Ann Hughes’s Reviews > Number the Stars > Status Update

The war would end. Uncle Henrik had said that, and it was true. The war ended almost two long years later. Annemarie was twelve. Church bells rang all over Copenhagen, early that May evening. The Danish flag was raised everywhere. People stood in the streets and wept as they sang the national anthem of Denmark.

It was harder for the ones who were waiting, Annemarie knew. Less danger, perhaps, but more fear.

Annemarie didn't have an answer for her. She patted Ellen's hand and they sat together silently.

The train ride north along the Danish coast was very beautiful. Again and again they could see the sea from the windows.

"Ellen," she whispered urgently, "take your necklace off!"

Annemarie admitted to herself, snuggling there in the quiet dark, that she was glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage.

..... where was Mrs. Hirsch? The Hirsch family had gone somewhere. Why else would they close the shop?

They began to knit mittens as the days grew slightly shorter and the first leaves began to fall from the trees, because another winter was coming.

Laughing, she skirted an elderly lady in black who carried a shopping bag made of string.