13-year-old Liv’s beloved 92-year-old grandmother, Oma, is moving into a home where she can be cared for as her dementia worsens. As Liv helps her father empty Oma’s house, she finds an old chest which opens up a whole world that Liv never knew about: the hidden world of Oma’s childhood. Through the letters and other mementos, Liv learns that Oma, given name Mila, had a sister, Eva, that no one in Liv’s family ever knew about. In 1942, Mila and Eva are sent away from their parents to a non-Jewish family so they will survive the war. 12-year-old Mila believes that they will soon go back to their normal lives, but 14-year-old Eva knows better, and soon gets involved in the Resistance.
Eva takes on more and more dangerous assignments until a betrayal forces her to decide between running away with her sister or fully committing to mission. Tragedy strikes, and Mila goes to England on her own to restart her life from scratch, vowing never to talk about her childhood again. In the present day, Liv reads how Mila builds something new from the shattered pieces of her childhood. Both Liv and Mila what it means to be brave and go above and beyond to offer someone else a life of dignity, happiness, and freedom. Acclaimed author Liz Kessler has crafted a heartbreaking middle grade story of family, history, resilience, and hope.
"Much of the plot is revealed through letters and narration by various characters, in addition to journal entries written by [Eva] as letters to her lost mother.... Reading the journal, [Oma] realizes [Eva] had forgiven her for her role in mistakenly exposing several Jewish children to capture and releases a lifetime of shame and regret. In an author’s note, Kessler writes that, though fictional, the novel is inspired by a tale of real-life sisters. A narrative that is at times almost overpoweringly emotional; an intense story, gorgeously told." — Bob Hassett, School Library Journal
Recommended Age | 10 - 13 |
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Author | Liz Kessler |
ISBN | 1665929731 |
Publication Date | May 7, 2024 |
Publisher | Aladdin |
Language | English |