Six-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jak�b Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks. As World War II draws to a close, Jak�b fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They intend to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl's unscheduled train reaches the bomb first. Gretl is the only survivor. Though spared from the concentration camp, the orphaned German Jew finds herself lost in a country hostile to her people. When Jak�b discovers her, guilt ...
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Six-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jak�b Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks. As World War II draws to a close, Jak�b fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They intend to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl's unscheduled train reaches the bomb first. Gretl is the only survivor. Though spared from the concentration camp, the orphaned German Jew finds herself lost in a country hostile to her people. When Jak�b discovers her, guilt and fatherly compassion prompt him to take her in. For three years, the young man and little girl form a bond over the secrets they must hide from his Catholic family. But she can't stay with him forever. Jak�b sends Gretl to South Africa, where German war orphans are promised bright futures with adoptive Protestant families-so long as Gretl's Jewish roots, Catholic education, and connections to communist Poland are never discovered. Separated by continents, politics, religion, language, and years, Jak�b and Gretl will likely never see each other again. But the events they have both survived and their belief that the human spirit can triumph over the ravages of war have formed a bond of love that no circumstances can overcome. Praise for The Girl from the Train: "A riveting read with an endearing, courageous protagonist . . . takes us from war-torn Poland to the veldt of South Africa in a story rich in love, loss, and the survival of the human spirit." -Anne Easter Smith, author of A Rose for the Crown Full-length World War II historical novel International bestseller Includes a glossary
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I just finished the novel The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert. It is 1944 in Southern Poland and Gretl Schmidt (six years old) is on a train with her Grandmother, Mother, and sister, Elza (fourteen) bound for a concentration camp. Elza and Gretl are told to jump from the train to save themselves. The girls jump off just in time because this train is blown up shortly down the line. Jakob Kowalski is fifteen years old and a member of the Home Army (resistance). His group planted bombs on the bridge to blow up a German troop train. The train with the Jews was no scheduled to come through the area.
Jakob rescues Elza and Gretl. Unfortunately, Elza becomes ill and does not make it. Jakob takes Gretl home to his family farm where she will live for the next four years. The two become very close during this time. A time comes when his family no longer wants Gretl on the farm. Jakob takes her to Germany to get Gretl into a program that is relocating German Protestant orphans to South Africa. They only want Aryan children (Gretl easily passes and it helps that her father was an SS Officer who died in 1941-and she has proof). Gretl learns to hide her past in order to get a new future.
Gretl never forgets Jakob and hopes to see him again. When Jakob is forced to flee Poland and gets an opportunity to work in South Africa, he jumps at it in the hopes of seeing Gretl again. Will Gretl and Jakob be able to reconnect? The Girl from the Train is told from the perspective of Gretl and Jakob. We get to see Gretl grow up and embrace her new life in South Africa. We learn how Jakob survived the war and how the communists changed Poland (we also get quite a bit of information on communism which made for dry reading). I did find The Girl from the Train to be a long winded book (very drawn out). I did not think it would ever end (and the ending was predictable). The Girl from the Train is basically one long historical romance novel (emphasis on the history). I think that the World War II theme has just been very overdone this year. The writing is good, but I found it difficult to get into the story (to connect with Gretl). I give The Girl from the Train 3 out of 5 stars.
I received a complimentary copy of The Girl from the Train from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
