Daughters of the Occupation

Latvia, 1940. Just as Miriam Talanov gives birth to her second child, the Soviets invade the Baltics and occupy Riga, Miriam's home. As a Jewish family, the Talanovs face immense injustice. First, they are stripped of everything by the Soviets, and soon after, the Nazis take power. Fearing for her newborn son and young daughter, Ilana, Miriam asks her loyal Christian housekeeper to hide them and conceal their Jewish roots until the atrocities end.

Chicago, 1975. Twenty-four-year-old Sarah Byrne is mourning the sudden, premature death of her mother, Ilana. Her grandmother, Miriam, also attends the funeral and unintentionally opens the door to shocking family secrets. However, Sarah's attempts to form a closer bond with her grandmother and learn more about their family history are in vain. It is only when Miriam is lying in hospital, delirious with a fever, that she begs Sarah to find the son she once left behind in Latvia. Sarah embarks on a journey and begins her search. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realises that her efforts could have catastrophic consequences.

Daughters of the Occupation is a magnificent story about the lasting devastation caused by war, and about how, alongside trauma, a family also inherits the immeasurable strength to face it together.