My grandmother has told me stories about her life for as long as I can remember. Some of them I know by heart. But they are not your usual coffee table tales on a Sunday afternoon. All of her brightest moments seem to be filled also by struggle, grief, anger, loss and betrayal. As she would put it there just wasn't anything praiseworthy in her life.
When she found herself on a nursing home a few years back it suddenly hit me, that it probably would be the last time she would be able to tell these stories to me. And so I decided to record them.
Everyone calls my grandmother Maie as this is her official name as stated also in her passport, but for some reason I also know her by the name of Elle. Due to circumstances unknown this name was not picked up or used, but she still wanted me to know this. For me this name represents a wandering soul of a woman who could have had a different life, a more joyous life.
