First published 2014
On a cold December night in 1938, ten-year-old Lore boards the Kindertransport, a rescue train carrying Jewish children from Austria to England as Hitler's persecution intensifies. She arrives at Dover Court Camp on England's coast, then moves between foster families for seven years: the Orthodox Levines, the Hoopers, the working-class Grimsleys, and the wealthy Miss Douglas and Mrs. Dillon. Lore carries an impossible burden. She must convince English strangers to sponsor her parents' escape from Austria. She writes letters describing the horrors unfolding back home, pleading for help. To her parents, she sends careful observations of her new families as she struggles to master English and navigate unfamiliar customs. As war approaches, Lore discovers her gift for writing and her determination to survive. She creates a new identity while holding onto hope that her family will reunite. This semiautobiographical novel captures the immigrant experience of building a life from fragments, finding strength in displacement, and learning that survival sometimes means becoming someone new.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, jewish
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, survival
Setting: Austria, England, Dover Court Camp
Period: 1938
320 pages · Kindle Edition · Open Road Media