What do you think?
Rate this book
Displaced: A Family without a Country: Inspired by the life of Irena Golcvegaite
A family saga of resilience and hope in the midst of war.
In 1940 Soviet tanks roll into Lithuania. To avoid Communism, Irena and her family flee to Nazi Germany. In Hamburg, Irena and her sister attend a school and are taught to revere Hitler and hate the Jews.
The Allies’ plan is to annihilate Hamburg by bombing, code named Operation Gomorrah. Can Irena’s parents protect their daughters not only from the deadly war, but also from Hitler’s propaganda?
Inspired by the true story of a Lithuanian family who flees their country to protect their daughters, only to discover they might lose them.
In 1940 Soviet tanks roll into Lithuania. To avoid Communism, Irena and her family flee to Nazi Germany. In Hamburg, Irena and her sister attend a school and are taught to revere Hitler and hate the Jews.
The Allies’ plan is to annihilate Hamburg by bombing, code named Operation Gomorrah. Can Irena’s parents protect their daughters not only from the deadly war, but also from Hitler’s propaganda?
Inspired by the true story of a Lithuanian family who flees their country to protect their daughters, only to discover they might lose them.
438 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 19, 2025
3 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 12, 2026
We hear about the war in Western Europe but we don't often what went on in countries such as Lithuania. The family the Russians were overseers and It initially looked like the Germans who came in the early 1940s would be better. Not to be. They ended in Germany with dad forced to work in a bomb factory. Much of the book is told from the eyes of a young girl, but as I read it, the hero for Was Mama. A very hard book to put down.
May 22, 2025
Displaced by Sue Stewart Ade truly is the story of a family without a country. Sue Stewart Ade very appropriately opens with a description of the bombing of Hamburg, Germany, what the allies called Operation Gomorrah. The family was there and just trying to survive.
The Displaced story is often focused on the two young girls in the family, Irena and her younger sister, Bridget. Constantly caring for them are their mother, Harriet and their father Oskar. With the beginning of the second world war, the family is driven from their native Lithuania, first by the Nazis and then the Russians. Their dream is to someday return and resume their lives there. It was then that they ended up in Hamburg where Oskar is forced to make bombs rather than candy, Harriet scrambles daily to find food and Irena is in middle school where she is taught to revere Hitler as her leader and protector.
Constantly on the move, the family is forced to confront seemingly never ending threats and problems. Lacking food, safety and a stable future, they still manage to hold on to their lives, their faith and each other. The closeness and strength of each of them enables the family to overcome the dangers and hardships surrounding them.
The Displaced story is often focused on the two young girls in the family, Irena and her younger sister, Bridget. Constantly caring for them are their mother, Harriet and their father Oskar. With the beginning of the second world war, the family is driven from their native Lithuania, first by the Nazis and then the Russians. Their dream is to someday return and resume their lives there. It was then that they ended up in Hamburg where Oskar is forced to make bombs rather than candy, Harriet scrambles daily to find food and Irena is in middle school where she is taught to revere Hitler as her leader and protector.
Constantly on the move, the family is forced to confront seemingly never ending threats and problems. Lacking food, safety and a stable future, they still manage to hold on to their lives, their faith and each other. The closeness and strength of each of them enables the family to overcome the dangers and hardships surrounding them.
December 2, 2025
DISPLACED is a deeply moving and beautifully written story of survival, identity, and the strength of a family caught between two brutal forces of history. Irena’s journey from fleeing Lithuania to navigating life under both Soviet and Nazi influence is portrayed with such emotional clarity that it stays with you long after reading.
What struck me most was how authentically Sue Stewart Ade captures the fear, confusion, and forced resilience of a young girl shaped by war and propaganda. The contrast between innocence and ideology is especially powerful, and the family’s courage in protecting their daughters gives the story a profound heart.
This is a rare kind of historical fiction: grounded, human, and emotionally honest. A story that deserves to be read, shared, and remembered.
This is a rare kind of historical fiction: grounded, human, and emotionally honest. A story that deserves to be read, shared, and remembered
What struck me most was how authentically Sue Stewart Ade captures the fear, confusion, and forced resilience of a young girl shaped by war and propaganda. The contrast between innocence and ideology is especially powerful, and the family’s courage in protecting their daughters gives the story a profound heart.
This is a rare kind of historical fiction: grounded, human, and emotionally honest. A story that deserves to be read, shared, and remembered.
This is a rare kind of historical fiction: grounded, human, and emotionally honest. A story that deserves to be read, shared, and remembered
August 12, 2025
Instead of a Londoner's account of living through the blitz or a Frenchman's narrative of working with the Underground, Sue Ade tells a story from a different viewpoint. The displaced family flees their country of Lithuania, which was being taken over by the Soviets and moves TO Hamburg, Germany, thinking life will be better there. They face problems of housing, food shortages, health care, and the ever-presence of Nazi propaganda, filling the children's minds. Displaced, based on a real family's struggles, is a book you will enjoy from start to finish.
September 11, 2025
✨ Displaced: A Family Without a Country by Sue Stewart Ade isn’t just a book—it’s an experience that lingers long after the last page.
From chapter one, 1940 Lithuania comes alive with the rumble of Soviet tanks and the fear pulsing through the streets. Irena and her family’s flight to Germany is a story of impossible choices, parents striving to protect their daughters, and a world reshaping itself in fire and propaganda. Raw, heartbreaking, and achingly human.
Ade’s writing is vivid—you smell the smoke of bombed Hamburg, see the shadows of planes overhead, and feel the icy grip of indoctrination in Irena’s school. The quiet moments hit hardest: a mother clutching her daughters too tightly, a family praying the walls don’t collapse, and the haunting cost of survival on innocence.
This is more than history—it’s resilience, courage, and the fragile strength of a family bound by love when everything around them crumbles.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Displaced is a gut punch and a gift. It shows the courage it takes to keep going with nowhere left to run and the devastating cost of war that echoes far beyond the battlefield. A must-read historical novel.
From chapter one, 1940 Lithuania comes alive with the rumble of Soviet tanks and the fear pulsing through the streets. Irena and her family’s flight to Germany is a story of impossible choices, parents striving to protect their daughters, and a world reshaping itself in fire and propaganda. Raw, heartbreaking, and achingly human.
Ade’s writing is vivid—you smell the smoke of bombed Hamburg, see the shadows of planes overhead, and feel the icy grip of indoctrination in Irena’s school. The quiet moments hit hardest: a mother clutching her daughters too tightly, a family praying the walls don’t collapse, and the haunting cost of survival on innocence.
This is more than history—it’s resilience, courage, and the fragile strength of a family bound by love when everything around them crumbles.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Displaced is a gut punch and a gift. It shows the courage it takes to keep going with nowhere left to run and the devastating cost of war that echoes far beyond the battlefield. A must-read historical novel.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews