Ascent to Power by David L Roll 2024, 446pg Draft

How Truman emerged from Roosevelt's shadow and remade the world.

Born 1884 in Lamar, Missouri his grandfather was a slave owner they were Presbyterians.. They moved to Independence Missouri. He acted as a Shabbos goy for Jewish Neighbors. Graduating at  school he worked at a bank as he had no money to go to collage. When  his father died he ran the  farm for a decade.  Aged 33 he went to reenlist  in 1917 leading his Missouri National Guard where he earned respect with the Irish and German Catholic soldiers he led into combat till Armistice day. Returned home and joined Eddie Jacobson in the haberdashery business which failed and he took on himself to pay of the debt. He started his political career as a county judge then got into the senate.

FDR doctor warned him to make a good choice for  Vice President and he would not survive a 4th term. FDR wanted to remain head of the Army to the end he lasted 82 days after the election. He chose Harry Truman as Harry had a reputation in the New Deal where he had dealt with Harry Hopkins and he set up a committee to check that the armaments companies were not overcharging the government and saved the fortune. Harry was 60 when he became the 33rd  President with  no planning for the role. He had been reluctant to accept the position  of  Vice President.

Truman, before Pearl Harbour attack had set up the Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program and had saved the taxpayer 10 to 15 billion in military spending. Look magazine called him one of ten most valuable civilians to help the war effort. In FDR forth election campaign he was against Dewey and could not take a chance. The 4th FDR term was with the smallest crowd as it would be an austere no frills affair. Despite FDR  health he went to Yalta at a time when Zhukov was only 50 miles from Berlin. 

On the way FDR met Ibn Saud who told him that the Arabs would never allow a Jewish State however he was the first head of state to form a close relationship with the king and Britain would not control Saudi Oil. 

 1945 April 12,,Truman was inaugurated. He sent the car to fetch his wife and daughter to be present. It would take another 6 month to beat Germany and still a year and a half to beat Japan? This was  the consensus of the army Chiefs. They were already planning Operation Downfall to invade Japan.  The war would only end with Unconditional Surrender.

Harry Hopkins was the best person who could tutor Truman on the situation. They knew each other from the New Deal years in 1933 when Hopkins was in Missouri directing laborer's to Public Works jobs. Truman had told the FDR  staff that he was keeping them all on.  Hopkins advised him he must slowly appoint his own people and so the first change he made  was secretary of labour Francis Perkins was replaced by  Clinton Anderson. Truman did not want a women in the cabinet. She had held this post for 12 years and had established Social Security.

The first speech that Truman gave at a join session of Congress and on the radio he scored a triumph despite not having FDRs skills. With Molotov in the Oval office he said the US could not agree to an unelected Polish government, so already there was a postwar divergence between the US and Soviets. Through the Red Cross, Himmler had proposed a surrender on the Western side but to keep fighting the Russians. But Truman, Churchill agreed it has to be a complete surrender.

1945 April 30, Hitters death followed by May 8th V-E day end of war in Europe. Truman gave a solemn speech that day and that the war against Japan has to be completed. The day ended with a birthday party for Truman with some of his pals and the Whitehouse cook presented him with a birthday cake. ~Afterwards Truman went into the kitchen that thank both the black and white staff. The old staff observed this was the first time since Herbert Hoover and it gave them the feeling that he really understood them.

Henry Morgenthau had plans to not rehabilitate Germany's economy and turn them into an agricultural country.

When Truman went to Potsdam he had an afternoon to wander around bombed out Berlin and its stench and saw processions of hundred of old men, women and children wondering aimlessly along the autobahn and the depths of despair. The meeting took place in the Cecilienhof Palace build by Wilhelm II for his son. A council of foreign minister would negotiate the peace treaties. The Soviets realized that they had to speed up making the Atomic bomb as Leo Szilard had warned on Nuclear Proliferation. The Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs had handed over all the information needed on Atomic research. Truman said that they would not recognize of Eastern Europe unless that were  reorganized under democratic lines. Harry Hopkins was sent to Moscow and reported back that it was all window dressing as the Society would never allow free elections in Poland. Truman allowed Poland to take a large swath of Germany as compensation for Soviet land taken from Poland and Germany would permanently be spit in and never unified.

Douglas Mac Author was appointed commander of all Allied forces, ground , sea and air. This he would command Operation Downfall, by FDR over 5 Star General Admiral Nimitz and Truman just accepted this.

Before the atomic bomb was dropped it was discussed if they should warn the Japanese where it would land but were worried that POWs would be brought to that spot. They had to plan 2 bombs to be convincing the the bomb was not a one time thing but there were lots more, even though it would be more than a week for the 3rd one. Truman considered that the saving a quarter of a million young American soldiers was worth Japans loss of a couple of cities. Stimson also warned Truman that they should be wary of the Soviets in the far  east and especially Korea. The same Polish Question of the Far East.  The  Soviets planned to occupy Manchuria, North Korea and the Sakhalin and Kerile Islands. 

1945 August 28 US occupation of Japan began at Atsugi, where a Airforce base was later set up. MacArthur set up  as Viceroy over the 80 million Japanese. In Korea north of parallel were ordered to surrender to the Soviets and south to the Americans. North Vietnam to surrender to the Nationalist Chinese and south to France.

The Reforms that were brought to Japan were amazing and Japan had no way of resisting them breaking up the conglomerates and oligarchs political reforms that would play well in America. The idea was to build Japan into an anti Communist economic powerhouse and later we saw the "Japanese Miracle" 

Back home Truman had to deal with returning to peace time production and demobilizing 12.2 million  active soldiers by the end of 1945. Also 1.8 million workers lost their war time jobs. This was urgent as it had been predicted the war would last another year, even though the conversion to peace  plans were ready. There had been price controls and they could not be eased to quickly. Because of war time wage controls companies had made big profits and unions would press for wage increases. There was a post war demand for consumer products and big war time savings thus inflation could be expected.

The Marshal Plan amongst other things resulted in American products being sold to Europe and forced Europe to cooperate laid the groundwork for economic integration. It created economic stability with democracy. It helped the rebuilding of factories and made communism less attractive.

1944 June The GI bill had been signed by FDR. Truman appointed Bradley revitalized  the Veteran Administration  between 1945 and 1947 before he replaced Eisenhower as chief of Staff. However he did nothing to improve the benefits of African Americans and female Veterans. Vets could get guaranteed loans for farms and businesses, but black veterans had to struggle for the GI rights. The GI bill changed many lives and democratized the country this is what made The Greatest Generation, but it would take another year before Truman addressed civil rights.

Truman wanted Eleonor Roosevelt on his team as she had great influence with Negro voters. She was put on  the US delegation for the first UN conference in London.

Because Congress failed to deal with labour relations and preferred Truman to deal with it through executive orders it resulted in massive work stoppages, inflation and product shortages and Truman approval rating dropped.

Steel was important to the health of the US economy and all the steel mills workers went on strike. An increase in the price of steel was authorized and this solved the problem..

Ernest Bevin the British foreign minister confronted the Soviets especially about their occupation of Azerbaijan in norther Persia. The US realized that it needed sufficient force ready to use and the concept of Soviet Containment started a idea by George Kennan. Churchill said that Russia does not want a war but wants the fruits of war and indefinite expansion. Negotiations should be conducted with strength backing up the west.

Truman had to deal with a coal strike and also a strike of railway workers. Clifford Clark  wrote a speech for Truman where he said this was not a contest between the government and Labour but between Labour and the management of Whitney and Johnson. The result is that thousand will not be able to get back to their loved ones and people will die. He announced that as Commander in Chief he would get Congress to order the army to operate the trains. The strike ended the next day. The Union of mineworkers negotiations between the Union and Operators got nowhere  so Truman ordered the Federal government to get involved. This gave mineworkers federal  safety rules, better wages and health funds and  retirement packages. Thus the union could claim a victory.

By executive order Truman establish in 1946 The Presidential  Committee on Civil Rights. 1947 At Lincoln Memorial, Washington was the first time the US president had addressed a NAACP  platform, next to its leader Walter White, and Eleonor Roosevelt. This event had been coordinated with the White House and Truman promised to deliver a major declaration of government policy in front of thousands of spectators and over numerous radio stations 

 In 1948 he signed an executive order integrating the army, and banned discrimination in Federal hiring.

George Marshall was put in charge of Americas foreign policy because of his stature, judgement and ability. 1947 Marshall arrived in Moscow after stops in Paris and Berlin where he had seen the winter of 1946/1947was the coldest since 1880 with coal shortages in England and throughout the continent, with unheated home , frozen pipes and deaths of exposure. Germanies capacity to produce coal, steel and machinery was the key to Europe's recovery and would provide a market for German goods. The Soviets wanted Western Europe to slide into ruin and chaos rendering it ripe for Soviet influence and domination.  The US had to finance so they could get the supplies to sustain life and stop disintegration. In the end a total of 93 billion worth of surplus good over a period of 3 years was supplied. This was supposed to be the Truman Concept  but Truman said that the worst Republican can vote for it if it is named after the General. The plan was offered to Eastern Europe and Soviet who did not want western influence Molotov rejected it and Stalin forces 6 Soviet satellites not to take it.  At the same time George Kennan in Japan said this same  plan has to stabilize and revitalize Japans economy.

In a speech delivered to a joint session of Congress, Truman for the first time called out that the Soviets were the villain of the Cold War.

1947 The Rio Pact, officially the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR), was a  collective security agreement for the Americas, Organized by Marshall and Truman delivered a speech. This mentioned Article 5 that later became part of NATO.

1947 To secure these  rights was a long awaited document and became the basis of Civil Rights after that it  that catapulted   civil rights to the forefront and was a political bombshell that spilt the Democratic Party. Even FDR with all his political skills would not have risked alienating the Southern Democrats.

Berlin Crises. to be added 1948/49

 Election of  Truman 

The polls pundits and media were predicting  for of the Republican Thomas Dewey , Governor of NY to win an overwhelming victory so it was not easy to raise money for Truman. The leaders of the Black Americans decided that Truman was really serious when he talked about civil Rights and knew he would not be getting support from Southern Democrats and called for a collection to support him.. Knowing that more women would be voting in the election than ever before and women were worried about rising food prices " Housewives for Truman" was organized. In his whistle stop campaigns Truman accused the "Wall Street big business and glutens of privilege " which was a code name for Tom Dewey. In farming areas he warned the the previous Republican Administration of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover were "do nothing" governments. When their were bumper grain harvest the farmers were forces to sell it immediately at whatever price was offered because the government had not build storage bins. He took part in the Iowa ploughing competition to show he was once a dirt farmer like them. While Dewey knew nothing about growing wheat, corn and soybeans.

In Hollywood Ronald Reagan the president of the Screen Actors guild introduced him. The Berlin Wall Crises was on and Truman claimed that he was the best to deal with Soviet aggression. Dewey also campaigned on trains but only stopped at big cities. The Day after the election the Chicago Daily Tribune came out with headlines Dewey beats Truman. Once Truman won he no longer felt he was under the shadow of Roosevelt. His inauguration speech was meant to be on domestic issues. However his advisors told him he had to talk about  foreign policy for the next 4 years. The setting up of the United Nations,  Marshall Plan and the defense of Europe and by setting up NATO. To contain the Soviets a 4 point plan was set up to improve growth of underdeveloped nation by taking the them technical  assistance, since more than half the population lived in poverty and misery, This was a forerunner for AID and the Peace Corps.

In Japan Mac Arthurs Deconstruction Law where he  wanted reform and  purge the Industrial leaders who had supported the war. However Truman gave instructions must raise production to get the economy going. Joseph Dodge a Detroit banker who had been successful in Germany was sent to  Japan. Truman had supported MacArthur's reforms in Japan between 1945 to 1947 giving women the  vote, free elections , land reform, private property protection and constitutional rights.

Truman now had another reason to recognize Israeli it had taken all Jews from displaced peoples camps in occupied Germany. Now there were Jews and others in these camps who had fled from Eastern Europe. Truman's executive order was to open a  consulate near the camps to allow them to get US visas. Thousand of exiled Polish Army veterans as well as Greek, and German expellees as well as people who had fled from the Far East. Truman had fought hard to help refugees despite the 1924 quota system.

Epilogue-- By winning the 1948 election Truman no longer felt under the shadow of FDR and could make his own decisions. He had been frustrated by Roosevelt dereliction of duty in not informing him of both foreign and domestic affairs before he died. Roosevelt was always to be careful that nobody else took credit for any accomplishment.

Roosevelt was the first President who had a library opened in his name.  Truman had served 8 years minus 82 days.

In 1952 when Eisenhower was elected Truman immediately sent for him to help pass on the office in an organized way.

1965 Lyndon Johnson came to  the Truman Library in Independence Missouri where he sighed the Medicare Bill in Truman's presence. Both Truman and his wife were buried at his Library.

Note: This book  ends with Truman's only election to the Presidency   The transition of power from FDR to Truman was a remarkable success. The term from 1948 to 1952 is not covered.

Daughter of the Bamboo Grove : by Barbra Dermich 2025 300pg

 From China to America a true story of Abduction, Adoption and separation of twins. The harm of the one child policy has done to  China 3/12/25

In September 2000 a woman gave birth to twins in Hunan province, Fangfang and Shuangjie, notorious one-child policy the rise of international adoption.

2017 The author was a journalist in NY for the Los Angeles Times, but had spent 7 years in Beijing. The story slowly unfolded that's 160,000 Chinese mostly girls had been adopted all over the world.1979 the Communist Party had a mystical belief that population control was the key to jump starting the economy. Slogan on the wall said The economy rises as the population falls and  Later, longer and fewer was another slogan. This was a policy simply not in the Chinese tradition and would only be lifted in 2015. Till mid 20 C 1 in 5 babies died before the age of a year.

Moa Zedong was a  from Hunan  the largest rice producing province in China,  born 1893 in Shoashan. 1927 he joined the Socialist youth league. The diversion of the workforce away from agriculture caused famine. 45 Million died in the Great Leap Forward. Then in the decade long Cultural Revolution caused the death of up to 2 million and displaced and damaged the economy ,only ended with the death of Moa in 1976

2000 In Geofeng village. Till 1960s there were still tigers in the mountains. Zanhau the oldest daughter born 1995 attended school but had to take care of her brothers so dropped out after and never mastered literacy. Second daughter born 1997 According to the law Zehau were supposed to wait 5 years before the second birth. Abortions were a common and inexpensive way of birth control. A rural women could only be buried next to her husband in the Zengs cemetery only if she had a son. The status of the family in the village suffered by failure to produce a son, and this was a common cause of  a woman committing suicide. Like with Fangfang she lived under a false name and fabricated age.  Goafeng had a bank a  bus station, cluster of government offices including the Family Planning one, a wet market where the floor was covered with the mess of newly slaughter animal, open 5 days a week for farmers to sell their produce as well as counterfeit Nike athletic shoes. 

1979 Deng visited the US. He embraced socialism with Chinese characteristics all about making money. lifted controls on domestic travel, so you could move outside of the place you were registered. Migrants are expected home for the Lunar New Year and all industry closes for 15 days. Daughters move to the husbands family.

2000 was the year of the Dragon and people born that year would be strong, independent and destined to success and wealth. Citrus grew well and the family had fat quality pomelos, a source of cash. She gave birth to identical twins. Nobody in the family had, had twins. Identical twins comes from a single fertilized egg that splits, often the second child is a breech birth.

Heroes of the revolution were celebrated in the 50s purged in the 60s and rehabilitated in the 1970s

720 to 645 BCE Guaan Zhong and ancient Chinese philosopher boasted of his big nation, with vast territory and strong military forces to attain Supremacy. 1953 China briefly banned the import of contraceptives. The Party did not want to admit that the failed policy caused famine. They saw the booming population not as a miracle but as a nightmare. Thomas Malthus 1768 in Essay of principle of Population said the perpetual cycle of poverty as  population always outpaced food supply. The 1969 UN Population Fund aim was curbing population growth.

1968 Population Bomb by Paul Elhrich joined the chorus of doom. Sterilization of millions of men in India was unpopular, that in 1977 Indira Gandhi's Congress Party was booted out of office.

China's was poorer that many African countries at the time. China's GDP was $164 as against Taiwan $1,917 and the US of  $11,164 Reducing the population was considered easier that increasing the countries output. and in 1979 China's population just passed the billion mark. Family planning morphed into a monstrous organization and by 1990s it was estimated that eight three million Chinese worked at least part time for Family Planning. After giving birth to the first  child women were required to have a IUD inserted that could not easily be removed without the medical profession.  A second child received a fine and a civil servant could lose their job. It could result in punishment of their house being set on fire or pigs, chickens and oxen being confiscated. their tractor could be taken - you violate the policy your family could be destroyed. Forced abortions, and planning officers had quotas to meet. 

People were exhorted to exterminate class enemies that is anybody less poor or better educated. Rural china were not among the people clamoring for democracy in 1989 at Tlemamen Square. A pregnancy without a marriage certificate could be terminated and a fine had to be paid. $314 Billion was collected in fines and many rural jurisdictions were dependent on those fines for their budgets like small American town who set up speed traps to raise revenues. Legal marriage age was also raised in 1980 the wife had to be 20 and husband 22. In Hunan Province the law allowed for a second child if both parents were farmers.

If a child was not registered it could not receive an ID card to receive medical insurance open a bank account or even buy a railroad ticket. These were "black children" till 2015 when the One Child Policy was lifted and 30 million people belatedly received them. With parents getting jobs in cities 61 million children were left behind in villages.

Migrant women made up to 60% of the workforce, since they were not as useful for work on the farm, could be sent to earn cash for the family.

Female infanticide  was noted way back and was more common in times of famine as families did not want to pay a dowry or for the foot binding at the time. Sometimes things backfired as folktales tell of angry ghosts returning to kill sons. Under the Communist Party, Marriage law in 1950 explicitly banned killing newborns, prohibited polygamy, concubinage or forced marriage. However with the One child policy killing newborns returned. After 1991 China opened  up to International adoption. In some provinces there were 140 boys to 100 girls, thus 60 million girls were missing. No quite as large numbers of girls were hidden and not registered until 2015. Mothers were aunts, aunts were mothers, as people became adept to circumventing the rules.

Note 19C Europe up to 40% of babies were abandoned. The philosopher Rousseau disclosed that he had dumped 3 babies at a foundling home likely most died.

Enforcement of one child policy took place where the family was registered. Trafficking's was a long standing plague in China with thousand being kidnapped. In 2008 the year of the Beijing Olympics China boasted double digit growth. Family planning had taken  pigs and tractors now it was taking children. The issue  started when in 2005 when they dared to take a boy, and the parent was a well off person who stood up. The boy was returned malnourished covered with sores, but this opened up the floodgates. Families started to talk and organize. Their next miscalculation was when a girl was taken from a farmer who had married a young women  who was pregnant. He had been an early member of the party. he had kept the obligatory poster of Mao on his war long since. A big group brought a petition and there was an office in Beijing accepting petitions. A great rage against the local officials and challenged the system. There was a suspicion that the children had been trafficked for their organs.

2005 police acting on a tip stopped a van with 12 sedated  babies which were taken to a hospital and the suspects arrested. Later 27 a total suspects were arrested mostly belonging to the same family. The suspects claimed they were selling to welfare institutions that were run by the government thus legitimate. 1991 China enacted a Adoption Law as children were piling up in orphanages. Most babies headed to the US. Like the Panda diplomacy where they supplied foreign zoos so this was a friendship building program. By 2005 the number explorted  was  7,906 babies the top country to adopt out, US ,Spain, Canada , France, UK, Dutch  and Australian were also destinations. The families wanted girls not boys and 95% of the babies were girls offered from China. Initially singles could adopt that opened the way to gay couples to adopt, and most came from the countryside where women tended not to drink or smoke, so were children of choice. 

At this stage young women leaving the countryside to work in industry were earning nearly as much as men and sending home the money. Finally the policymaker began to grasp the demographic catastrophe and even before 2015 stopped enforcement and fewer babies were abandoned. But there was big money in adoption. By 2006 the secrets of the adoption business spilled out into the public. Orphanages were required to look for birth parents for 60 days before putting them up for adoption and found a way of laundering these trafficked babies. The government temporary suspended adoptions from the Hunan Province while they investigated.

1997 Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule, but still enjoyed self rule.

The family got their first TV in 2007 and soon after that the 3 wheeled motorized cart that families used as it was cheap and could take produce to market. Most Chinese adults at this stage had cellphones. A fortune teller told them Fanfang was  alive would have a good future and one day they would see her. In adult life at 20 or 30 these women would want to know where they came from and how they got there.

The writer moved to Beijing and was the China correspondent she was a career women who put off having children till after 30. In 1979 the US normalized relation with China and news organization opened offices there. During the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics journalist had freedom to travel around the country. She interviewed people with AIDS caused by unnecessary blood transfusions. On one assignment she reported on lead poisoning in Hunan province.

1949 The Communist Party standardized Chinese but local dialects persists. In rural China the further up the mountain you go, the scarcer the facilities and shabbier the houses and  smaller the agricultural plots. Fangfang had a identical twin sister a look alike and perhaps she would succeed in finding her. By 2024 when China ended her international adoption over 160,000 had been sent out. Fangfangwould have been 2 and a half a full year older than most adoptees.

1968 The Population Bomb by Paul Enrlich failed to materialize, the Chinese economic miracle caused hungry migrants to leave the countryside. In 2011 China's working population plateaued at 900 million. There were 7 males to 5 females. Sexually frustrated people are not conducive to social stability. Educated women , many chose to remain single. The one Child policy of 1979 was a billed as a temporary measure. In 2008 the Sichuan Province earthquake killed 69,000 people and thousands of children in shoddily build schools leaving rural families childless. People forced to get sterilized now mobilized a campaign to reverse vasectomies'. Fertilities treatment was offered to menopausal mothers to get "replacement babies." In other disaster where parents were separated from babies and searching for them some ended up being kidnapped.

Urbanization had been more effective in keeping down birthrates than coercion. Thousands trashed Family Planning offices. In 2012 Mo Yan won the Nobel prize for the book Red Sorghum. A portrayal of rural China and its history, the same year that Xi Jinping became head of the CCP.

2013 couples were allowed to have a second child if one of the parents was an only child, finally they pulled the plug in 2015 as an active response to the aging population.

In Romania Nicolae Ceausescu had banned abortion and contraception believing that a high birth rate would lead to economic growth. After he was shot in 1989 by firing squad it was discovered that orphanages had  more than 170,000 children. As a religious Christian she felt a mission to adopt babies.

Till WW2 international adoption was rare, Noble Prize 1938 writer Pearl Buck who wrote  The Good Earth adopted 7 children in 1920s and advocated transracial international adoption. Italy sent 3000 children to the US as war orphans. In reality they were babies taken from unwed mothers by the Catholic Church. The largest program was from the Korean War1950 to 1953 under the help of an Evangelicals couple who sent abroad 200,000 Korean children half to the US. many of these children had been fathered by US soldiers. As the Vietnam war was winding down Operation Babylift brought 3,000 babies to the US. 

In the Post War baby boom pregnant young women in the US without husbands were  forced by maternity homes to sign away  at least 2.7million babies, between 1944 and 1975. In 1970 sex education in schools started and birth control became widely available. Single motherhood gained respectability. 1973 Roe v Wade. legalized abortion nation wide in the US. Less children became available at a time when there was a queue to adopt due to infertility and same sex marriage. 2002 Angelina Jolly adopted from Cambodia , Ethiopia and Vietnam and Madonna adopted 4 of her 6 children from Malawi.

Families adopting in China would be in a group with a bus and a guide and she adopted 2 and a half year old Esther. The orphanage gave a story of the child's origin many were not true, everything she had been told about Esther was a lie. Marsha with her son Sam and his wife set  up a nonprofit Adopt a Child with a website. Also the Christian Alliance for  the Child, leading adoption agencies were started by missionaries, Evangelists and Baptists. Adopting parents receive a certificate of parental rights through abandonment and the birth parents have no legal claim on the child . When Marsha discovered saw an article in the press about a kidnapped twin she realized where Ester came from and shut down the Website. It was when Esther reached 16 that she was ready to meet her twin and in 2017, 8 years after the author had contacted Marsha that they returned the call and were ready to deal with the situation. Marsha was shocked that she had been an unwitting participant in a system tainted with corruption, a large money making venture. In the US adoptees are allowed to obtain the original birth certificate.

The author organizes for them to visit the family and the all go to China to the village meet the family and the other twin. We learn a lot about China for example from 1949 Mao made China all stay on 1 time line. It is UCT 08.00 which is the Beijing area instead of 5 time zones. Births of fraternal twins are 3 times more frequent than identical twins where the zygote spits. Fraternal twins have 2 eggs and 2 sperms.  Identical twins have the identical DNA. Esther was told she was an early speaker and spoke Chinese which she could not remember at all. They had to visit on the 15 holiday of the Lunar New year when the whole of China return to their villages to be with family and they travelled in 2019. Meeting her twin sister and finding out she had been loved and not abandoned also she felt she did not look like an American but could not speak Chinese. The Zeng family had the land they farmed even though the communist system did not give them outright ownership. They had no mortgage and no car. They remembered people dying of starvation. Moa death led to an end of collectivization and they were able to eat. Economic liberalization of the 1980s enabled new freedoms, the right to cultivate your own fields and to travel out of the village. Girls married out but boys stayed in the same village. younger Chinese had been forced to learn English at school but nervous of using it. When they visited an orphanage most of the children appeared to be disabled. It appeared that most people build big houses in the village but work in the cities and use them once a year. It is not uncommon for 1 identical twin to be gay and 1 strait. People were earning more than their parents and living longer. With internet is has become very easy to find people across the globe and DNA testing  confirms relationships. However not everybody wants to be found. Many return to China to discover their heritage and learn the language.

Covid started in Wuhan China in 2019. Covid Lockdown in US from March 2020 till  May 2023.. Nearly the entire US press core was expelled from China for reporting on Covid . China spurned the MRNA vaccines in favour of its own a product that proved ineffective. It was estimated that 1.4 million died in the 5 weeks after the lockdown ended in China. by 2022 there are more deaths than births. There are not enough women in China today, as many as 20 million bachelors.

2023 China's economy can be described as stagflation or a malaise. Xi Jinping cracked down on private education as it promotes inequality. The political climate in China and Donald Trump in the US discourages travel between them.

 Israel had Covid from March 2020 till April 2022. Because Israel's a small country's with health system has been computerized for 30 years and the country would act  as a resource for the inoculation company who were given open access to all Israel information. Israel was the first country to get the vaccination.

Leaders of the Chinese Republic

Sun Yat-sen (5 May 1921 - 29 June 1922)

• 1949 Mao Zedong  
  
• 1976 Hua Gofeng
• 1978 Deng Xiaoping 
• 1993 Jiang Zemin. 
• 2003 Hu Jintao.  
• 2013 Xi Jinping.  

A Modest Harmony : Seven summers in a Scottish Glen by Sheila Gordon. 1982, 277 pg.

21/11/25 

The story is of Sheila and Harl Gordon and their 3 children David, Phillipa and Neil. Sheila was my late father's sister so these children are my first cousins. I read the book at the time it came out but now many years later I can appreciate it better. I knew the children as small kids in Johannesburg but later the left South Africa and Harl had done his medical internship in Edinburgh. They later  settled in New York. This book documents this area in the 1970s

She mentioned that they had received and inheritance from an old aunt who died, we knew the aunt Minka Rivkin who left her estate to 3 nieces just to show she was a feminist even in those days. Helen and Bob Hunter were good friends and they mentioned they might be keen to buy a home in a Glen  for their summer vacations. This house was where the Waterman lived who looked after the Lochs of the area but it was no longer used and the Waterboard put it up for sale on auction and Bob managed to get it for £5,000 for them.  The address was Glenauchen Cottage in Glencorrie by Glenogle in the county of Perthshire. The other attachment that Sheila had to Scotland was that they as babies had Scots nannies  as kids. Girls who came out to S. Africa  after WW1, there was a shortage of men and would usually marry Gold miners in Johannesburg.

Nearby the cottage is Loch Leven and it has a castle on an island where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned after she had Darnley strangled and had the cheek to marry Bothwell.  Glen is the Scots for valley and burn is a stream. A hour drive away was the coastal town of Largo from where Alexander Selkirk the original Robinson Crusoe came from.

Because they had colonial British accents and thee children American accents, the locals were not able to class categorize them , they were classless and they had no problem cutting over class barriers. It was also rumored in the glen that they intended to retire there. They had neighbors who sold them fresh eggs. Many of the pets were Jack Russell terriers raised for hunting hare and rabbit. In summer caravanning was a working class holiday  in these parts. The local library had plenty of books and they decided they wanted a break from TV and radio, while they read all the classis English writers. Neighbors wanted an explanation on the US president who in 1982 was Ronald Reagan.

A glebe is a piece of land attached to the clergyman house for him to graze  a cow or sheep. In Tudor time wood was cut down to build ships and houses and fuel. When fuel became short coal started being used as in Roman times. The lochs of Scotland are glacial. All  over the Highland are abandoned but and ben cottages from the days of the Clearances of the Crofter's by landlords  late 18C to mid 19C. These landless people went to Canada and Australia. Crofts or smallholding kept sheep inside in winter. Black Faced |Linton breeds were introduced who with the thick coated sheep could flourish outside in winter, as well as the Cheviot breed. The introduction of turnips as fodder and potatoes improved the lot of the poor. Sheep were so profitable that it was found to have sheep instead  of men on the land. Mid 11C Scotland was ruled by Malcolm 3rd who slew Macbeth. In 1314 at Bannockburn near Sterling. Robert the Bruce with a small force that defeated the larger cavalry of Edward 3rd. In the 18C Scotland developed a secularism against the religious furies Capitalism existed before Calvinism but people had to be frugal and economic to survive the  harsh environmental conditions. 

At  the end of summer they did not want to leave the house empty so rented it out to farm girls who works as accountants for the farms in the area. They were able to access the value of the farms and if the farmer had an eligible son would marry them and become good housekeeper. After that a young single couple moved in and they were worried that the glen would object to people there living in sin so it was left for the neighbors to assume the were married. Mr. Monroe an engineer in England  and English wife  visited and told them he    his grandfather  was the first Waterman in 1870 and his father took over the job and he was born in the house. He went to school in a one room school house with kids of all ages. Today kids are bussed  to schools in the nearest town, and a family lives in the old schoolhouse. The Scots have a greater respect for education and the working class is better educated than the Sassenach (English ) The famous Geddes Academy is in the town of Douleur. Patrick Geddes and son in law were a known architects and town planner and designed the Hebrew University, Jerusalem in 1919  and also worked with Meir Dizingoff in Tel Aviv.

Drove road are where cattle were driven along to England and toll gates took 2 pence per head of cattle, the Scots evaded tax by crossing away from border post.1603 James I, United the Kingdoms  brought about free trade  with Scotland. Under the land tenure system at the start of winter surplus cattle stock had to be sold off. Walter Scot wrote about this in the Two Drovers and Rob Roy  A drove could be up to 300 beasts better off drovers may have had ponies. Sunday Droving was prohibited when the church had great political power. When the steam engine came it replaced the droves. They heard that there was a Roman camp in the area and they found an Englishman at the Ardoch encampment who said he was following the route of Julius Agricola who had been on a campaign to subdue the Scots during the Antonine period.( Antonius Pius, Nerva, Trajan , Hadrian and Commodus 139-193 a period of 5 Emperors) There is evidence of lifted stone granaries and the invaders forced grain levies on the population. Julius Agricola was executed by Caligula for declining to do some work for him. Caesar first invaded Britain in 55BCE and Claudius in CE 43 and this was followed by 400 years of Roman dominion. There was a lot of intermarriage between Romans and the local women and Roman dress and Latin language and Roman Law developed here. 83CE the Romans  could not subdue the Scots tribes under Calgacus and so Hadrian's wall was build. Hadrian came personally in 122 CE and it took 6 years to build the wall. Scotland was made up of  4 people Picts , Scots, Britons and Angles formed Scotland and Christianity was introduced in 400 CE, After the Romans left the Scotti arrived from Ulster and the Angels from Northumbria, England.

Harl had grown up on a farm as a boy and knew hunting and after the Glorious Twelfth (August) hunting starts in Scotland and many come to do hunting. They were given a gift of a brace of grouse, cooked it had a flowery bouquet from the heather. "Long may your lum reek" There was the smell of woodsmoke and this is a Scots blessing as it means you have fuel to keep a fire going and your hearth warm.

Sheila found a strange smell in the barn one morning and again the next, a neighbour with a shotgun was looking for a fox that had got into his chickens killed a few and taken one. Now the chickens were in a sleister and stopped laying and the had no eggs to sell that week. Apparently only women can smell a fox and the men could not. They were busy clipping the sheep with electric clipper, once this had been a communal occasion with the whole glen coming together as you need lots of help and then lots of food was cooked to feed the crowd. Along the coast there is a heavy haar (fog) and the farmers had to wait till it lifted till they could harvest. One neighbor describes that he had so many siblings and hungry mouths to feed that aged 14 he started working on a farm for a few shilling a week and ended up head shepherd to the estate.

At the entrance of the Cottage were rowan trees planted to keep away the witches. A rod of a Rowan tree was used by a dairy maid to drive the cattle out to pasture. In the dairy if butter did not come it was presumed bewitched and stirring with a rowan stick solved the problem. 1443 someone was executed for witchcraft. In 1563 under Mary Queen of Scots is a statute against witches. In 1559 the Authority of the Pope was abolished following the Reformation and Catholic mass was outlawed.

At this stage they were aware of surveyors to measure for the Water Board to construct a bigger dam, to provide more water  to the  cities. Britain's economy was in the doldrums and the relationship to rich yanks was not so comfortable. David was  working on Bobs farm harvesting over summer and was taking a gap year to stay and was the only one of the family  who would see the other 3 seasons of and rowan blossoms and berries. The children had different interest where they wanted to spend their summer vacation. They put Glenauchen Cottage up for sale but asked Mr. Munroe if he wanted to buy his childhood home, but his life kept him in England. A Scottish couple with a child and expecting a baby bought the house. The furniture left behind was cleared out by Helen, Bob and David and bough back by Mr. Menzies again.

The Hopkins Touch by David L. Roll : Harry Hopkins and forging the alliance to defeat Hitler 2013, 409pg

Touch of Harry refers to Shakespeare's Henry V on the night before the 1415  Battle of Agincourt, the disguised king walked amongst the soldier to enlist their trust.

This has information, including documents from the former Soviet archives.   FDR's selection of Harry Hopkins as his closest adviser. shared the knack of attracting talent to their administrations.

Hopkins was involved in the New Deal and already worked with Roosevelt for many years.

He was born in Sioux City Iowa and graduated in1912.  In 1913 married Ethel Gross of Hungarian Jewish origin. He worked for AICP in social work. Here he discover that most people would prefer a decent job to living on the dole. Later based in New Orleans he worked for the Red Cross where he was able to attain a National Reputation . In the mid 1920s he helped found the Nation Association of Social Workers.

1931 with 3 children he divorced Ethel and married Barbra Duncan but she died in 1937 leaving him with their daughter Diane.

1931 Roosevelt created TERA The Temporary Emergency Relief Organization, the New Deal was born with and Harry became the head of this. He now worked with Francis Perkins the new Secretary of Labor. 1934 He was sent to Europe to study social system there.

 The Social Security Act was passed in 1935.  Also the Works Progress Administration WPA where Roosevelt named him director.. This constructed roads , schools etc and initiated programs for hot school lunches, day care for children of working women and literacy classes for immigrants. Southerners were enraged that WPA sponsored mixed race programs.

1937 he was diagnosed with Stomach cancer.

Aubrey Williams the future head of the National Youth Administration had been inspired by John Maynard Keynes to increase government spending.

1938 |He joined the cabinet as commerce secretary.. Roosevelt who understood German listened to Hitler's Nuremburg Speech. This resulted Harry being sent by Roosevelt to the West Coast to assess US capacity to build military aircraft. So his education in National Security began, and with Marshall and Roosevelt decided to enlarge this capacity so that the US could supply the UK and France to deal with the German menace. Roosevelt now appointed Marshall Chief of Staff and credited Hopkins for that.

When George VIs and Queen Elizabeth visited the White house Eleonor Roosevelt. introduced them to 6 year old Diane Hopkins who lived there and was looked after especially while her father was in hospital. At this stage both Roosevelt and Hopkins  were living on borrowed time.

1939 Sept 1st Start of WW2. Roosevelt knew that the security of the US was directly linked to Britain's survival.  50 WW1 Destroyers were provided for British bases in the Americas like Bermuda , Newfoundland. Hopkins set up a 7 member advisory commission to organize war production also the Manhattan Project. Congress had banned the sales of military equipment to foreign powers.

Hopkins and Sam Rosenman became  Roosevelts speech writers.

1940 The Blitz 7 Sept till May 1941 began over Britain and more than 500 merchant ship were sent to the bottom. Because of the Neutrality pact  weapons had to be paid for with cash. By the end of the Blitz the British knew the danger of German  invasion was over.

1940 July a military regime  in Japan brought down the civilian government. America restricted sales of high octane aviation fuel and iron scrap  to Japan.

1940 Tripartite pact between Germany , Italy  and Japan.

The Lend Lease program was worked out so countries never had to pay till the war was over. This was supported by 66% of  Americans.  Joe Kennedy the US Ambassador to the Court of St James predicted defeat of Britain. The worlds "arsenal of democracy" were Hopkins words.  So the President sent Hopkins to London to find out about the situation. Churchill was warned to treat Harry as if he were talking to Roosevelt himself. He flew on a Clipper flying boat the largest aircraft of the day and landed at Poole Bay nest to Bournemouth. He reported Britain commitment to fight the war and met Foreign Secretary Antony Eden. He told Churchill that Roosevelt was committed to fighting the Nazis by all means. Both Churchill and Hopkins were impressed with each other. Both Edward Murrow and his wife remained in England . Hopkins reported back that Churchill is trusted by labour .the army, navy , and airforce.  Halifax had been sent to be British Ambassador to Washington so as to get rid of him as he advocated a negotiated peace. By John " Gil" Winant becoming the US Ambassador to London also improved relations between the 2 countries.  Averill Harriman was sent to London to co-ordinate Lend Lease and he later married Pamela Digbe Churchill she had been married to Churchills son Randolf.

 Americas  First Committee founded at Yale was included former President Hoover and Charles  Lindberg led the Isolationists.

1940 Sept Hitler's Operation Sea Lion to invade Britain was indefinitely postponed.  

Hopkins formed a strong bond with Clementina Churchill. Hopkins was invited to have lunch with the king and Queen at Buckingham Palace. 

1941 March House of Representatives passed  the lend lease vote by 260 to 165. This was called an Act to Defend the US and it gave Roosevelt a blank cheque to his discretion. hopkins became the chairman of this committee.Hopkins became a strong friend of General  George Marshal.  Roosevelt had no plans of repealing the neutrality Act.

1941 May The Robin Moor US flagged merchant ship was sunk by a Uboat. This led to the US freezing German funds and closing German embassies.

1941 June Operation Barbarossa attack on USSR by Germany. Thus the US policy of supporting the UK  had paid off  and had turned Hitler to attack Russia. However it meant that Japan could not be attacked by Russia and was stronger against the US.

  Even Senator Harry Truman had said " If we see Germany is winning we must sent help to Russia" Joe Davies who had been US Ambassador in Moscow correctly predicted that British/ French appeasement of Hitler would drive Russia to make a pack with Hitler.

1941 April FDR drew a line in the Atlantic which included Iceland that America Navy would patrol saving the British this obligation.

Within 3 weeks Hopkins began his mission to Moscow to clarify the USSRs most urgent requirements. He discovered that Stalin hypocrisy was breathtaking Stalin saying that Hitler never kept his treaty obligation after Stalin's purges and destruction of Poland. It was only Stalin who had control not any of his subordinates could make a commitments thus he saw the limitations of a totalitarian regime.. They needed anti aircraft weapons immediately.

Japan now realized that with the US supporting Russia at war with Germany it left a Japan had a free hand in the Far East. Molotov was scared Japan might make aggressive moves in Siberia.  Maxim acted as interpreter , he had been foreign minister but Stalin purged all Jews the Ministry of Jews and replaced him with Molotov. Although Hopkins determined that the Russians would fight to the end and not make a seperate peace with the Nazi's

Russia was losing 10 times as many soldiers as the Germans. But Stalin would not negotiate a separate peace with Hitler. Hopkins was convinced that if the Soviets were kept supplied they would beat the Germans. Stalin could see that Hopkins requested nothing in return. The Russians were moving factories beyond the Urals far from German access.

On his return Hopkins had to be given blood transfusions and this was done often as he had had a lot of his gut removed because of cancer.

 1941 August The meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the HMS Prince of Wales in was the Atlantic Charter Conference the foundation of the UN. Thus the US was waging war but dot declaring war. This also presaged the dissolution of the British Empire. This ship was later 1941 Dec. dive bombed by Japanese torpedo and half the British sailors and officers here would die.

1941  August Draft Extension Bill up to a total of 30 months was passed in the House. US navy and planes wee authorised to destroy German submarines. Charles Lindberg the Isolationist was spreading Nazi antisemitism.

1941 August State Dept Dean Acheson refused to grant licences to Japan to buy US oil because they were expanding into French Indochina. Japan now had to look to the Dutch Indies for oil as 95 % of their oil came from the US.

1941 October Reuben James  a US destroyer sunk by a U-boat  with115 crew off Iceland.  A law allowing US merchant ships to be armed was passed in the US

.1941 Oct General Tojo became Japanese PM, ending the civilian government.

1941 December 7 Japanese attack of Pearl Harbour but coordinated with this were attacks on Philippines, Malaya , Hong Kong, Guam, Wake Island and Midway Island. Roosevelt now waited and it was Hitler who declared war on the US and Italy immediately followed suit. Germany never knew of the Japanese attack plans. Hopkins was relieved that Hitler had made the first move. Luckily all 3 Aircraft Carriers of the Pacific Fleet  had been out of port. 56 fighter planes had been destroyed on the Philippines. 

The US agreed to beat Germany first strategy as it was agreed that Germany was the Prime enemy and key to victory.

 That you had to have one man in charge in the entire theatre of air ground and ships.  The CCs was formed the combined Chiefs of Staff which would sit in Washington.  Roosevelt  to try push the Soviets for religious freedom in the Atlantic  Charter as US anti communists wanted this and Maxim Litvinov got Stalin to agree to this.

Seeing that Britain was losing control over the war effort, Churchill set up the Municians Control Board with 2 branches headed by Beaverbrook in London and Hopkins in the US reporting to Roosevelt, so both could control allocations of material. Holding the coalition of the US, UK , and Soviets  together was critical for victory and Hopkins worked on this. This was one of the most successful collaboration in military history and ensured not separate peace by the Soviets. Also the 3 and China became the first dignitaries of the UN Declaration. The big 3 as well as the Admirals and Generals were indebted to him for the flow of  "Arsenal of Democracy."

1941  Christmas Day  garrison in Hong Kong surrender to Japan. 

1942 Feb. 15 Singapore  fell very swiftly. They were worried the Japanese Navy and the German one would link up somewhere in the middle East. 338pg

 Historian have concluded that attacking North Africa in 1942 was the most strategically sensible as the American troops were not yet trained. Had Roosevelt headed Marshall advice to do Overlord then Russia might not have had the chance to control Poland.

While Hopkins was in hospital treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau advised Roosevelt. He was successful in the Bretton Woods conference and the Bank of Reconstruction and Development was set up and later became the world Bank. Morgenthau wanted to see the total dismemberment and de industrialization of Germany. This way he  Britain could replace Germanies industry reducing Germany to an agricultural economy.  Churchill pointed out that a weak Germany would lead to the  USSR dominance of Europe. In the election Harry  Truman won to be vice President. As the President distanced himself to the  Morgenthau Plan he relied on Hopkins more.

Hopkins advise that the Lend Lease should carry on for Britain as they would be bankrupt after the war.

1944 June 4th Rome the first Axis to fall into American hands.

         June 6th D- landings.

1944 August 15 Operation Anvil in Southern France , Hopkins advised to go ahead with this as it divided the German troops.  It was meant to be done during Overlord but they never had landing craft so it was delayed.

The UN would not be effective unless the US could commit its armed forces to where it was immediately needed.  Isiah Berlin was working at the British Embassy in Washington at the time.

1944 October General Mc Arthur had landed in the  Philippines and what was left of the Japanese fleet was destroyed there in the battle of Lingayen Gulf 1945 Jan.

Charles Bohlen had spent years at the US embassy in Moscow and spoke Russian and was an expert on the Soviets. George Kennan was another US Ambassador there. 

The British landed troops in Greece to support the Monarchy against the Greek Communists . Admiral King would not transport supplies to support the embattled British troops but Hopkins convinced King to countermand his order.

1945 to 1949 Greek Civil war       

1945 Feb. The Yalta Conference was Hopkins idea of the big 3 leaders meeting in Crimea. Charles de Gaulle was not invited as "he makes no effort to please." It took place in the 50 room Livadia Palace a home build by Czar Nicholas II in the 1860s The German army had occupied it during their occupation and stripped it of all valuables. Stalin was in the Yusupov Palace the home of a wealthy prince who assassinated Rasputin in 1916. In the Cold War it was claimed that Yalta like Munich of 1938 was a bad instance of appeasing tyrants. Because the Allies got into the war in Europe so late the Soviets had maximum leverage over the fate of Poland and Eastern Europe. Hopkin's room here was a centre of activity as all three delegations stopping to seek his advice. China also lost land to the Soviets.

Later Hopkins met De Gaulle in Paris to improve relations with the French. He sided with Churchill in and de Gaulle on the importance of restoring France, and giving it a seat on the Allied Control Commission that would run occupied Germany. The dismemberment of Germany was consigned to a commission of foreign minister so Stalin never got what he wanted there.

In 1939 Britain had gone to war on the invasion of Poland but the Soviets had already set up a puppet government there as the Lublin Government. The language of the final agreement on Poland was vague, they wanted election in Poland. The Soviets were not offered any form of financial aid at Yalta. Had both Roosevelt and Hopkins been healthy at Yalta would Poland's fate have been different? Averell Harriman knew that Stalin was bound to break any agreement.

Stalin had offered Robert Hopkins the opportunity to be a photographer in the capture of Berlin. He asked his father and Hopkins told him that the Soviets would not let him near the front and would never let him leave the country. This shows Hopkins cynicism and distrust to the Soviets.  Churchill would soon pay a heavy price for  the Polish settlement. Roosevelt conviction that he could personally handle Stalin would be buried with him,

Roosevelt  at Suez met Ibn Saud , King Farouk and Haile Selassie, this upset Churchill as he considered it part of undermining the British Empire. Ibn Saud said they would never allow a Jewish State in Palestine.

A telegram from de Gaulle that he wanted to meet Roosevelt in Algiers on the Presidents way home but was turned down.

1945  April Roosevelt died of cerebral hemorrhage. Everyone could see he was very ill at Yalta.

The 2 Harrys were well acquainted  as Truman had been the Missouri director of federal re-employment in 1933  and wanted Hopkins  to carry on in his role. Hopkins tutored him but felt that the cabinet must resign and Truman must choose his own people. Hopkins felt that only Stimson and Forrestal should carry on as they were dealing with the war.

Truman and Molotov very soon were in conflict. It took Hopkins to explain that the Soviets had lost too much in blood and treasure, to risk another invasion via neutral Poland.  16 Polish underground leaders designated to go to Moscow were arrested. Hopkins was now sent with Harriman  to Moscow to reassure Stalin that Roosevelts policy would continue. The Soviets were recognized as powerful nation, and they wanted a free hand in  Poland. The US got their agreement to launch  the UN. Also to take part in war against Japan. On the way back from Moscow Hopkins plane would be the first civilian plane to touch down in Tempelhof Berlin after VE day. This airport would become the ground  zero of US planes to the cut off US sector in 1948 later in the cold war. The Soviets knew about the Manhattan Project already in 1942. Hopkins was accused of giving the USSR information of this.

1945 April 30 Hitler was dead and Victory in Europe took place on 8th May.

1945 July the Potsdam Conference where Clement Attlee was British PM instead of Churchill with Harry Truman and Stalin.

Hopkins retired and was offered a huge advance to write his memoir.

1945  August 15th Victory in Japan Day.

1946 Hopkins died aged 55 of cirrhosis of the liver.. He was one of the most courageous, self sacrificing people of the war. He knew how to read people and never looked for political advancement. He left an estate in debt especially to his wife Ethel who he owed money to.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte Mc Conaghy 320 pg 2025

 

  A literary novel  of  Australia , climate change  and how people cope. 28/10/25

Widower Dominic Salt has lived off the coast of Antarctica on the remote island of Shearwater with his three children — Raff 18, Fen 17 daughter, and Orly 9 — for eight years, serving as caretaker for a small climate/wildlife research station and an old lighthouse. Shearwater also houses the U. N Global Seed Vault.

An injured woman named Rowan arrives, and is pulled out of the sea by Fen. In the 1800s, oilers slaughtered entire seal population and most of its penguins. An island between New Zealand and Antarctica.  Climate fiction  Fen choosing to stay alone in a boathouse as she doesn't get along with his father. Rowen becomes a mother figure to the children.

Rowen came to the island to look for Hank her ex husband, a botanist who was one of the researchers on the island. He had to decide on what species to save of 30 million, how to let biodiversity die in favor of what humans can eat.   All of us humans, decided what to save, and that is ourselves.”

Rowan arrives on the island on a small boat that crashes on the rocks and she survives because Fen is there and saves her, this was the worst stormed they have endured since living on the island . They can't figure out why she came here. Dominic is the father of the family and considers that Rowan is a strong woman to have survived this wild ocean. He doesn't know why she came but doesn't trust her. She is cold and wounded they warm her up with their bodies heat under blankets, and the treat her wounds and stitch her up.

Dominic brought his kids to the island 8 yeas ago and the lighthouse is their home. Dominic as well as the children are still grieving for Clare. The refuse  of the sealers and whalers still remains rusted. The huddle around the heater reading books to each other. They have downloaded movies and school work and music training via distant school in Australia.. This is not a tourist island but ships bring supplies for the scientist. The storm has broken the wind turbines and solar cells are scratched, A few batteries are still working and they still have some diesel. There are 17 little building build over the decades for the scientists. It is a 1km hike to the Seed Vault , which is owned by the United Nations. The management is under the Tasmanian Wild Life Service and Shearwater Island belongs to Australia  Dom came and he needed a job far from where he lived after his wife died. They will finally leave the island in 2 month time. The island is starting  to disappear. Keeping the seeds safe is more important than keeping ourselves safe.

Fen the daughter is very strong swimmer, and swims in a full wet suit  with the seals and penguins she knows the habit of every clan of these animals, the last colony of surviving royal penguins in the world is here.  Later we discover why she prefers being in the boathouse than in the Lighthouse home. We learn a lot about nature dandelions have spread to almost every part of the planet. The island has no shade or trees. There is no modern tech like TV or computers or sound system or phones. 8 years on the island is a very different form of childhood.

Orly spent a lot of time with Hank who taught him all sorts of things about Botany, Dominic felt he should not have let him be with this adult so much.

Rowen tells us that her mother discovered she was dying and travelled all  over the world and then Rowan watched every TV show with her till she died, then Rowan gave away the TV as she had seen enough for a lifetime. Rowan had been terrified of the sea long before she  came on the boat that crashed. They visit the science lab and already their feet are covered with water.

Dominic only discovered that the communication to the outside world  was cut when the last ship left. He can't fix it. Hank was taxonomic botanist the Team leader of the research crew and Rowans husband. Hank had always been a talker and Rowen now can't get used to Dominic who is quiet. Rowen did not want children as she said thing of the carbon footprint. Hank did and this led to a conflict till he went off to the island. Bringing children into an apocalypse is unethical. He felt he was not needed at home if there were not children. Once she lost everything he left her.

Rowan owned a piece of land and build a house on it. Hank Jones was researching the threated species of snow gums, in the Snowy Mountains. He had been a professor of biology at NHY studying how plant adapt to climate change or drought stress and fire. It is not a good idea to fall in love not with people not with places." One day everything is going to burn down or starve" Hanks life was rich but my life was the opposite. She was a skilled carpenter and describes how she put everything into the house including fire sprinklers, fire retardant materials huge tank of water storage but the trees for shade were too close.

 They have 3 inflatable motor boats. Fen and Rowen attempt to get the radio from the crashed ship but can't get it.

Alex had come to study the seal population and how the population had recovered from almost extinction. His older brother Tom was a meteorologist. Alex hung himself and Dom and Raff took him down after that Raff never felt safe.

We had Raff and Fen when we were quite young as we didn't want to waist time

Raff gets rid of his frustration by hitting a punching bag Dom had been a professional boxer till he met Clare he has no temper at all. They have an extensive set of every tool and equipment as they have to be self reliant in isolation. Stilbocarpe polaris a megaherb used by sailors against scurvy.  They put on fridge suits to go into the seed room , their is a pump pumping the water that seeps in but hardly helps. 

The room that Hank worked in stinks of bleach. The Shearwater Carver?

Fresnet lenses these are pieces of glass used to magnify light to give a lighthouse its beam. The old lighthouse keepers had to keep feeding the flame continuously, no matter the weather, with different work shifts and ship's safety was in their hands. The old chimney is opened up to burn sea weed because of lack of electricity.

If Hank had left why were his belonging and passport there. Dominic is a handyman while Rowen is a crafts women.

Raff records whales and the follow them to observe their feeding.    The whale shot out of the water and fell on Raff and sprained his arm now he can't play the violin.

Rowen was one of 4 children raised in a houseboat and neglected. She looked after her baby brother and in a moment of distraction her brother River drowned and she feels responsible. Why have kids if you can't keep them safe.

Fen takes all her mother things and burns them to get her father to move on and forget their mother Claire. Rowan says I know a thing about burning. 

The UN to cut costs only want to save food seeds it is only Orly who understands which seed are important from Hank. They have to move them to the house freezer before they are flooded. Wollemi pines are an example of trees from the times of dinosaurs and they only have 11 seed of it. The baksia plant the seed only germinate when the thick shell is broken by fire, so from beneath the carpet of ash that caused death bursts life. Wombats survive in the underground burrows  through fire, the block the burrow with their bums and get burned or die but save the colony.

Hank was going crazy and he raped Fen but after a month she found she was not pregnant. Hank also tried to hold her head under water but as a good swimmer she managed to deal with this. Hank is put in the hospital where Naija treats  him. This is when the connection is cut off. "Where men go there is harm".

Crazy Hank was kept locked in the vault. Claire's favorite book was Jane Eyre.

The book ends with the icebreaker coming to collect 8 people but Dominic and his 3 children are alive. They take lots of tools and equipment as well as the seeds that are in packets. Just before that island is completely flooded over.

 -------------------------

Macquarie Island research center. In 1997 was declared a world heritage site. It was established as a radio relay station in 1911. Located halfway between Australia and Antarctica. Between 1810 and 1919 seals and penguins were hunted to almost extinction. The boiling pots to get the oil lie rusting there.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Spitzbergen.(Norway and funded by its government. Started in Longyearbyen in 1984 in an abandoned coal mine, this is in permafrost and many gene banks deposit their seeds here. In 2025 there are 1,378,238 seed types saved of 6,521 species.