It seemed more sensible to take one I hadn't read yet, but that was such a risk. What if it wasn't any good? Then my only book would be one I didn't even like.
In the end I decided on Heidi. I loved that book and I knew it would be a comfort. After all Heidi also had to leave home and live with people she'd never met, and everything worked out well in the end."
"I shall never forget the night my life changed forever. It was the ninth of November, 1938, and Uncle Paul had come for supper."
Anna is a Jewish child living in Germany. Uncle Paul has made plans to leave the city and head to Paris. He tries to persuade Anna's parents to leave and leave now but they are convinced they are safe. The ninth of November, 1938 is Kristallnacht. Their home is raided. Possessions are destroyed and Papa and Uncle Paul are taken to the concentration camp called Buchenwald. Papa does come home eventually but it now seems impossible for the adults to leave Germany. Children, however, have a way to escape - the Kindertransport. Papa and Mama make the heart breaking decision to send their only child Anna to England in the hope she will be safe. Saying good bye at midnight at the train station her mother says:
"Try to be happy, ... Always be kind. And make the most of every opportunity you get. Fill you head with good things. And remember, we'll be thinking of you and sending our love to your every moment of every day."
The train journey across the border into Holland and then the boat trip to England are described in great detail. Luckily Anna is taken in by a beautiful family who work on an estate in Kent. Things are, however, not so easy at school especially when one boy decides Anna is a spy.
One afternoon the children - Anna, Molly and her brother Frank find a soldier hiding in their barn. He claims to be an English soldier who needs to assist his mother. He has an injured ankle and says he just wants to take a few days with his mother before returning to his regiment. The children believe his story until Anna overhears this man - "Peter Smith" swearing in German. He must be a spy but the children cannot tell the adults because they realise this man has overheard Molly and Frank talking about a visit by no one less than Winston Churchill. This is of course highly confidential information and the children are terrified their father will be hung for treason. How can three young children foil a German spy? Anna shows enormous courage and resourcefulness especially during the moments when the German solider is aiming a riffle straight at her heart.
Helen Peters has clearly done meticulous research to write this magnificent historical fiction, and every step feels real and immersive, even Anna’s grand adventure in England, which makes the novel zip along at some pace with its spy adventure. The parts that deal with the Jewish experience and the Kindertransport are sensitively and delicately handled, taken from real life experiences, and it is the voices of the actual Kindertransport who sound loudly throughout. Minerva Reads
Read an interview with Helen Peters where she explains all her decision making in relation to this book. It is interesting to read how many changes she made to her plot ideas as she delved deeper into the Kindertransport and read first hand accounts from survivors.
Here are some more books to add to your list if you want to read about children caught up in the confusion of WWII.
- When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit
- Carrie's War
- The Silver Sword
- Good Night Mister Tom
- The War that saved my Life
- Vinnie's War
- Our Castle by the Sea
- What about me?
- The Little Riders
Here is another book on this topic which I have added to my own 'to read' list:
About six years ago I read another book by Helen Peters. The Secret Hen House Theatre.
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