Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Whelan, Gloria. After the train

Whelan, Gloria. After the train. HarpeCollins, 2009 [978-0-06-029596-7]
It is 1955 and Peter is happy with his family and looking forward to a summer in after-war Germany. The country is rebuilding but there are still some hard feelings towards the Jews. One day while going through some papers, he finds a letter... from his birth mother and it appears that he was passed to his parents family as a baby as his mother was put on a train to a concentration camp. Peter doesn't know how to approach his "parents", questioning them if they are his parents. He starts meeting with a Jewish man who works for his father, to find out about the Jewish religion. This 152 page book is short, but deals with a heavy topic. Should Peter tell people he is Jewish when there is still much prejudice in the country? How should he confront his parents? I am not aware of any other book written in this time period. I good addition to your collection.

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