נערה מברלין

by Jake Wallis Simons, ג'ייק ווליס סימונס (Author's Hebrew name), ניצה פלד (Translator)

רומן עוצמתי המבוסס על תחקיר מדויק – סיפור חייה של הנערה היהודייה רוזה קליין, בין ברלין 1933 ללונדון 1947. חייהם של בני משפחת קליין עוברים טלטלה עם עליית הנאצים לשלטון והם מאבדים בהדרגה את כל היקר להם. האב, אוטו קליין, מנתח בכיר וגיבור מלחמת העולם הראשונה, מאמין תחילה שהנאציזם הוא אפיזודה קצרה וחולפת, ומסרב להגר מברלין גם כשהוא מפוטר מבית החולים ומצבם הכלכלי והחברתי מידרדר. אך ליל הבדולח מהווה נקודת מפנה, לאחר שהוא נעצר עם בנו ונשלח למחנה. אלא שעכשיו דלתות המילוט מגרמניה כבר נסגרו בפניהם. רק את רוזה, בתם בת השש-עשרה, הם מצליחים להבריח מברלין ברכבת הקינדרטרנספורט ללונדון, כשעל כתפיה הצרות מוטלת המשימה להביא בעקבותיה גם את משפחתה. רוזה משקיעה מאמצים אדירים להשיג ויזה לבני משפחתה, אך עם פרוץ המלחמה היא מאבדת איתם כל קשר. עלילה סוחפת על אהבה ואובדן, שבמרכזה סיפורו המרתק של הקינדרטרנספורט, משלוחי ההצלה של ילדים יהודים מגרמניה הנאצית לבריטניה. "רומן מטלטל במיוחד שמבוסס על תחקיר מעמיק. מחווה נהדרת לגבורה שבקינדרטרנספורט". - הטיימס "כתיבה עוצמתית שמפיחה חיים בעבר. הדרמה, הצער, התקוות והאתגרים במסעה של נערה יהודייה מברלין שלפני המלחמה ועד לונדון שאחרי המלחמה, כל אלה חיים לנגד עינינו בפרוזה כובשת לב. רומן שריגש אותי מאוד והעניק לי השראה, ואת השראתו שלו שאב מהחיים עצמם" - סר מרטין גילברט

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II, Holocaust, Historical, Germany, Audiobook

446 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when it’s time to settle into Fall and think Autumn thoughts I read The English German Girl by Jake Wallis Simons, one of Britain’s up and coming authors. A tale of the Kindertransport of WWII moving Jewish children to Britain for safety. Promises were made that they wouldn’t be gone forever and that parents and other siblings who didn’t get a visa would be waiting when they came home. There were no homes to come back to and, sadly, not many family members, either.

Rosa Klein is the child of wealth when we meet her. Her father is a doctor and her mother cares for her three children faithfully. Older brother, Heinrich, is outspoken and brash and little sister, Hedi, has apparent issues with development but Mama soldiers on. Rosa is the mainstay of the family at nine years old, just old enough to have friends, go to the bakery alone and enjoy life in Berlin.

Fast forward six years. Things have changed – immensely. Father has lost his job because he is Jewish and the family is living in a slum. A friend who is a policeman brings them some food when he can and they spend all day, every day, at embassies trying to get passports or visas to leave Germany with no luck. Finally, Rosa’s uncle offers to take her and arrangements are made to go to Britain which, of course, is having it’s own issues with Germany.

Uncle Gerald and Aunt Mimi are expecting a nine-year old girl and get a blossoming fifteen year old in stead. Mimi is immediately put off and wants her to go back but that can’t be done. Rosa becomes a housekeeper for them although treated fairly well – until their son goes off to warm, is injured and returns. Then things begin to change. All Rosa wants is peace which is in short supply.

This book broke my heart. I loved it, hated it and read every page into the night. I couldn’t put it down because I was afraid I would miss something! A true depiction of the damages done to families in WWII, both German and British. If you are a history buff or just like a true story made fiction this is a must read.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly exceptional. I would give more than five stars if I could. Recommended.

[Karyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read so many books, both fiction and non, about the Holocaust. This one is completely different, having to deal with the Kindertranport trains that took children from Germany to safety in England. Imagine being a Jew in Germany in the 1930s, having experienced the prejudice and racism there, trying to live in a world that wanted you dead, and choosing one of your three children to make their way to safety in hopes that she could be the means of your escape from the horrors as well. It was a lot of pressure for Rosa, aged 15, but somehow she takes it all on with grace and aplomb.

I agree that the start is a little slow, but I appreciated so much the research that went into the writing of this book. For me, it made it so much more real and vivid to see the names of the German streets written as they would be in German. The description of Kristallnacht, though it's not explicitly named as such, was terrifying; to imagine Rosa out on the streets, unable to know whom to trust, made my heart race.

Simons's description of how tirelessly and ultimately fruitlessly the Jews of Germany worked to try to escape the country really brought home how impossible it was to leave. So many nations weren't keen on having Jews flood their borders, regardless of the danger they were in; there was a great deal of anti-Semitism present in most of the Western world. The fact that the Kindertransports even existed was amazing in retrospect.

This is an incredible novel of what it took for one girl to come to England alone, knowing very little of the language and very little of the culture or even her own religion, for which so many of her fellow Germans would pay the ultimate price. It's an engrossing novel; I found myself eager to delve back into the book whenever I was pulled away. Had I not been on vacation this weekend, I'm sure I would have finished this in two days.

Highly recommended for all fans of WWII history and of the Holocaust.

[Charles Weinblatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“An inspiring story of courage and love.”

The English German Girl is a fictional representation of the Holocaust with considerable emphasis on the Kindertransport program.

Prior to Nazi Germany enforcing the Nuremberg Laws against Jews, the Klein family is happy, productive and loving. Fourteen-year-old Rosa, the protagonist, has an older brother and a younger sister. Otto, her father is a physician, a skilled surgeon. Her mother, Inga is loving and supportive. Heinrich, her brother is bright and gregarious, often involved with his Zionist friends. Hedi, her sister is young, innocent and precious. They have a daily housekeeper, plenty of money and many friends.

This idyllic life comes to an end with Nazi persecution. As Jews, the family is forced to move into an undesirable neighborhood. Otto can no longer practice medicine or work in a hospital. Inga is forced to do other people’s laundry to make ends meet. Now comes Kristallnacht. Rosa’s father and brother are arrested, starved and beaten. Her mother and Hedi spend the night at a railway station, pretending to be travelers. Rosa is protected by their former housekeeper, but only for a few hours. Meanwhile, their home is ransacked.

With each passing month, Jews are forced deeper into squalid ghettos. They have very little to eat. Travel outside of the mandated ghetto is forbidden. Synagogues are burned. Jews are beaten on the street. And each day brings new threats of deportation “to the East,” which increasingly means terrible things. In almost all cases, the surviving families of those sent east never again hear from their loved ones.

Otto rejects the idea of leaving Germany for years. Like so many others, he insists that this persecution against Jews will swiftly pass and that they will soon resume their old lives. By the time he realizes that Nazis intend to eradicate all Jews, it is too late to obtain emigration visas. Since Jews are stripped of their passports and have no visas, they are stuck in a Germany already planning their extermination. This becomes more frighteningly tangible with each passing day.

Otto comes home one day with news that one of their children can obtain passage to England as part of a program called Kindertransport. As long as a family in England will vouch to care for a child, Kindertransport will allow passage. But only one child per family may leave. It is assumed that Hedi, the youngest, will go. But the Kleins change their mind and send Rosa instead. She will live with distant relatives in London. Then, when it is safe, they will send for Hedi. They assume that eventually the entire family will be reunited in England.

Rosa arrives in London and does her best to adapt to a new life in a new country, living with strangers. She corresponds by letter with her family in Germany. But as the months and years pass, letters from her family stop arriving and Rosa’s letters are returned, undeliverable.

The balance of the novel involves Rosa’s new family and her new life in England. Her foster parents have a son about Rosa’s age, named Samuel. Not long after Rosa arrives, Samuel goes off to war. He is injured and returns home to recuperate. During this time, Samuel and Rosa fall in love and soon Rosa is pregnant. Samuel’s parents will not allow such a condition to exist and Rosa leaves. She is suddenly all alone in London, with a dream of one day being a nurse. She believes that Samuel does not love her and she tries to move on with her life. But she misunderstands Samuel and his powerful love for her. Horribly frightened and with no one to help her, Rosa is once more on her own in a strange land.

The English German Girl is an inspiring story of courage and love. The characters are well developed and the novel has good pace. Fear is the traction of this story and Simons wields it at a considerable stride. The author uses excellent guided imagery, placing the reader in the midst of the horror of Kristallnacht and the blitz in London. One can feel the terror of being a Jew in Berlin and the reader can almost choke upon the smoke in London’s blitz. On the other hand, the reader does not quite adequately feel the physical attraction between Rosa and Samuel. This portion of the story could have been more effectively explored. And while doing this might have changed the book from a rating of PG to R, the reader would have been far more emotionally engulfed by the result.

There is a long gap between the time when Rosa stops hearing from her family in Germany and the time she understands why. And while this is exactly what happened to Kindertransport children who were old enough to recall their family left behind, the reader is left guessing about their loved-ones’ fortune or demise. This presents a lost opportunity. Perhaps for the sake of concision (the 342-page galley seemed unnecessarily burdensome at times), or to avoid graphic detail, the readers is unable to walk with Rosa’s parents and siblings as they are deported from Berlin to Auschwitz. This represents a lost opportunity in the plot. Whether this decision was made in view of the need for brevity, or whether the author wanted us only to see the Holocaust through the eyes of Rosa, it’s a lost prospect.

Rosa’s life in England expands significantly in two directions – her emotional loss from losing Samuel and her desire to become self-sufficient. Rosa does her best to become a nurse, following in the footsteps of her physician father. She survives nightly bombing attacks by the Luftwaffe, the terror of which is explored carefully by the author.

This reviewer’s galley presents a book in an unconventional format. Dialog does not occur within traditional quotation marks. Nor is it consistently initiated in a new paragraph. When this is blended together with narrative, the reader sometimes has difficulty separating dialog from description. On some pages, narrative constitutes impossibly long paragraphs, onerous to a reader’s desire for chunks of data, rather than a torrential flood. Was the book purposefully edited in this way? If so, why?

The English German Girl is a grand mixture of excellent description, memorable characters, and viable dialog (minus the lack of quotation marks). The reader experiences the sights, sounds, fear and desire of characters who exist in a time of great crisis and desperate physical danger. Perhaps one more attempt at editing might have earned this book another star.

Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of published fiction and non-fiction, including the popular Holocaust novel, Jacob’s Courage (Mazo Publishers).

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional read. Very moving and powerful.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To no avail, I keep resolving not to read yet another WWII book! This was the audible version and it was skillfully done. The plot was strong, about a German girl, Rosa Klein, who leaves Berlin reluctantly on a kinder transport train, at the strong urging of her parents. Not speaking any English, she must find her way in London, as she hopes fervently to get work visas so that her family can be allowed to leave.
The accomplished narrator did an excellent job, and the credible story was convincingly presented. Loneliness, heartbreak, along with fierce determination and hope were among the strains woven skillfully throughout. It was well written and well researched. Four stars. 9-7-2020

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To no avail, I keep resolving not to read yet another WWII book! This was the audible version and it was skillfullyl done. The plot was strong, about a German girl, Rosa Klein, who leaves Berlin reluctantly on a kinder transport train, at the strong urging of her parents. Not speaking any English, she must find her way in London, as she hopes fervently to get work visas so that her family can be allowed to leave.
The accomplished narrator did an excellent job, and the credible story was convincingly presented. Loneliness, heartbreak, along with fierce determination and hope were among the strains woven skillfully throughout. It was well written and well researched.

[Hermien · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of the book set in Berlin in the years before WW II is good. It captures first the disbelief and then the building fear amongst the Jewish population well, describing the events from a child/young girl's perspective. Unfortunately, once Rosa arrives in England the story tends to develop into a romantic drama but ends strongly again.

[Bar · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF around page 100. It was just boring, and the plot was building up too slowly.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I kept wanting to pick it up and read a bit more
I wanted to know what was going to happen to everyone, the reality of the second world war never makes easy reading but I loved the drama and enjoyed following Rosa through her experiences good and bad

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book really moving and powerful. It was interesting learning about the Kindertransport trains which took Jewish children from Germany to England during the Holocaust. So sad and heartbreaking.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the story begins it is January 1933, and in an upper-class apartment in Berlin, Herr Doktor Otto Klein and his wife Inga stand at a window and watch the crowds celebrate the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reichs Chancellor of Germany. The Herr Doktor assures his wife that this means nothing; Adolf Hitler is only a figurehead and this cannot last. He feels no particular apprehension, certainly not fear. After all, he is a surgeon, a Prussian Frontkampfer of the Great War, and a German citizen. He and his family are not even practicing Jews.

Part I of The English German Girl shows the increasing pressure and hardship this family, Otto, Inga, their son Heinrich, and their daughters, Rosa and Hedi experience over the next five years, culminating in Kristallnacht in November of 1938. Although begged by Inga from the beginning to consider emigrating, Otto refuses. Even after losing his job at the hospital, being forced to move from his apartment and the increasing restrictions on Jews, he refuses to face reality. It is only after Kristallnacht when he and his son find themselves sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and are miraculously released sometime later, does he finally face the fact that they must leave. It is too late.

The rest of the book is the story of the middle child, Rosa. They manage to get her out on a Kindertransport to England to live with Otto's cousin. Fifteen by this time, the hope is that Rosa will somehow be able to get for them a visa or, perhaps, a work permit that will enable all of them to emigrate to England.

The English German Girl is a well-written novel of this family's attempt to escape fate, the characters are well drawn and sympathetic. Mr. Simons captures the period both in Nazi Germany and in London. The story of the Kindertransport is different and interesting. Unfortunately, as the reader, you end up just as much in the dark and confused as the children on the train. Since there is no background on the trains, no explanation of how they started, who was responsible, or how it worked, they might as well be taking an ordinary trip. Sort of a day trip to freedom only for children under 18. Contrast this with the chapters on Rosa's entering nurses' training in London which take up almost the last third of the book and you can see the problem. The more compelling tale leaves you stranded.

One of the most interesting parts of the book is an appendix that lists all of the real life characters used by the author in the book. He does this so well that I never realized they were real people as I was not familiar with them. In the appendix, the author lists them all and gives a short description of what they did and who they were. This was very effective.

I liked this book. The Kindertransport was the best part even though it only took a few pages. I wanted it fleshed out with a more realistic idea of what it must really have been like. Hundreds of children, torn from their parents, alone on a Nazi train going somewhere they no nothing about or were even too young to comprehend must have been a lot more terrifying than the simple train ride presented here. It left me wanting a lot more. Too bad.

[Katy Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this more than I expected to. The story of a 15-year-old Jewish girl caught up in the growing atrocities of pre-war Berlin, sent by her family to England on a Kindertransport.

Rosa's story is one of two parts - the first shows us what life was like for Jews in Germany as Hitler's power and influence spilled over into violence and new law. I was insensed by their apparent acceptance of each change (Jews cannot attend the theatre, cannot use the shops), and as ever, it was difficult to read. You know where the story will ultimately lead.

For Rosa though, after years of attempts to secure the whole family visas, only she can leave with other children, sent ahead to find work for her parents so they can join her in England. Speaking little English, not knowing anything of British culture, Rosa is still searching on their behalf when War breaks out.

The second half of the story details Rosa's life during and after the war, stuck in England with no way to find her family, we see how she copes with her foster family (relatives), a burgeoning romance, her wish to become a nurse, and the guilt of being the only one of her family to escape Nazi Germany.

I found it fascinating, really enjoyed both 'halves' of Rosa's story, seeing a 1940s hospital. I burst into tears at the end of the story with some particularly poignant and moving scenes that must have truly happened for many. There is a particularly good description of London when victory is declared as well, it evokes the period nicely.

I audioread this, and it's a good straightforward narrative for listening, with a talented narrator who gives Rosa an accent that becomes less pronounced the more time she spends in England.

Very interesting and empathic period story.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rosa is able to escape Berlin through the Kindertransport. Her story is one of many children who were separated from family, never to see them again, as they fled the Nazi's growing power and destruction.

The story itself never allowed me to feel like I was right there with the Klein family, even though the descriptions of Berlin, and Kristallnacht were well done. I felt as if the author wanted to keep the reader at arms length just as Rosa often pushed people away. Also, Rosa decided to ignore all news and information regarding Germany and the war, it is never mentioned that she hears anything on the radio, people talking, or reads headlines. She takes the Pollyanna outlook that if she were to go back to Germany, she would find her family living their normal life, simply waiting for her. She knew the dire straights they were in since she lived it, so it's odd that it's not mentioned just to show how she ignores the information, or willfully chooses to twist it into a positive spin. It's like radio and newspapers and the spread of information didn't exist.

There are no quotes encompassing dialogue, just dashes, so it can be confusing who is speaking. I don't understand why these were used???

I appreciate that this story had no happy ending, and that it depicted the suffering of those who survived.

[Allison Overstreet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written story detailing the events of WW2 and the Kindertransport. The history is solid, accurate, and thoroughly researched. The characters are listed at the end in order to know which people in the story actually lived through the the events covered in the pages you just completed. In the Afterward, the author says he didn’t want to be accused of “bumming a ride in the Holocaust.” That is a dilemma. Here’s the problem.... I just didn’t care enough! There are so many interesting details about the setting and history and time frame, but nothing that made me care about the characters. It was a GOOD story with a redemptive ending, and I usually love books written about this time in history, but it was like reading an encyclopedia with characters thrown in. I don’t regret reading it, it wasn’t a waste of time, but neither was it compelling or emotional either. Kind of a “6 one way, half a dozen the other” kind of book. Enjoyable, but not one of those “I can’t put it down” books.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just started - impressed so far - Finished it and I really enjoyed it. I was fascinated by the story of the kindertransport and some passages in the book were really moving. I felt quite emotional at some parts of the story and it was quite a cliff-hanger - the day the war started, and what that meant for Rosie was devastating. If I have any criticism at all (and this is minor)I sometimes got a bit frustrated with the length of descriptive passages when I was longing for the action to move on - but, as I said, it's minor and on the whole I liked the book very much.

I was also interesting to read the list of people in the afterword and found that (as I had thought) some of the characters were real people although I believe the main characters were fictional.

[Jackie R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually found this book slightly disappointing. I felt that it left a lot of the escape of the children through the trains to England as just a little part of this entire tale and yet this is how the character survived as part of The Kinder Transport. And it just left me with more questions about that aspect and why for instance did she not attempt to find out any of the other children. It did fill me in on the how's and whys of training to be a nurse in England... .

[Lindasp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often read books set in WWII years and usually enjoy them but for some reason, I struggled to finish this book. It's well written but is quite detailed and lengthy, so maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it. The story covers a lot of different aspects of the war years from treatment of Jews in Germany before the war, to the Kindertransport, to life in England as a German girl and to the Blitz years and finally to the after-effects of the war.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing and thought-provoking, this new book was beautifully written and meticulously researched. I could not put it down.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found it hard going to begin with glad never gave up. Sad and thought inspiring read

[Tami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waste of time

[Kelly Grainger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book. Very dark in some parts (as it was during that time)

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Klein family, living in 1930s Berlin, suddenly find that their affluent, middle-class life is reduced to poverty and persecution as a result of German anti-Jewish legislation. In spite of their increasingly frantic efforts they are unable to obtain visas in order to escape as a family and, in desperation, accept a visa to send 15-year-old Rosa, on a Kindertransport train, to relatives in England. Once there she desperately tries to obtain visas for her parents and two siblings, but war is declared before she can succeed, and they remain trapped.
This is obviously a meticulously researched book but, in my opinion, suffered from being far too long; I believe that the story could have been told more effectively and powerfully in two thirds of the length. For most of the time the narrative felt far too slow-moving and drawn out but, on the other hand, the ending felt rather rushed and unconvincing. The first part, set in 1930s Berlin, felt more engaging and convincing than the depiction of Rosa’s experiences in England: the minutiae of what daily life was like for Jews during this period made their experiences come alive in a very vivid way. Many of the descriptions of the traumas experienced by those children who came over on the transports, and the consequent feelings of “survivors’ guilt” were also very convincing. However, I found much of the character development rather clinical, detached, unconvincing and often stereotypical. I wonder whether a major problem was that the author, determined to make full use of his comprehensive research, made his main characters carry an amalgam of the wide range of experiences of holocaust and Kindertransport survivors, thus ensuring that they couldn’t possibly come across as entirely credible.
In spite of my overall disappointment with this book, it is certainly thought-provoking enough to be a good choice for reading groups.

[Trisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read many books about WWII and the Holocaust I was drawn to this book because it was set both in Germany as well as Great Britain and dealt with something I knew very little about, the Kindertransport train that transported Jewish children from Berlin to London before the outbreak of the war. But although it was obviously the result of much research the book failed to meet my expectations largely because of the way it was written.

I was distracted from the start by the use of dashes instead of quotation marks and the problem was made worse by the frequent switches back and forth between past and present tense, and the fact that the narrative often changed abruptly from first person to second person with no apparent reason. And while the inclusion of German words and phrases initially added depth to the narrative, it quickly became a distraction especially when there were not enough contextual cues provided to help non German-speaking readers understand what was being said.

This is a book that had much potential but failed to deliver. It began promisingly enough – with the Klein family becoming increasingly victimized by the anti-Jewish sentiment sweeping through Berlin which led to their difficult decision to send 15 year-old Rosa to London to stay with relatives in the hope of procuring visas and work for the rest of the family. But instead of focusing on the Kindertransport itself and what it meant for the many people whose lives were affected by it, the author chose to turn the novel into a love story between Rosa and the son of the family who took her in.

While I stuck with this book to the end, it’s definitely not on my list of books to recommend to other readers looking for a good WWII novel.

[Lisa Forsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. It is pre-war Nazi Germany and the Klein family is starting to catch a glimpse of how their lives will be. Dr. Klein is demoted at work and soon loses his job. Jews are forbidden to purchase certain items, to own property, etc. The family is relocated from their tony address, where they employed servants, to a smaller tenement building, where they must fend for themselves. As conditions continue to deteriorate, beatings begin in the streets and relocations are begun, the Klein family finally obtains a visa on a Kindertransport taking children under 18 to England. The parents decide it will be Rosa who will leave, with the hope that once she is secure in her sponsors’ home (distant cousins), she can obtain work permits for her parents and the rest of the family will follow. Rosa, while grateful, feels isolated and guilty that she has been chosen to be on her own...safe but alone. The story follows her life in England, and her coping with this survivor’s guilt. She determines to make the most of the chance she has been given, becoming a nurse. There were a few too many coincidences in this story for me...but I did enjoy the story. The details of the nursing training would be of interest to any of my nursing friends. I had heard of the Kindertransport before, but then as I was reading this book, became aware of others who were survivors because of this transport (most notably Dr. Ruth).

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a long story! Its called the English German girl but I think nearly half the book took place in Germany before she came to England. A different angle on the Holocaust, focusing on the Kindertransport children. I listened to the audiobook so didn't have a problem with the non standard punctuation of speech that others have mentioned. I did enjoy it, but Rosa was hard to get to know as a character. Some bits were just a bit too unbelievable ... in particular how just before war broke out her sister was due to come on another transport AND her parents were due to come soon too ... but both were prevented by the outbreak of war. Up until that point all efforts to get them out of Germany were unsuccessful so it seemed unnecessary to suddenly turn things around for 2 separate escapes, that were thwarted. And I didn't like the very end when she made her husband promise that in similar situation they would never send a child away. But on the whole and interesting and engaging book, well researched. I look forward to more titles from this author.

[Jill Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosa Klein, a young Jewish girl living in Berlin is sent away to England to stay with her father’s cousin to stay safe and to help the rest of her family obtain the right paperwork to escape Germany during the war. She knows very little English and her aunt & uncle are not exactly warming up to her. But their son, Samuel, falls in love with her and she ends up pregnant at only 17. Her aunt tricks her into an abortion which she regrets the next day and believes Samuel was in on the decision. Rosa packs and leaves not to connect with Samuel until five years later when she is a nurse at a London hospital and he is brought in with injuries. So many German terms were thrown into the copy in the first part of the book that I almost put it down. I feared I was missing important meaning by this and it was annoying. But, Simons tamed it down and it became an interesting story with vivid descriptions of Berlin London. Thank goodness he left out the gory details of the Jewish killings. The storyline was a bit predictable. 7 Stars. (1.8 to 1.27.19)

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly moving read. The first half of the story shows Rosa's family life in Berlin and from 1932 the tightening grip of the Nazi party on Germany and its impact on their lives. The chapters on Kristallnacht are particularly powerful. The novel shows the desperate efforts made my Jewish families to try and flee from Germany and the impossible barriers placed in their way by foreign governments. The moral complexity of sending a child on the Kindertransport is clear, one that Rosa wrestles with for the rest of her life. The second half of the novel deals with her life in her foster family then her as an adult. The impact of the Kindertransport and her attempts to secure visas for her family weigh heavy on her. When the letters stop she keeps hoping against hope. I found it very powerful, although the events in the second half were a touch melodramatic at times. On the whole a great read / listen.

[Tracey Gust · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book begins in early 1930s Berlin, where a thriving Jewish community quickly finds itself disintegrating under the growing Nazi regime. Teenage Rosa is sent off on the Kindertransport to England, where she must learn to navigate a foreign culture using a foreign language, all the while trying to rescue her family from Germany. The detailed descriptions of Berlin as well as WWII nursing were fascinating as was Rosa's thought life going through challenges she faced. The only drawback for me was that some parts were a little long and repetitive. Otherwise, I found "The English German Girl" to be a real page turner.

[Charmaine Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting perspective, making for a compelling story. However, I was surprised that so much of the book was devoted to trivia - and so little to historical insights. Rosa's struggles with the English language make the point. Having suffered through one agonizing read of her plea, one is immediately presented with a tedious repeat. The characters lacked depth - and were presented in fragments. Maybe, this was intentional as their lives were so topsy - turvy. Good story-line, despite some fantastical parts, could have been executed better - makes for a 4 star, rather than 5 star rating.