"I think that the street people who lived in the area were very poor. I only had a small house, but I made it look like a palace."

"In my spare time I used to make cherry brandy in big glass jars with loads of sugar and often gave a drink to the local policeman who popped in to see us on his rounds. He was a regular customer, always coming for his tipple and I used to say 'It's homemade, you'll be okay!'"

Esther desperately missed her family back in Odessa. She would write to them and never hear back (they possibly died during the Pogroms). She grieved for her family all her life.

The Pogroms started and her family and friends feared for their lives. They used to have to board up the windows of their home for fear of being attacked. Esther and Solomon ended up leaving their families behind to escape Russia in 1913 to travel to America, yet ended up living in London instead.

Esther grew up as a child in Odessa. Her father owned a farm and had his own land and she had a very middle-class upbringing.
She lost her father quite young as he fell off a horse while he was riding over his 'estate' and was killed.
Her first language was Russian and her second language was French. Until she had left Russia, she had never heard of Yiddish nor did she ever speak it.
She had both Jewish and non-Jewish friends and they used to go to the opera together when they were older.They once heard Gili sing at the Odessa Opera House.