family and her peers, to accomplishing a career at a time when men dominated the workplace, The Ashes of Innocence shows an industrious and quiet faith; and as readers we cheer Alexandra on at every turn of fate. Written in a conversational style that brings an immediacy and poignancy, we sympathize with her alienation, we are encouraged by her perseverance, and we celebrate in her self-determination.

Recent Review Quotes:

“The Ashes of Innocence is about overcoming the obstacles of abuse and eventually learning forgiveness … This book is a moving tribute to her father and his family who in turn become hers. I would recommend this book to anyone who has had to experience abuse. You may find strength in reading Alexandra’s courageous story.”

–Bookroom Reviews, http://www.bookroomreviews.com/

“From page 1… I never once felt bored or distracted … as a first book by Tesluk I was very impressed by her deep and thought provoking style of writing … Tesluk’s book is diffidently a powerful page turner and an intense story of finding love.”

—The Opinioned Reader, http://theopinionedreader.blogspot.com/

“The Ashes of Innocence is a story that emphasizes the complexity and uniqueness of human beings… [Alex writes with a] subjective touch that is both delicate and devastating. It may be too intense or subjective for some, but for those who can hear Alexandra speaking through these pages, this is a journey is worth taking.”

—The Bookshelf Review, http://bookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/

“The Ashes of Innocence is an autobiography which takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions throughout an incredible journey with Alexandra as she struggles to overcome the continuous challenges that face her. As Alexandra grows from infancy to adulthood, a sense of protectiveness and inspiration grows within the reader.”

—Page One Lit, http://pageonelit.com/

“The story is written in a clear style … the characters are well drawn and described. It is a moving story that caters to women and men alike, and all those who have lost hope sometime in their lives … Cruelty to kids and abuse is still a big issue, and Alexandra’s book shows that this important issue has to be resolved. Children should be allowed to live their childhoods happily and find love and affection.”

—Rambles, http://www.rambles.net/tesluk_ashes08.html

Book Details:

Publisher: Self-Published

ISBN: 9780980894202

Genre: Biography/Memoir

Print Retail List Price: $21.95

Print Purchase Link

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=21

Alexandra Tesluk’s Blog

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=333

For Your Autographed Copy Of Hope Is My Absolute, Please Contact Me:

http://alexandratesluk.com/?page_id=54