Here I am again

Here I am again. Luisella Von Schönberg: A fearless life from Baroness to the Gulag and back.

My grandmother, Luisella, vanished behind the Iron Curtain in 1947, and I grew up thinking she was dead. My father rather hoped that she was dead. Then suddenly here she was again. Luisella von Schönberg was fearless, an attribute inherited from her adventurous grandfather, Wolf Erich - a friend of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. Wolf Erich had bought Conak, 8,000 hectares of wilderness in the Carpathian Mountains, sight unseen, in 1850. This spontaneous decision brought more tragedy than pleasure. Luisella loved Conak and her life there so much that she stubbornly resisted leaving it even when the Russians invaded, believing she was invincible. This decision led to her spending a decade behind the Iron Curtain, first as a servant living in a pigsty and then in a Gulag far from her beloved home. The unusually strong women in this story, ahead of their times, chose to live their lives as they wished and paid the price. Among them the famous Anna Constantia von Cosel, who was imprisoned for 49 years because of her love for Augustus the Strong, Ruler of Saxony and King of Poland. Historical events, wars, social etiquette, religion, prejudices, humour and lies are all part of the unique fabric woven from the lives in this fascinating and gripping family story.