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Someday We Will Fly
Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?
Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.
But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?
Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.
But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 22, 2019
47 people are currently reading
3386 people want to read
About the author
Rachel DeWoskin
9 books119 followersRachel DeWoskin is the author of Foreign Babes in Beijing, a memoir about her inadvertent notoriety as the star of a Chinese soap opera, and a novel, Repeat After Me. She lives in New York City and Beijing and is at work on her fourth book, Statutory.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
January 31, 2020
Powerful historical fiction. The fact that I just read an excellent adult novel that was about this exact same topic and time period may have taken my appreciation of it from love to like, however ~ if you want an outstanding adult story of Jewish refugees in Shanghai during WWII, definitely read “The Song of the Jade Lily” by Kirsty Manning.
ETA: 2020 Sydney Taylor Award (Young Adult). The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
ETA: 2020 Sydney Taylor Award (Young Adult). The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
March 7, 2019
I don't know how to explain this book other than "touching." It truly is a very different type of story and experience that Lillian goes through . The cultural and language I pact alone but then add I. Your mother, hovering Japanese soldiers, poverty and having to step up at 15 to take care of your sister who clearly has some disabilities...you just can't not feel for her. I loved how Lillian makes this effort to keep doing little things that remind her of home or her mom but then she also says "I can't remember my mom's name."
The pacing is relatively slow but consistent. For the most part, the book doesn't drag but instead takes its time taking the reader on this long timeline.
There's a little bit of heartbreak for me when I look back as a whole but thankfully nothing tore my heart out and left me to die which I find to be rare for WWII books but something I kinda need sometimes.
I can't exactly explain why but I really happy I own this book because I will absolutely reread it. It's quite unique from other WWII historical fictions that I've read and I could definitely see my views of Lillian's father changing with each read.
The pacing is relatively slow but consistent. For the most part, the book doesn't drag but instead takes its time taking the reader on this long timeline.
There's a little bit of heartbreak for me when I look back as a whole but thankfully nothing tore my heart out and left me to die which I find to be rare for WWII books but something I kinda need sometimes.
I can't exactly explain why but I really happy I own this book because I will absolutely reread it. It's quite unique from other WWII historical fictions that I've read and I could definitely see my views of Lillian's father changing with each read.
February 1, 2019
The author of FOREIGN BABES IN BEIJING and BIG GIRL SMALL, Rachel DeWoskin, now brings a new novel to the stage --- SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY. This novel captures an unknown moment in history during World War II and the Holocaust: Jewish refugees in Shanghai.
Before May 17th, 1940, Lillia's parents, Bercik and Alenka, were circus performers in Warsaw. Lillia had a healthy younger sister, Naomi, and lived in a comfortable home with her family. On May 17th, 1940, Lillia’s whole life is turned over. Because she is Jewish, her mother goes missing and is presumably dead and her comfortable home is gone when her father whisks both her and her sister away on a boat to Shanghai. Although she’s far away from the comforts of her home, Lillia fights to live again throughout immense struggle including malnourishment and sickness, heavy loss and a shortage of jobs and money. The lack of money eventually leads Lillia to perform at a “gentlemen’s club” without her father’s knowledge. To resist against her everyday struggles, she makes puppets reminding her of the good times back in Warsaw and creates a show with them. She also becomes friends and develops a crush on Wei, a Chinese boy. As World War II escalates further when America enters the war, Lillia imagines a better time and place so that she could continue living and not be just alive.
SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY is an intense and immersive novel. Lillia, even in her unbelievable situation, is somehow relatable. Her strong and growing character has you easily entranced by what she’ll do next. Each twist and turn leaves you to wonder what would you have done if you were in her place and whether you agree with her actions. As a reader, you continuously fall into the story and wonder how you would act if she was interacting with you. Additionally, her living conditions seem impossible to be true and it leads you to wonder what would happen if you lived in such conditions.
DeWoskin uses very descriptive language and you can always see what is occurring in the novel. It leads you to make your own decisions on what you believe is going on and what should be done. It is also interesting to see what both you and Lillia see and miss, even though she is seeing the same reactions you’re seeing around her. It's also fascinating to see what a teenage girl was thinking at the time about the Holocaust when she was hidden from most of the horrors.
If you like connecting with characters and want to learn some lesser-known history, SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY is for you. Lillia, as I mentioned before, is captivating character. She stands up to conflict and fights to never submit to death, but she still has everyday teenage problems.
Change happens often and more times than not it ends in sadness. This book is emotionally taxing and by the time you’re done, your emotions are fraught. By the end you can barely breathe and at the same time you’re holding your breath wondering what’s going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to be read when you have a day to read all day in bed.
For history fans, learning about the Jewish refugees in Shanghai is fascinating because of how unknown it is to most of us, especially in America. As someone who has learned about the Holocaust, I never knew that Shanghai allowed fleeing Jews into its borders without visas.
Before May 17th, 1940, Lillia's parents, Bercik and Alenka, were circus performers in Warsaw. Lillia had a healthy younger sister, Naomi, and lived in a comfortable home with her family. On May 17th, 1940, Lillia’s whole life is turned over. Because she is Jewish, her mother goes missing and is presumably dead and her comfortable home is gone when her father whisks both her and her sister away on a boat to Shanghai. Although she’s far away from the comforts of her home, Lillia fights to live again throughout immense struggle including malnourishment and sickness, heavy loss and a shortage of jobs and money. The lack of money eventually leads Lillia to perform at a “gentlemen’s club” without her father’s knowledge. To resist against her everyday struggles, she makes puppets reminding her of the good times back in Warsaw and creates a show with them. She also becomes friends and develops a crush on Wei, a Chinese boy. As World War II escalates further when America enters the war, Lillia imagines a better time and place so that she could continue living and not be just alive.
SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY is an intense and immersive novel. Lillia, even in her unbelievable situation, is somehow relatable. Her strong and growing character has you easily entranced by what she’ll do next. Each twist and turn leaves you to wonder what would you have done if you were in her place and whether you agree with her actions. As a reader, you continuously fall into the story and wonder how you would act if she was interacting with you. Additionally, her living conditions seem impossible to be true and it leads you to wonder what would happen if you lived in such conditions.
DeWoskin uses very descriptive language and you can always see what is occurring in the novel. It leads you to make your own decisions on what you believe is going on and what should be done. It is also interesting to see what both you and Lillia see and miss, even though she is seeing the same reactions you’re seeing around her. It's also fascinating to see what a teenage girl was thinking at the time about the Holocaust when she was hidden from most of the horrors.
If you like connecting with characters and want to learn some lesser-known history, SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY is for you. Lillia, as I mentioned before, is captivating character. She stands up to conflict and fights to never submit to death, but she still has everyday teenage problems.
Change happens often and more times than not it ends in sadness. This book is emotionally taxing and by the time you’re done, your emotions are fraught. By the end you can barely breathe and at the same time you’re holding your breath wondering what’s going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to be read when you have a day to read all day in bed.
For history fans, learning about the Jewish refugees in Shanghai is fascinating because of how unknown it is to most of us, especially in America. As someone who has learned about the Holocaust, I never knew that Shanghai allowed fleeing Jews into its borders without visas.
October 6, 2019
An increasing number of books are highlighting a lesser known aspect of World War II: the Jews who escaped Europe and found their way to Shanghai. Desperate times make people act in ways they might otherwise never consider, as Lillia Kazka discovers in “Someday We Will Fly” by Rachel DeWoskin (Viking). Lillia, her father and younger sister flee Poland for Shanghai, which was occupied by the Japanese army. Lillia’s mother was supposed to leave with them, but disappeared when the police raided what was to be her parents’ last acrobat performance in Poland.
http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
May 8, 2019
Truly a heartbreaking account of a Jewish girl, most of her family having fled to Shanghai, the last place that will allow them entry. I was not aware of Jews fleeing to Shanghai, and while they didn't jump from the frying pan into the fire, they jumped right next to the japanese. Worth looking into actual accounts, which are neatly documented at the end of the book
April 28, 2019
I really wanted to like this book. It highlights a piece of history about which I knew very little and the story seems like a good idea. It was just such a slog and I did not find the writing compelling.
Read
December 10, 2020An outstanding audiobook.
Powerful, emotional, heartbreaking and heartfelt story about WWII, the Holocaust, and the Jews who fled to Shanghai.
That author's note was incredible!
FRTC
Powerful, emotional, heartbreaking and heartfelt story about WWII, the Holocaust, and the Jews who fled to Shanghai.
That author's note was incredible!
FRTC
February 14, 2019
This is an amazing, well-researched, and well-written book about the immigration of Jews from Poland to Shanghai during World War II when China was occupied by the Japanese army. Lillia, a fifteen-year-old girl, leaves Warsaw accompanied by her father and baby sister after having waited almost too far into the Nazi occupation for escape because her parents persisted in believing that fleeing was not necessary. Sadly, Lillia's mother is left behind in a murky turn of events that resulted from a Nazi raid on the theatre where her parents were performing the circus act for which they were well-known all over Europe. Lillia's sister, who is delayed in acquiring speech, becomes her responsibility because her father finds work as a laborer, allowing them to afford a room and move out of the shelter. They are destitute, as is most of the Jewish community in Shanghai, although there are some well-off Jews that were expatriates prior to the beginning of the war. Daily, Lillia practices handstands as a way of keeping her memories of her mother, dreaming of becoming an accomplished acrobat herself. She befriends another immigrant girl, a Chinese boy, and one of the city's affluent Jewish girls. Desperate, Lillia tries to earn money to save her family and endangers herself.
This book was painful to read in a way that The Book Thief was to me. Although The Book Thief was beloved by most readers, I wasn't fond of it because I felt that the value of the story was not worth the difficult experience of reading it. Having said that, I think that this book is challenging in the same way, but I do feel that it was worth the reading. It is a book that I won't forget and wouldn't hesitate to recommend to both adults and teens.
This book was painful to read in a way that The Book Thief was to me. Although The Book Thief was beloved by most readers, I wasn't fond of it because I felt that the value of the story was not worth the difficult experience of reading it. Having said that, I think that this book is challenging in the same way, but I do feel that it was worth the reading. It is a book that I won't forget and wouldn't hesitate to recommend to both adults and teens.
August 30, 2020
Trigger warnings: war, death, Holocaust, racism, death of a loved one, antisemitism, serious illness, grooming.
I desperately wanted to love this because, like, it's a World War II story that's very different to what we usually get in YA. Yes, it's about a Jewish girl fleeing Poland and the Holocaust with her family, but this time they flee to China. A China that's already been occupied by Japan for several years.
But ultimately, this was just a little too bleak for my liking. I mean, I'm not saying that I expected a WWII story about a Jewish girl to be full of hope and happy things. But between the extreme poverty and the way the Japanese soldiers treat the Chinese population and the creepy middle section where the protagonist ends up essentially dancing at a sex club and being groomed by a middle aged man who's high up in the Japanese military I just...oof.
Maybe if I'd read it in any other year in my lifetime I would have felt differently. But in 2020, this was just...a little too real for me. Even the sections that should have brought some degree of lightheartedness (like going to Girl Guides or making friends) were rough because Lillia is trying to fit in with the rich girls from her school when in reality she's, like, eating dirt to survive.
So yeah. I was interested to read it. But it was just bleak.
I desperately wanted to love this because, like, it's a World War II story that's very different to what we usually get in YA. Yes, it's about a Jewish girl fleeing Poland and the Holocaust with her family, but this time they flee to China. A China that's already been occupied by Japan for several years.
But ultimately, this was just a little too bleak for my liking. I mean, I'm not saying that I expected a WWII story about a Jewish girl to be full of hope and happy things. But between the extreme poverty and the way the Japanese soldiers treat the Chinese population and the creepy middle section where the protagonist ends up essentially dancing at a sex club and being groomed by a middle aged man who's high up in the Japanese military I just...oof.
Maybe if I'd read it in any other year in my lifetime I would have felt differently. But in 2020, this was just...a little too real for me. Even the sections that should have brought some degree of lightheartedness (like going to Girl Guides or making friends) were rough because Lillia is trying to fit in with the rich girls from her school when in reality she's, like, eating dirt to survive.
So yeah. I was interested to read it. But it was just bleak.
March 5, 2019
Rachel DeWoskin it is historical fiction. Some day we will fly talks about a 15 year old girl who lived in Poland with her family and then one day her parents were performing and the German soldiers came and raided there building and took her mother so they had to go to china without her even though she didn't want to leave her behind. My favorite part of the book is when she meets a Chinese boy at the school she goes to and starts helping him with his work. I recommend this book to anyone who likes story's about the Holocaust and historical fiction.This book is so amazing because I never new that china let refugee Jews come to china before it's a whole different side to the story.
November 26, 2018
Maybe it's my fault I've been reading too much WWII fiction lately. I enjoyed this book, but after The Girl in the Blue Coat and Grenade, it lacked drive. The premise was great - I had no idea Jews evacuated to Shanghai - but the focus meandered. It was a refugee story, a war story, a lost mother story, a baby with a developmental disability story, an almost-prostitution story, and then, in a bizarre plot twist, an [spoiler] abducted captive story [/spoiler].
A second tier recommendation.
A second tier recommendation.
October 4, 2019
Yet another WWII historical setting that I knew little, if anything about. European Jewish refugees fled by train and boat to Shanghai, China. Struggling to stay alive, they fought to keep their faith traditions alive and create a community there under Japanese occupation. A beautiful, wrenching story of multicultural friendship—really, family—forged through the depravity of war and yearning for a home that may no longer exist.
December 17, 2019
To be completely honest, Holocaust-era novels aren’t usually my jam. I usually find them to be overwrought, cliché, and overdone. Yes, I’m a horrible, heartless person. Yet, I was drawn to Someday We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin because it offered something different. In my university days, I read a couple novels about adolescents fleeing with their Jewish families, but never one that featured a Polish family seeking refuge in Shanghai. I wasn’t aware that Japanese-occupied Shanghai had been an option for Jewish refugees. Intrigued, I settled in to Lillia’s story and discovered a tale that was both sad and touching while also being full of hope. Spoilers follow.
Story/Writing
It’s 1940 when 15 year-old Lillia’s life changes forever. The circus that her parents perform at is raided by soldiers. Her mother disappears, presumed to have been taken by them, leaving Lillia with only her father and her infant sister, Naomi. With her grandmother having also been captured months before, Lillia’s father makes the difficult decision to move what’s left of the family from Warsaw to Shanghai…without mother. This strange land may offer them freedom, but it’s not home. How will she manage in a place where everything is so different and they have nothing? And, most importantly, will she ever see her mother again or will the war keep the family apart forever?
I have to start by giving DeWoskin major kudos for covering a part of WWII history that I was completely unaware of. It’s clear that she did her research on the era and circumstances of the impacted people, and it definitely shows in the details she deftly includes. This is an era that’s been done to death by other media, yet she succeeded to find an intriguing part of it that has been unexplored and I felt like I was learning something new just as much as I was enjoying Lillia’s story as I read.
That being said, this is an incredibly hard story to read at times. Lillia, her father, and her sister may have escaped Poland and their inevitable internment and death there, but Shanghai is hardly a paradise for them. In addition to the intense emotional distress of leaving their mother behind, they face extreme poverty, strained relations with Shanghai’s Japanese occupiers, and a life rife with illness and death. Lillia is forced to grow up quickly, stepping in to care for Naomi and later taking a job as a dancer in a gentleman’s club to earn money. She faces a lot of life’s hard realities in the couple of years the novel covers, both on a personal level and in regards to how the Chinese are treated, the plight of her American friends once America enters the war, and the challenges of the people she lives with.
Equally heart breaking is watching her father’s story unfold through her eyes. This is one of those things I love about stories through an adolescent’s point of view: the more subtle story of their parent(s). Here, we see a father struggling to hold what’s left of his family together, reduced to taking whatever menial labour job he can, and often falling short of providing for his daughters, all while working through the grief of losing his beloved wife. It’s very sad and often difficult to see a once-proud parent reduced to the beaten down hopelessness that settles over Lillia’s father.
But that’s not to say this is wholly a tale of misery. The story moves along at a satisfyingly even pace, taking us through two years in Shanghai and Lillia’s life. We get the bad, yes, and we see her struggling through school while also doing her part to help her family, but there are also some truly heart-warming moments. The community around her is tight-knit and willing to help and share however they can. Her friendship with Wei – a Chinese resident – is touching, as is her drive to do the best she can in her situation. Despite everything she faces, she’s full of hope and surrounded by people who want the best for everyone. It’s her drive for happiness that stops the story from getting too dark and gives it a light, optimistic air even in the hardest of times. Her puppet show is uplifting, bringing people joy in a time of need and drawing people closer together. Lillia’s life in Shanghai is undeniably tough, but she soldiers through it determinedly and manages to bring out the best in those around her.
The story wobbled a bit for me, however, at the end. I’m hardly against a happy ending to an otherwise difficult novel, but Lillia’s mother reuniting with them felt unrealistic and a little too convenient. I did appreciate that her mother had been through her own trials and was deeply affected by what she’d been through, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that it came off as slightly too saccharine for her to survive when so many others in Poland perished. Additionally, the story just sort of cuts off after Lillia’s puppet show. I feel like there’s a lot more to Lillia’s tale and I was invested in seeing how she persevered and, ultimately, what would become of her after the war. I guess it’s better to be left wanting more than being burnt out, but damn, did I want more!
I’ll conclude this section by adding that DeWoskin’s writing is very nice. I’m not really a stickler for prose, but hers hits a beautiful, descriptive fluidity that succeeds in carrying the story along without dragging down the pace with needless detail. Shanghai comes to life in these pages and it’s clear that the author is passionate about the story she wants to tell.
Romance
Surprisingly for a Young Adult novel, there’s not much romance here. Lillia considers her feelings for Wei often and thinks she may be developing more-than-friends feelings for him, but it doesn’t progress beyond friendship in the novel. The relationship they do share is beautiful, crossing racial and socioeconomic boundaries to find common ground – it’s exactly the sort of dynamic I love to see in novels about difficult topics. They have their ups and downs, but they ultimately want the same thing and work together to achieve it: happiness for themselves and everyone around them. It’s a very wholesome friendship that I, a hater of all things romance, wouldn’t have minded seeing become something more.
Lillia also has a complex relationship with Mr. Takati, a regular at the gentleman’s club who takes a special interest in her dancing and family plight. I was initially concerned that this novel would take an incredibly dark turn with these two, but I needn’t have worried; what they share is ultimately a patron/artist sort of dynamic with nothing past that. He’s interested in her dancing as a form of art and nothing more – a very interesting relationship that I didn’t expect.
Characters
Lillia is a highly relatable protagonist. As stated above, she’s forced to grow up incredibly quickly, serving as a daughter, a mother to her sister, and a provider for her family, yet she’s still very much a teenage girl. DeWoskin does a commendable job of balancing Lillia’s noble motivations of sacrificing everything for her father and sister with some decidedly childish whims. The dynamics at school between rich and poor refugees, for example, clearly aggravate her and sometimes cause her to lash out, both out of shame of her situation and anger that some live so much better than her. She has moments of almost irrational jealousy toward peers. In many ways, it’s a perfect juxtaposition of what she should be (a carefree teen concerned only about school hierarchy status) against what she’s been forced to become (a young adult doing what she can for her family). Lillia experiences some intense emotions as she grows through the novel – and she definitely grows over the years – and it’s hard not to like her.
Additionally, the first-person point-of-view is wonderfully utilized. One of my peeves is when this perspective is used only to conveniently hide stuff from the readers, but that thankfully isn’t the case here. Lillia’s thoughts and feelings are so vital to the story’s development that the only way to possibly experience it is through her eyes. We’re not told what’s happening as much as we experience it, and that’s precisely what I want when reading a first-person novel.
The other characters are all equally well-done. I’ve already touched on Lillia’s father as a fully realised figure, but it’s worth a second mention for how much he stands out. Wei and his sister Aili showcase a different sort of struggle – that of the Chinese residents of Shanghai – but they’re more than stand-ins for it; their interactions with Lillia demonstrate complex personalities. I especially liked Rebecca, an American who lives in Shanghai with her doctor father. She’s wealthy and enjoys a privileged lifestyle, but wants to be a friend to Lillia, ignoring the obstacles between their status to extend a hand of friendship. It would have been easy to make her a typical rich mean girl, but DeWoskin chose a more interesting direction. The characters all serve their roles as people in a different situation than Lillia while also succeeding to be full characters in their own rights.
Actually, I think I like them so much because they feel like they have complicated lives outside of their interactions with Lillia. These are people with their own existences, not characters that Lillia conveniently bumps into when the plot demands it.
Overall
I was pleasantly surprised by Someday We Will Fly. It manages to take a well-trodden era of history and explore a completely new side of it. The story is both heart-wrenching and touching, giving us a raw look at a refugee’s life. Lillia is a great, realistic character that grows considerably over the course of the novel and his hard not to like for how doggedly determined she is to spread hope. The attention to detail is deft and the writing is delightfully fluid. My sold complaint is the convenience of the unrealistic happy ending – for a novel that didn’t shy away from some really harsh realities, I suppose I just expected more. Four stars.
Story/Writing
It’s 1940 when 15 year-old Lillia’s life changes forever. The circus that her parents perform at is raided by soldiers. Her mother disappears, presumed to have been taken by them, leaving Lillia with only her father and her infant sister, Naomi. With her grandmother having also been captured months before, Lillia’s father makes the difficult decision to move what’s left of the family from Warsaw to Shanghai…without mother. This strange land may offer them freedom, but it’s not home. How will she manage in a place where everything is so different and they have nothing? And, most importantly, will she ever see her mother again or will the war keep the family apart forever?
I have to start by giving DeWoskin major kudos for covering a part of WWII history that I was completely unaware of. It’s clear that she did her research on the era and circumstances of the impacted people, and it definitely shows in the details she deftly includes. This is an era that’s been done to death by other media, yet she succeeded to find an intriguing part of it that has been unexplored and I felt like I was learning something new just as much as I was enjoying Lillia’s story as I read.
That being said, this is an incredibly hard story to read at times. Lillia, her father, and her sister may have escaped Poland and their inevitable internment and death there, but Shanghai is hardly a paradise for them. In addition to the intense emotional distress of leaving their mother behind, they face extreme poverty, strained relations with Shanghai’s Japanese occupiers, and a life rife with illness and death. Lillia is forced to grow up quickly, stepping in to care for Naomi and later taking a job as a dancer in a gentleman’s club to earn money. She faces a lot of life’s hard realities in the couple of years the novel covers, both on a personal level and in regards to how the Chinese are treated, the plight of her American friends once America enters the war, and the challenges of the people she lives with.
Equally heart breaking is watching her father’s story unfold through her eyes. This is one of those things I love about stories through an adolescent’s point of view: the more subtle story of their parent(s). Here, we see a father struggling to hold what’s left of his family together, reduced to taking whatever menial labour job he can, and often falling short of providing for his daughters, all while working through the grief of losing his beloved wife. It’s very sad and often difficult to see a once-proud parent reduced to the beaten down hopelessness that settles over Lillia’s father.
But that’s not to say this is wholly a tale of misery. The story moves along at a satisfyingly even pace, taking us through two years in Shanghai and Lillia’s life. We get the bad, yes, and we see her struggling through school while also doing her part to help her family, but there are also some truly heart-warming moments. The community around her is tight-knit and willing to help and share however they can. Her friendship with Wei – a Chinese resident – is touching, as is her drive to do the best she can in her situation. Despite everything she faces, she’s full of hope and surrounded by people who want the best for everyone. It’s her drive for happiness that stops the story from getting too dark and gives it a light, optimistic air even in the hardest of times. Her puppet show is uplifting, bringing people joy in a time of need and drawing people closer together. Lillia’s life in Shanghai is undeniably tough, but she soldiers through it determinedly and manages to bring out the best in those around her.
The story wobbled a bit for me, however, at the end. I’m hardly against a happy ending to an otherwise difficult novel, but Lillia’s mother reuniting with them felt unrealistic and a little too convenient. I did appreciate that her mother had been through her own trials and was deeply affected by what she’d been through, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that it came off as slightly too saccharine for her to survive when so many others in Poland perished. Additionally, the story just sort of cuts off after Lillia’s puppet show. I feel like there’s a lot more to Lillia’s tale and I was invested in seeing how she persevered and, ultimately, what would become of her after the war. I guess it’s better to be left wanting more than being burnt out, but damn, did I want more!
I’ll conclude this section by adding that DeWoskin’s writing is very nice. I’m not really a stickler for prose, but hers hits a beautiful, descriptive fluidity that succeeds in carrying the story along without dragging down the pace with needless detail. Shanghai comes to life in these pages and it’s clear that the author is passionate about the story she wants to tell.
Romance
Surprisingly for a Young Adult novel, there’s not much romance here. Lillia considers her feelings for Wei often and thinks she may be developing more-than-friends feelings for him, but it doesn’t progress beyond friendship in the novel. The relationship they do share is beautiful, crossing racial and socioeconomic boundaries to find common ground – it’s exactly the sort of dynamic I love to see in novels about difficult topics. They have their ups and downs, but they ultimately want the same thing and work together to achieve it: happiness for themselves and everyone around them. It’s a very wholesome friendship that I, a hater of all things romance, wouldn’t have minded seeing become something more.
Lillia also has a complex relationship with Mr. Takati, a regular at the gentleman’s club who takes a special interest in her dancing and family plight. I was initially concerned that this novel would take an incredibly dark turn with these two, but I needn’t have worried; what they share is ultimately a patron/artist sort of dynamic with nothing past that. He’s interested in her dancing as a form of art and nothing more – a very interesting relationship that I didn’t expect.
Characters
Lillia is a highly relatable protagonist. As stated above, she’s forced to grow up incredibly quickly, serving as a daughter, a mother to her sister, and a provider for her family, yet she’s still very much a teenage girl. DeWoskin does a commendable job of balancing Lillia’s noble motivations of sacrificing everything for her father and sister with some decidedly childish whims. The dynamics at school between rich and poor refugees, for example, clearly aggravate her and sometimes cause her to lash out, both out of shame of her situation and anger that some live so much better than her. She has moments of almost irrational jealousy toward peers. In many ways, it’s a perfect juxtaposition of what she should be (a carefree teen concerned only about school hierarchy status) against what she’s been forced to become (a young adult doing what she can for her family). Lillia experiences some intense emotions as she grows through the novel – and she definitely grows over the years – and it’s hard not to like her.
Additionally, the first-person point-of-view is wonderfully utilized. One of my peeves is when this perspective is used only to conveniently hide stuff from the readers, but that thankfully isn’t the case here. Lillia’s thoughts and feelings are so vital to the story’s development that the only way to possibly experience it is through her eyes. We’re not told what’s happening as much as we experience it, and that’s precisely what I want when reading a first-person novel.
The other characters are all equally well-done. I’ve already touched on Lillia’s father as a fully realised figure, but it’s worth a second mention for how much he stands out. Wei and his sister Aili showcase a different sort of struggle – that of the Chinese residents of Shanghai – but they’re more than stand-ins for it; their interactions with Lillia demonstrate complex personalities. I especially liked Rebecca, an American who lives in Shanghai with her doctor father. She’s wealthy and enjoys a privileged lifestyle, but wants to be a friend to Lillia, ignoring the obstacles between their status to extend a hand of friendship. It would have been easy to make her a typical rich mean girl, but DeWoskin chose a more interesting direction. The characters all serve their roles as people in a different situation than Lillia while also succeeding to be full characters in their own rights.
Actually, I think I like them so much because they feel like they have complicated lives outside of their interactions with Lillia. These are people with their own existences, not characters that Lillia conveniently bumps into when the plot demands it.
Overall
I was pleasantly surprised by Someday We Will Fly. It manages to take a well-trodden era of history and explore a completely new side of it. The story is both heart-wrenching and touching, giving us a raw look at a refugee’s life. Lillia is a great, realistic character that grows considerably over the course of the novel and his hard not to like for how doggedly determined she is to spread hope. The attention to detail is deft and the writing is delightfully fluid. My sold complaint is the convenience of the unrealistic happy ending – for a novel that didn’t shy away from some really harsh realities, I suppose I just expected more. Four stars.
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May 4, 2023I had no idea about this part of the Holocaust, and I am glad that I learned about it. This book was able to incorporate the historical aspects of the book alongside the relationships between the characters. I felt the desperation and the sadness, and I appreciated how the relationships progressed in a realistic way that was relatable.
January 25, 2019
Disclaimer: I received this book from Viking Books. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Rating: 4/5
Publication Date: January 22, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16 (trigger warnings for sex trafficking/abandonment)
Publisher: Viking Books
Pages: 320
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?
Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.
But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?
I thought the book was really good overall. I enjoy WWII books and this one was interesting. I've not had time to do all the research into it, but it seems solid from what I can recall from history books. I liked the characters and thought they were well developed and I thought that the writing was really good. I didn't realize the extent of WWII and I didn't know that Jews were sent to Shanghai. I thought that it was really interesting how the author crafted this story and I was intrigued by all of it.
However, I do think that the plot was too much for the book. Like, it might have been better in a series or duology where the author can expand and slow down the book more so the reader isn't flung every which way while reading the book, but overall I really enjoyed it.
Verdict: A high-flying book!
Rating: 4/5
Publication Date: January 22, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 16 (trigger warnings for sex trafficking/abandonment)
Publisher: Viking Books
Pages: 320
Amazon Link
Synopsis: Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive?
Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge.
But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese force the Americans in Shanghai into camps. More bombing, more death. Can they survive, caught in the crossfire?
I thought the book was really good overall. I enjoy WWII books and this one was interesting. I've not had time to do all the research into it, but it seems solid from what I can recall from history books. I liked the characters and thought they were well developed and I thought that the writing was really good. I didn't realize the extent of WWII and I didn't know that Jews were sent to Shanghai. I thought that it was really interesting how the author crafted this story and I was intrigued by all of it.
However, I do think that the plot was too much for the book. Like, it might have been better in a series or duology where the author can expand and slow down the book more so the reader isn't flung every which way while reading the book, but overall I really enjoyed it.
Verdict: A high-flying book!
February 18, 2019
A book you can’t put down! I had no idea that 23,000 Jews had escaped to Shanghai during the Nazi Regime. Lilia’s story is one that could have happened with people much like the characters in this book. Surviving and helping her family stay alive as a 14 year old girl was beyond scary, but she did it to the best of her ability. The relationships she built with girls at school, her best friend Wei who was Chinese, and even her nightly job, all helped her continue to grow and learn how to live in a war torn world. From all the human suffering she still found a way to create a masterpiece that would honor those who struggled with her and honor her parents. Truly a great read!!!
December 31, 2019
I liked that this book illustrated a part of the Holocaust that is rarely approached in historical fiction: the Jews who were able to flee to Shanghai. The main character, a teenage girl named Lillia, tells the story of fleeing Poland, a distant father, missing her mother, and coping with a baby sister with some kind of developmental delays. The description is good, and yet it felt like some characters and events were thrown in without adequate explanation or development. The ending was predictable because it is a novel for teens, but seemed somewhat unlikely.
February 26, 2019
Heart-wrenching story of WWII I hadn't heard of before - That Japan allowed Jewish refugees during their occupation of Shanghai. Seemingly very well researched, very detailed of what life was like and the means of survival while the war creeped closer and finally arrived. Perhaps a little too many issues and unrealistic "happy" ending, but a compelling and beautiful book nonetheless.
August 20, 2020
Lillia's Jewish family is forced to flee the Nazis in Warsaw and sail to Shanghai. As a young teen refugee, she must take care of her sister, learn the language and try to find work when not in school. A story of survival.
November 26, 2019
This book was really good. It was a very heartwarming book.
August 18, 2021
The story is clearly made of compelling material but the telling of it never comes together enough to connect you to the characters.
January 29, 2022
A moving account of a young Polish girl's coming of age as a Jewish refugee in Shanghai during WWII. Reminds me of Ruta Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray.
The author has lived in Shanghai, which gives her descriptions of places authenticity. In this story, the main character of Lillia is the daughter of circus performers who wants to become one herself. Her family plans to flee to Shanghai, losing their mother in a raid. They don't know where she is, but it is too dangerous to stay, and father and daughters, Lillia and Naomi, have to leave and hope she finds them.
In Shanghai, they live in a Jewish settlement called the Heime, which resembles the slums in Germany where other Jews were forced to live. Under conditions of extreme privation, Lillia manages to attend a school for Jewish refugees, where she befriends a luckier girl, Rebecca, who lives in an expatriot compound across the river, a refugee named Biatta, and a Chinese boy named Wei, who is the school's janitor.
At first I thought it would make a good read for younger teens, but there are some circumstances later in the book that would be better for a more mature teen.
The author has lived in Shanghai, which gives her descriptions of places authenticity. In this story, the main character of Lillia is the daughter of circus performers who wants to become one herself. Her family plans to flee to Shanghai, losing their mother in a raid. They don't know where she is, but it is too dangerous to stay, and father and daughters, Lillia and Naomi, have to leave and hope she finds them.
In Shanghai, they live in a Jewish settlement called the Heime, which resembles the slums in Germany where other Jews were forced to live. Under conditions of extreme privation, Lillia manages to attend a school for Jewish refugees, where she befriends a luckier girl, Rebecca, who lives in an expatriot compound across the river, a refugee named Biatta, and a Chinese boy named Wei, who is the school's janitor.
At first I thought it would make a good read for younger teens, but there are some circumstances later in the book that would be better for a more mature teen.
March 18, 2020
Interesting premise. Different than most WWII Jewish survival stories in that this one was set in Shanghai. Story was sometimes disturbing with what refugees had to do to survive and sometimes hopeful with ways they managed to retain their humanity.
May 15, 2019
This book is really good, I really enjoyed it, I wish it had more chinese characters in it though, it is hard to explain why I didn't like it.
August 8, 2019
Evocative, powerful, hard at times to read. Just as Sepetys' Between Shades of Gray, this book opens up a period in history that I knew nothing of. A satisfying if realistic ending.
July 15, 2019
Honestly, I generally avoid World War II historical fiction novels for a few reasons, mostly because I've read so many for school, and because they mostly all have the same, general plotline. Jewish refugees somehow fighting against the Nazis to survive, and attempt to escape going to concentration camps. What drew me to this book was not because the main character was a Polish Jew, but because her family escapes to Shanghai, China to avoid the Nazis. As most of the book is set in Shanghai, the novel revolves around China under Japanese occupation as well as China under the influence of European powers. This explored a different aspect of WWII that isn't always written about in novels, and I was excited to read from this different perspective.
One thing I really enjoyed about this story was that it wasn't one of those "our family was one of the lucky ones" and by some miracle they were safe. The story does include its fair share of miracles and happy endings. But this story also felt more real, and less of a thrilling, action packed story of luck and chance, chases and hiding. The story focuses on Lillia and her struggle to survive in a country where the culture and language is unknown to her. Her struggle and will to survive and come out the other end fine, but also as a growing teenage girl. Her time adjusting to life in Shanghai, and helping her family survive off of barley any money, combined with her resentment/envy that there are other Jewish refugees who are rich and not struggling like her family is all come together to push her into making important life decisions. These calls that she makes tests her integrity, and how far she'll go to keep her family afloat. As she is maturing into a young adult and being a lady, she learns where she sets her boundaries for herself. All of these serious moments of intense maturity and growth for Lillia is perfectly balanced with a blossoming romance between Lillia and Wei, a Chinese boy and their limited conversation in fragments of Chinese and English. Lillia spending time with Rebecca, a young girl from a rich American family in Shanghai, and the other wealthy children allows her to experience the joys of being a teen, but also helps her character grow as she goes from envy and resentment to learning that there can be more than riches and glamour, like family and safety. At the same time, Rebecca shows her that not all rich people are the same like Lillia had previously thought.
My favorite part of the novel is the community that the refuges build among themselves. Lillia, her father, and her baby sister Naomi finds a group of Jewish people like themselves, who are barely scrapping by. Together, they learn to appreciate the things they have. This community they have found shares such a strong bond. Everyone helps each other out, they share when one receives goods if possible. One man gave a haircut in exchange for brisket, and that meat was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, even if it meant each person received the smallest portion of that meat. Each member of the community helps lift the spirits of others. Seeing Lillia go from a miserable person that was supported by the love and energy the community had to helping contribute to the mood of the community marked her tremendous growth into adulthood.
I really enjoyed this novel for the change and deviation from the typical WWII plotline. The rich culture and diversity in Shanghai added so much to the plot. Learning more about the Japanese occupation and Japan's role in WWII was so interesting. I really fell in love with Lillia and her family, and I admire her ability to adapt and grow without losing the core of who she is, even when she was struggling and close to losing herself.
"I'll never say the word good-bye in English for the rest of my life, only Chinese. Because zaijian means see you again, has hope built in."
"I don't know who we'll be when the war ends, when we fly or sail elsewhere, when another new sun warms our always-changing family.
But I can imagine."
One thing I really enjoyed about this story was that it wasn't one of those "our family was one of the lucky ones" and by some miracle they were safe. The story does include its fair share of miracles and happy endings. But this story also felt more real, and less of a thrilling, action packed story of luck and chance, chases and hiding. The story focuses on Lillia and her struggle to survive in a country where the culture and language is unknown to her. Her struggle and will to survive and come out the other end fine, but also as a growing teenage girl. Her time adjusting to life in Shanghai, and helping her family survive off of barley any money, combined with her resentment/envy that there are other Jewish refugees who are rich and not struggling like her family is all come together to push her into making important life decisions. These calls that she makes tests her integrity, and how far she'll go to keep her family afloat. As she is maturing into a young adult and being a lady, she learns where she sets her boundaries for herself. All of these serious moments of intense maturity and growth for Lillia is perfectly balanced with a blossoming romance between Lillia and Wei, a Chinese boy and their limited conversation in fragments of Chinese and English. Lillia spending time with Rebecca, a young girl from a rich American family in Shanghai, and the other wealthy children allows her to experience the joys of being a teen, but also helps her character grow as she goes from envy and resentment to learning that there can be more than riches and glamour, like family and safety. At the same time, Rebecca shows her that not all rich people are the same like Lillia had previously thought.
My favorite part of the novel is the community that the refuges build among themselves. Lillia, her father, and her baby sister Naomi finds a group of Jewish people like themselves, who are barely scrapping by. Together, they learn to appreciate the things they have. This community they have found shares such a strong bond. Everyone helps each other out, they share when one receives goods if possible. One man gave a haircut in exchange for brisket, and that meat was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, even if it meant each person received the smallest portion of that meat. Each member of the community helps lift the spirits of others. Seeing Lillia go from a miserable person that was supported by the love and energy the community had to helping contribute to the mood of the community marked her tremendous growth into adulthood.
I really enjoyed this novel for the change and deviation from the typical WWII plotline. The rich culture and diversity in Shanghai added so much to the plot. Learning more about the Japanese occupation and Japan's role in WWII was so interesting. I really fell in love with Lillia and her family, and I admire her ability to adapt and grow without losing the core of who she is, even when she was struggling and close to losing herself.
"I'll never say the word good-bye in English for the rest of my life, only Chinese. Because zaijian means see you again, has hope built in."
"I don't know who we'll be when the war ends, when we fly or sail elsewhere, when another new sun warms our always-changing family.
But I can imagine."
September 19, 2020
Following an evening performance as acrobat/dancers with the Stanislav Circus, teenaged Lillia, her father, and her baby sister flee Poland, as planned. But her mother, in the chaos, goes missing. The three members of the Jewish Kazka family head for Shanghai in 1941 in “Someday We Will Fly” (Viking 2019) by Rachel DeWoskin. I hadn’t known that Shanghai was a refuge for Jewish people. It turns out that the Chinese once considered Jewish people mystical—and therefore desirable.
By foot, by train, by ship the dumb-struck family travels to Shanghai, arriving with little money, no ability to speak Chinese, no food, no home, no Mama—yet they’re allowed to enter.
The family crowds into a tenement house with other Jewish families. A shell of his former self, Lillia’s Papa looks for work, day after day until their money runs out. Everyone in the tenements is struggling to various degrees in Japan-occupied China.
Lillia, in between taking care of her disabled infant sister and searching for food, manages to go to the Jewish school. She befriends other refugees. Biata’s family, also from Poland, hopes to start a bar in Shanghai. American Rebecca, Lillia’s favorite, is rich due to her father being a doctor. Sally, also American, scorns Lillia, but Rebecca discretely gives Lillia a pink dress—Lillia’s only dress—and invites her to Scouts. She tries to fit in with the girls but she can’t pay the Scouts membership—and is usually hungry. Rebecca takes Lillia to the theater, but Lillia doesn’t fit in there.
Lillia befriends Wei, the Chinese janitor boy at school. The other girls are aghast at their friendship, but Lillia is falling in love with Wei. She borrows school supplies from his janitor closet to make puppets at home. She has dreams of her friends making a theater/circus production with her, using her beautiful hand-made puppets and her own dancing.
Lillia’s father finds a manual labor job. But both he and her baby sister Naomi, contract cholera. Their neighbor Taube, who has become a mother to the children, dies of the disease. Lillia nurses her family, and despite wronging him, Wei helps her obtain healing Chinese herbs. At a breaking point, Lillia finds work as an escort and dancer at a “gentleman’s club,” where one particular Chinese gentleman regularly buys her meals. Many of the girls are forced to go beyond dancing, including Wei’s sister. Lillia’s life is perilous. And always they wait for her mother.
After Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, the war in China escalates. Bombs take down tenements and warehouses. As Japan takes stronger control of China even wealthy Jews are in danger—maybe more than the poor who are better able to remain invisible. The Japanese have imprisoned all Americans and their outcome looks bad.
There is plenty of heartbreak in this story but much beauty in coming of age while struggling for one’s survival. If you love learning history by reading well-researched well-written historical fiction, this book is a must. The audio book (Listening Library - available on Overdrive from our public libraries) is fine, too.
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning Josephine; Loving vs Virginia; and Struttin’ With Some Barbecue and the new Lift As You Climb. She teaches community classes in writing at Parkland College. talesforallages.com
March 4, 2020
Decent book. Really interesting historical context. Plot was meh. Some of the characters were good but many were under developed.
March 26, 2019
Emotional, raw, beautiful. I felt like I was reading a piece of art rather than a YA novel. There were so many quotes in this book that evoked so much meaning - the author did an excellent job transforming this character, truly displaying her thoughts, desires, concerns, passions. Throughout the book, I became fearful when she was afraid, relieved when she found hope. I felt like I could truly sense her emotions and connect with her in a way that made me want to keep reading. The ending was satisfying but definitely not what I thought it would be and I liked it. The characteristics also developed throughout the story - the reader sees them grow, change, and become more vulnerable with each other as they struggle together.
As another point, this historical fiction was about a historical event that I did not even know existed - the Jews finding refuge in China during WWII. Learning about their daily struggles to just find food, shelter, and work really made me aware of what they went through and I am glad for it. It really showed me how much I take for granted each day - even something as simple as clean water (the author talks about how they had to boil water every day in order for it to be safe to drink).
Overall, a well-written novel that I truly enjoyed. Perfect for any historical fiction fan.
As another point, this historical fiction was about a historical event that I did not even know existed - the Jews finding refuge in China during WWII. Learning about their daily struggles to just find food, shelter, and work really made me aware of what they went through and I am glad for it. It really showed me how much I take for granted each day - even something as simple as clean water (the author talks about how they had to boil water every day in order for it to be safe to drink).
Overall, a well-written novel that I truly enjoyed. Perfect for any historical fiction fan.
September 9, 2019
Beautiful story highlighting Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai during WWII. Something I knew nothing about. Lillia, her sister Naomi, and father flee Warsaw but are separated from her mother Alenka. However, they have to use their tickets to escape to Shanghai while they have the chance and just hope that Alenka will find them. DeWoskin captures what it means for Lillia to help her family survive, changing her in ways that she could never have imagined before the war. She tries to hang on to parts of her that make her an individual and who she is, but the realities of extreme poverty and violence threaten to take her humanity. This novel successfully captures the conflicts between the Japanese and Chinese, particularly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the gritty existence of those trying to survive.
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