Under the Red Blanket

By: Bea Anderson Swedien

Narrated by: Kathleen Godwin

Under The Red Blanket is a memoir of a Swedish-American family living in the remote area of North East India among headhunting tribes. The book opens with the father of Bea, Bengt Anderson, immigrating to the United States from Sweden on the advice of his aunt Hedda, who worked as a cook for the Roosevelt family at their home in Hyde Park, New York. He later moved to Minnesota, where he met and married Edna Michaelson. Soon after, they left the US to spend 29 years living in India. The story relates the trials and tribulations of life in the jungle. It includes stories of life under the British Raj, World War II, and the Japanese invasion into India. The book also describes the horrors witnessed during the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947.

©2011 Bea Swedien (P)2017 MX Publishing

Very interesting memoir

Under the Red Blanket by Bea Anderson Swedien is the story of a Swedish-American missionary family. They leave Minnesota with an infant to living among headhunting tribes in North East India in the 1940s. The beauty of the area is beautifully balanced with the danger of the jungle. The narration by Kathleen Godwin is excellent. I received a free audiobook code for my honest review.

Delightful

I really liked this one. It presents a detailed account of the life of the author as a missionaries' kid in India, and I loved it.

It brought me memories of my own infancy, not because I've lived in India but because it was also spent in a place in which most of the usual comforts of everyday life were missing. I remember that joyful running around, and the commonplace of getting into trouble when you aren't really aware of what a challenge this kind of life is for your parents.

The constant danger isn't downplayed, but it isn't either described as a perpetual worry, just a part of the beautiful land they are living in.

Easy to read/listen, filled with both, facts and anecdotes, and deeply personal this is a sure re-reading.

Kathleen Godwin's narration is simply delightful.