Palmyra: Based on a True Story

Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, Palmyra unfolds in a series of intimate vignettes that blend memoir, history, poetry, and mystery. In 1911, Palmyra, a young Flemish woman, left her homeland of Belgium for a new life in America—leaving behind her family before the outbreak of the World War I. Like so many immigrants, she hoped for a better life—but paid a heavy emotional price.
Author Darrel R. Hagberg invites you into this moving intergenerational narrative, where each chapter opens a window into the past—crafted from fragments of letters, faded photographs, whispered recollections, and forgotten clues hidden in an old cigar box. What begins as a family curiosity becomes a 100-year journey through time, war, and memory, revealing the unbreakable strength of family across generations. Palmyra is for anyone who’s ever held an old photograph and wondered, What really happened?