Your Roots Cast a Shadow: One Family’s Search Across History for Belonging by Caroline Topperman (HCI Books, 2024) is a fascinating and immersive exploration of mixed-heritage belonging as Caroline and her husband move from Vancouver, BC to Poland, where they both have roots.
There, they hope to find a sense of home but after the honeymoon stage of being in a new place passes, Caroline is confronted with the reality of their choice: she grew up speaking the language, but speaking a language without fully understanding the culture doesn’t get her as far as she hoped. She struggles to find her place in a country that she thought would feel more like home.
While examining the impulses that lead to her move, Caroline reveals how vital family history is to our sense of self—that knowing where we came from helps us understand where we are, and where we are going.
Timely and wonderfully written, Your Roots Cast a Shadow is a smorgasbord of food for thought.
In this interview, Caroline joins Hollay Ghadery to talk about writing this powerful tribute to family, history, and following your heart.
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Caroline Topperman is a European-Canadian writer, entrepreneur, and world traveller. Born in Sweden, raised in Canada with a recent stint of living in Poland, she holds a BFA in screenwriting. She is a co-founder of Mountain Ash Press and KW Writers Alliance, and currently runs Migrations Review, and Write, They Said. Her book, Tell Me What You See, serves as a toolkit for her writing workshops. She has written articles for Huffington Post Canada, Jane Friedman’s blog, was the Beauty Editor for British MODE Magazine, and served as managing editor for NonBinary Review. Her hybrid memoir, Your Roots Cast a Shadow, explores explosive intergenerational histories that link war zones and foreign shores with questions of identity and belonging. Her next book, The Road to Tang-e Gharu, integrates Afghan folktales and family memories with the story of one of the greatest roads ever built.
Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Neighbourhood Bookclub, a podcast host at NBN, and a co-host HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is a book publicist and the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com.
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HG: Would you tell us about how you wrote difficult family dynamics with sensitivity? I’m thinking especially of your relationship with your grandmother, Paula.
CT: I’m happy to hear that I came across as sensitive; I was worried about that. I was angry at my grandmother for a very long time, and to a certain extent, I still am. Her behavior often caused a lot of tension within the family, and I struggled with how to reconcile my feelings toward her. While writing my book, I was able to step back and not write with my heart. I wanted to be as truthful as possible without letting my emotions dictate the narrative. It wasn’t easy, but I think I found a balance between honesty and sensitivity.
HG: What’s the most surprising bit of history you unearthed while researching your book?
CT: My maternal grandparents never spoke about their experiences during the war. I grew up with only a vague idea of what they had gone through. Reading about them packing their belongings into one or two bags, cramming themselves onto trains, and fleeing east… That’s the kind of thing I’ve seen in the movies or read about in books. Who knew that my family had experienced it firsthand? The data on the Jews who survived the war in Central Asia is still being processed. It isn’t well known but it’s history that has to be talked about as it is slowly being forgotten.
HG: Your book title is amazing! How did it come to you?
CT: It was originally a chapter title for a different book, the first iteration of this one and a much different story. I probably have to credit my husband for thinking it up all those years ago.
Funnily enough during different edits, several people asked me if this is the title I wanted to use. They wanted to know if I was attached to it but after reading the story every single one of them agreed that this was the title. I was open to changing it, and I fully expected my publisher to do so but all they did was add the subtitle.
HG: I imagine wrangling decades of sprawling history from both sides of your family to be an extremely difficult task. What’s your advice to other writers looking to create a comprehensive and compelling picture of a family backstory without feeling like they have to include everything?
CT: Short answer. Include everything, get completely overwhelmed and then purge.
In truth, it’s more complicated than that, but maybe not the overwhelmed part. I am still somewhat surprised that I managed to get through all the papers. Admittedly, however, while sad at times, it was a lot of fun. I approached the challenge as a learning experience about not only my family but history as well. The first thing I did was sort all the family letters by date and location, and then I created a timeline of events. My father’s oral history was a big help, as he was able to fill in many of the missing details.
Speaking of missing details, there was a lot of information that I didn’t have and that was perhaps even harder to work with. Many events were simply lost to forgotten memories and deaths in the family. I was also dealing with a lot of one-sided information. For example, my maternal grandfather wrote an account of his life in which he barely mentioned my grandmother. You can see that the book chapter dedicated to him is longer than hers. I knew much more about my father’s childhood than I did about my mother’s. There were people I could ask but I didn’t want too many opinions and memories. I spent quite a bit of time attempting to balance everyone’s stories while staying true to the rules of creative nonfiction.
HG: believe your next book picks up on a fascinating thread of this one. Are you able to share with us what it’s about?
CT: Absolutely. While researching the Jewish side of my family I uncovered the work of my paternal grandfather (who knew that both my grandfathers were such prolific writers?). I grew up knowing that my father and his family survived the war in Afghanistan, but I didn’t truly understand just how much my grandfather contributed to the country’s infrastructure. Additionally, I found dozens of folk tales he had collected as well as a Polish-Farsi/Farsi-Polish dictionary he wrote. Right now, I am diving into these works and examining how to tell the story of one of the greatest roads ever built.