In the form of a letter to her unborn child, a young woman delves into her past. Through her narrative she resurrects spectres that still haunt of her life; her mother, who wandered into a river and never returned, her violent, domineering father, and the chaos of post-war Germany. Born in 1945 to Russian parents, her family had drifted from the famine zone of the war-ravaged Ukraine and ended up in Germany. Always an outsider, the girl's perspective on the tyranny of society, of language, and on the adolescent's desperate need to belong is clear-eyed, unspoiled by self-pity and moving. As the post-war West German economic miracle gains momentum and the culture of America -- 1950s nylon blouses and blue jeans -- infiltrates her provincial town, her status as an alien becomes increasingly oppressive. A testament to the human ability to survive, Once I Lived is the story of a child's life moved by the forces of the twentieth century. It perfectly captures the essence of the outsider in a country that is becoming increasingly intolerant of aliens.