Get Hold Of The Last Train To London Illustrated By Meg Waite Clayton Presented As Booklet

historia dura y bien contada,

Los hechos se desarrollan en Austria desdehasta el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en,
Stephan Neuman es un niño judío austríaco de quince años, Pertenece a una familia acomodada, culta y amante de las artes, Tanto él como su hermano Walter de cinco años llevan una vida feliz y despreocupada, A Stephan le gusta escribir y sueña con ser dramaturgo, Enpara Stephan y su familia, los nazis son poco más que una pandilla de fanáticos, Austria rechazó una vez sus pretensiones de anexión y consideran imposible que puedan llegar al poder en su país,
ZofieHelene es su mejor amiga, Cristiana y aria, es hija de una periodista muy crítica con el régimen nazi, A Zofie le gustan las matemáticas para las que tiene un notable talento, La anexión de Austria al Reich en marzo decambiará las vidas de ambos de la noche a la mañana.


La holandesa Truss Wijsmuller forma parte de un grupo de personas que arriesgan sus vidas para sacar a niños judíos del Reich y ponerlos a salvo en otros países.
Tras el Anschluss toda Europa cierra sus fronteras al creciente número de refugiados, En ese contexto, una iniciativa privada propicia que Gran Bretaña se avenga a acoger a diez mil niños, Conseguir sacarlos de Austria no será fácil,

La novela desarrolla de forma paralela estas dos historias, que acabarán confluyendo, Truss, su marido Joop, así como otros personajes de esta trama, existieron en realidad, Su labor en pro de los niños en situación de peligro ha sido reconocida internacionalmente, Las tres cuartas partes de los niños que pusieron a salvo en Gran Bretaña eran judíos, El resto, niños arios hijos de comunistas o disidentes políticos,

Se estructura en tres partes "La época anterior”, que se sitúa en la Austria de, "La época entremedias", en, la fecha de la anexión y "La época posterior" ya en Inglaterra enpoco antes del estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Cada parte se subdivide en capítulos cortos con un narrador omnisciente, Abundan los diálogos. La prosa es sencilla y elegante a un tiempo,

La autora plasma magistralmente el periodo que media entre el Anschluss y la noche de los cristales rotos.
Refleja los hechos históricos, pero ante todo nos hace sentirlos a través de lo que acontece a Stephan, Zofie y sus familias.
Es una novela que toca las emociones, Están presentes la impotencia, el dolor y la rabia ante tamaña injusticia, También el coraje, la compasión y el amor, Desgarradores la valentía y el amor de esos padres, que no dudaron en desprenderse de sus hijos para salvar sus vidas.
Esperanzador, que haya gente como Tante Truss y sus colaboradores, que arriesgaron las suyas por los demás,

La hipocresía de las naciones europeas y de EEUU ante el problema humanitario que suponían los judíos del Reich, queda igualmente documentada en el retrato que hace de la conferencia de Evian en julio de.
Las palabras de los líderes del tercer Reich son el mejor reflejo de la situación:

"En referencia a la Conferencia de Evian, el gobierno alemán comentó lo "asombroso" que era que los países extranjeros criticaran a Alemania por su trato a los judíos pero que ninguno de ellos les abriera sus puertas".


Los personajes están todos muy bien trazados, A destacar la imbricación en la trama entre los personajes reales y los que no lo son, Hubo momentos en los que dudé de si eran reales o no,

En conclusión, una novela dura, narrada con delicadeza dentro de la crueldad de los hechos que refleja,y que no dudo en recomendar.
I may be approaching WWII historical burnout, There is no doubt that Truus Wijsmuller was a heroine of WWII, She, as part of the Dutch resistance, saved thousands of Jewish children from certain death as part of the Kindertransport, The story is told from the perspectives of Wisjmuller, a fifteen year old Jewish boy and his best friend, a Christian girl, as the Nazis come into power.
Read this if you want to know more about a courageous women who faced down Eichmann and outsmarted Nazis, I may go back to reading nonfiction since this fell a bit flat for me,stars.

This is the story of “Tante” Truus a real life Dutch WWII hero involved in the Kindertransport rescue, Unable to bear children herself, she felt her calling to work tirelessly to smuggle hundreds of children to safety, Over the years of Nazi occupation, this became increasingly more difficult as countries closed their borders to refugees, but Truus remained strong and determined to continue her efforts of saving the children.


I really enjoyed learning about Truus and this time in our history, Truus truly was a wartime hero, The extreme personal risks she took to save children was astounding, I appreciate how much research went into this book and applaud the author for bringing light to this very important piece of history.


While I always love learning about a time in our history that I knew little or nothing about, I found the storyline choppy and drawn out.
I failed to connect to the writing which was disappointing, The multiple storylines didnt flow for me and seemed to change abruptly which kept me at a distance from the characters,

Overall, this was more of an informative, educational read, rather than a character driven storyline which I prefer, It lacked the emotional connection I crave with historical fiction novels,

Thank you to Edelweiss for my review copy! DNF I tried listening to the audiobook and couldnt finish it, Im definitely an outlier on this one, I had a difficult time getting into the story and kept getting lost, It seemed to jump around a lot, I also wasnt connecting with the characters, I think it was the writing style, . . I felt quite removed from the plot, The narrator wasnt all that engaging, I listen to a lot of audiobooks and this performance was sorely lacking, In all, the book couldnt keep my attention so I opted to just put this one down for good, Disappointing as I loved Orphan Train, to which this book was compared, so was expecting a much different reading experience, I had a difficult time with this one, Although it was a very solid story it did tend to jump about a lot,
It had short chapters which I like however, because of this and the amount of characters in this story it got very confusing as it didnt allow the reader to get to know the character well at all.


I tried the audio book and listened to it but it made my experience worse,

The story of the orphans and our main character was very moving and if not for my frustration I think I would have enjoyed this much better than I actually did.
I was lucky enough to have won an ARC of The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton in a goodreads give away.
The cover intrigued me as soon as I received my copy and as soon as I began reading it I was hooked.
This was a book that made a lasting impression on me, Meg Waite Clayton's research for this book was impressive, As many books as I have read about the Holocaust and World War II I marvel at how many brave human beings I did not know about and how their heroic acts saved so many from unspeakable cruelties and deaths.
This book will pull at your heart and bring tears to your eyes,

Truus Wijsmuller was a member of the Dutch resistance and was determined to make saving Jewish children her mission, In, as the story began, Truus or Tante Truus, as she liked to be called by her children, had already began smuggling Jewish children in small numbers out of Hitler's Germany as early asand bringing them to any nation that would take them.
Truus and her husband Joop were both invested in this endeavor, They had a happy, supportive marriage that depended on their mutual respect for one another, Although childless, after many miscarriages, the thousands of children Truus saved, became their children, Due to Truus's bravery over ten thousand mostly Jewish children were saved, Perhaps her most challenging rescue though was in Austria, just after Hitler's invasion, Eichmann, the head of Germany's Jewish Office, had to be persuaded and convinced by Truus, to allowmostly Jewish children to be taken out of Austria to England, by the Vienna Kindertransport.



In, prior to the Nazi invasion of Austria, Stephan Neuman, a fifteen year old Jewish boy, lived in Vienna with his parents and little brother Walter.
Their father, Herman Neuman owned and ran a very successful family business, Neuman Chocolates, Stephan lived a very privileged life but was not defined by it, He aspired to be a writer and playwright with his role model being Zweig, Although Stephan's family considered themselves Austrians first, the Nazis saw them as Jewish, One day Stephan stopped by Otto Perger's barber shop to get a quick haircut, Perhaps quite by fate, Stephan was introduced to ZofieHelene that day, She was Otto Perger's granddaughter and Kathe Perger's daughter, who was the editor of the anti Nazi newspaper, The Vienna Independent newspaper.
Zofie Helene was a Christian girl, a little younger than Stephan, who excelled in Mathematics, She was brilliant. It was evident that there was a special spark that existed immediately between Stephan and ZofieHelene, They became best friends but their lives were about to change drastically, In March, the Nazis invaded and took over Austria, The Nazis raided Stephan's house, set up their headquarters on the floors the family had occupied and forced the family to move up to the servants rooms on the top floor of the house.
Stephan's mother was dying of cancer, When the Nazis came and forced his father from their house, his father pleaded to stay to take care of his dying wife.
Mercilessly, the Nazis beat Stephan's father numerous times which the family later learned resulted in his death, Stephan was able to escape to the roof and then to the underground tunnels beneath his father's chocolate business, ZofieHelene's mother was arrested and put in jail, Their friendship was not destined to end, though,

When Germany invaded Austria, Helen and Norman Bentwich of England persuaded England to fund a rescue and find homes forchildren from Austria.
They appealed to Truus Wijsmuller and her husband Joop to allow Truus to go to Austria and meet with Adolf Eichmann so they could rescue thesechildren.
Meeting with Eichmann was probably Truus's most challenging pursuit, She came to realize that Eichmann imposed his power through pure intimidation, He was going to allow Truus to rescuechildren from Austria but she knew if she was one minute late or one child short, Eichmann would surely cancel the entire transport.
Eichmann demanded that Truus have alloo children ready to leave by Saturday, He knew that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath and that some parents might forbid their children to travel on the Jewish Sabbath.
Again, Eichmann knew he was imposing his power, Despite all the obstacles, Truus was able to get allchildren on the train headed for England, Fortunately for Stephan, a young boy named Carl Fuchsel was diagnosed with measles just as the children were to board the train.
Stephan, having number, assumed Carl Fuchsel's identity and took his place, Stephan was able to grant his Mutti's Mother's last wish to him, He would accompany Walter to England and keep him safe and help him remember her and his father, Just as the train was to depart another addition was placed on the train, A basket with a tiny baby was handed to Zofie with instructions to help the baby live a life where she would be safe.
The children that were allowed to leave Austria on the train had to be betweenandyears of age, No babies were meant to travel on the train so Zofie, with Stephan's help, had to keep her hidden, Truus had a big job ahead of her as

well, Allof the children on board depended on her for their safety and their future, Separated from their families, most of these children would never see their parents again, Most of the children, though, after arriving in England, were placed in homes with loving families, For some it was a long process, though, What happened to Zofie, baby Johanna named after Zofie's own younger sister that was too young to be included on this kindertransport Stephan and little Walter and how will their futures end

The Last Train to London was one of the best books I have read in a while.
I loved the characters Meg Waite Clayton invented with ZofieHelene and Stephan, Their friendship and innocence was beautiful, The remarkable, brave and unselfish acts of Truus and Joff Wijsmuller, Helen and Norman Bentwich and too many countless others that risked their lives to save Jewish children during this horrific time in history cannot be ignored but must be recognized and Ms.
Clayton did a brilliant job doing just that, This is a book that will be hard to put down, Thank goodness for people like Truus Wijsmuller, This was a well written and well researched book, I highly recommend this book, All opinions expressed in this review are my own,

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