Lonnie D. Story The Meeting of Anni Adams : The Butterfly of Luxem

I just finished reading Lonnie D. Story's book about Anni Adams, The Butterfly of Luxembourg. What a great story! And how well was it told! I found it very difficult to put the book down. I always wanted to read just one more chapter before turning out the lights. I suppose the story of Anni was of special interest to me, since my father was born in Bettborn, Luxembourg in 1888 and came with his parents to Chicago when he was just four years old. In 2003 my brothers and sisters and I spent a week in Luxembourg and it was a real privilege for me to celebrate Mass in the very church where my Dad was baptized. We enjoyed our trip very much and I was able to recall quite a number of the places mentioned in the book. Anni must be a truly wonderful woman. I was so proud of her and her family. Reading her story made me all the more proud of my Luxembourg descent. Congratulations and thanks to you for such a heartwarming story!

The Meeting of Anni Adams : The Butterfly of Luxembourg

Lonnie D. Story

ACW Press, 2004, $20.95

ISBN: 9781932124262

Born on Armistice Day in 1926 in Luxembourg, Anni Adams enjoyed traveling all over western and central Europe with her parents and siblings. By the time she was fourteen, she had been all over Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, and her home duchy. However, on the night of May 9, 1940 her wonderful world ended when the Blitzkrieg invaded the small Low Countries of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg to use as a spring board to attack France from inside the Maginot Line. For the next few war years, Anni survived the ordeal of occupation and refugee camp living without knowing much about her family: for instance did her clown prince brother live especially since the Germans used him as an expendable pawn on the Russian front? She came out of the war a stronger person helped somewhat by meeting and marrying American GI Charlie Adams. She adapts to being a war bride stranger in a strange land as she and Charlie raise the Adams family (not of cartoon fame) in American until he passes away in 1998.

This fascinating biography enables the reader to see how a teen survived WWII Nazi occupation. Anni does so by mentally going in and out of her cocoon made up of loving family depending on circumstances. She as "the butterfly of Luxembourg" gives the audience a deep insight into life under the German occupation. The American segment of her journey is also well written and rounds out the bio, but like the early years pales next to the four years under the Nazis. THE MEETING OF ANNI ADAMS : THE BUTTERFLY OF LUXEMBOURG is a deep look at how people survive the most harrowing nightmarish experiences caused by inhuman humans.

Harriet Klausner