My Father's Shadow

A Memoir

Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo

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English

Monash University Publishing
01 September 2023

Memoirs; Biography - Australian

My father, political activist Samuel Mark Goldbloom, was my hero and my nemesis all the days of his life.

Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo grew up in thrall to her father, a prominent socialist and covert member of the Communist Party. From an early age, she adopted his political beliefs, becoming a supporter of the Soviet Union and an anti-war advocate. She travelled with him, meeting figures such as Indonesian president Soekarno, and greeting Paul Robeson and North Korean delegates at home.

But Sam could be withholding and difficult. He had a fierce temper and a sharp backhand and was not always a faithful family man. When Sandra entered adulthood and began to navigate a patriarchal world of work and relationships, she came to question aspects of her father’s worldview. As the communist ideals of the Left were tested and faltered over the Soviet Union, the mood of the times gradually shifted to embrace the counterculture. Sandra, working in the artistic swirl of Melbourne’s Pram Factory and the lively independent publishing scene, absorbed ideas about women, family and Jewish culture that often led to tense conversations with her father. When Sam falls sick and hopes to end his suffering, his daughter’s devotion undergoes a final test.

My Father’s Shadow is a portrait of life on the Left during a time of great social change. Lyrical, sharply observed and affecting, it is a candid exploration of the fraught dynamics between father and daughter — and, ultimately, the love that underlies them.

‘It’s one thing to have a complicated relationship growing up with a tough demanding father who is also a political legend. It’s quite another thing, writes Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo in this moving memoir, to sit at his deathbed and refuse his final demand.’ – Anne Summers AO

By: Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo
Imprint: Monash University Publishing
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781922979186
ISBN 10: 192297918X
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01 September 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo is the author of the novel The Book of Rachel (Allen & Unwin). Several of her short stories and poems have been published in literary magazines, including Griffith Review and Westerly. In 1982 Sandra established Dead Set, the first desktop publishing company to work specifically with book and journal publishers. Concurrently, and for the past forty years, she has worked as a non-fiction editor and proofreader for leading academic and trade publishers. Born and raised in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, she now lives, gardens and writes in Castlemaine, a goldfields town in central Victoria.

Reviews for My Father's Shadow: A Memoir

It’s one thing to have a complicated relationship growing up with a tough demanding father who is also a political legend. It’s quite another thing, writes Sandra Goldbloom Zurbo in this moving memoir, to sit at his deathbed and refuse his final demand. -- Anne Summers AO