From Country to Country

In From Country to Country Peter Buttuls relates the story of his multicultural family in three countries: Latvia, Germany, and Canada. He begins with his grandfather, a doctor, and his professional achievements in Latvia, while living under the strict Czar regime of Russia. The author then relates the stories of adventure, mischief, and fun his father and family experienced. That all came to an end when the Soviet Union took control of Latvia in 1940. After living in its accustomed upper class lifestyle, the Buttuls family then lived "underground" for six months for fear of being deported to Siberia. Their escape to Nazi Germany is described, with the difficult life there. From then on the book becomes the author's memoirs of his life's happy and unhappy experiences, including that with the opposite sex. Life in a village and small town in Germany during the Second World War is described, with experiences of mischief and fun times as the bombs fell. The equally difficult times after the war are related, when the family lived in a bathroom for several months. Finally they had a chance to start a new life in Canada. The challenging time during the first five years in a hamlet with a population of twenty are told, as Buttuls and his family learned another language and had to adjust to the different culture and lifestyle in their adopted country. The family's move to Vancouver meant going to the largest high school in Canada from education by correspondence. Despite living in semi-poverty in Vancouver, where the four boys in the family slept in a small room in bunk beds, the author was able to achieve two university degrees. He intertwines history and politics with theevents described. To make the story more interesting, the author works in some of the basics of computing, weather, mountaineering, and other topics.