Carnival Girl Online Book Tour: Guest Post on The Creation of Carnival Girl: Searching for God in the Aftermath of War

A Memoir
The only life little Sonja Francesco has ever known is traveling the carnival circuit and living with her five siblings in a tiny caravan home. The family never stays anywhere long enough for Sonja to make friends or develop roots. The only one in her family, Sonja always believed in God and wants to belong to a church. 

At fourteen, Sonja meets the Mormon missionaries and develops a strong testimony of the truth of the Gospel. But can she live the commandments while traveling with the carnival and running one of the attractions every Sunday? Will it be possible for her to leave her family’s life behind and live the life she has always dreamed of?
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Today is one of the various stops for Sonja's Carnival Girl Online Book Tour. Book & Movie Dimension has a guest post by Sonja Herbert on the creation of her memoir.

The Creation of Carnival Girl: Searching for God in the Aftermath of War 
By: Sonja Herbert

During the few times we carnival children attended school, I once received an A for a story about a Greek myth I had written, and on that day I decided to write about my mother’s life when I grew up. 
All through the time I raised my six children here in the U.S.A., this thought was with me, and when the younger ones were a bit older, I started on my mother’s story. As the story unfolded, I realized that it would not be complete unless I also told my own story, the story of my childhood and my life with my mother.
And that’s how Carnival Girl began. I originally called it Conversations with Margot (my mother’s first name), but since the novel I wrote about her life isn’t published yet, I decided to re-name the memoir and publish it first.
As I wrote the story and remembered the things that happened in my early life, old feelings also returned, and I had to confront the childish reactions of my younger self. Now, as a grown woman, I was able to see things I had not seen as a little girl, and when my memoir was finished, I had a new insight and understanding for my mother, who had suffered so much and still came out ahead.
My mother, Margot, is now ninety-one years old. She lives in Stuttgart, Germany, and is still going strong!

Thank you Mutti, for everything you have taught me!


About Sonja Herbert
Sonja Herbert and her five siblings were raised in a caravan, traveling the carnival circuit from town to town in post-World War II Germany.

Sonja converted to the LDS Church, later married and immigrated to the United States, where she received a bachelor of arts degree at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah, and a master of arts degree from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She also raised six children, taught school and ESL, and is now a freelance writer.

Besides her childhood memoir, Sonja has also written many autobiographical stories, which have been published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and other anthologies. A biographical novel about her half-Jewish mother’s experiences in Nazi Germany is almost finished.