Berlin, 1938. One journey will change their lives forever.
Twelve-year-old Margarete has lost everything — her parents, her home, and the fragile safety of the orphanage she once knew.
When the Nazis target Jewish families across Germany, Margarete is placed on a Kindertransport train bound for England. She expects to face the terrifying journey alone. Until a small, frightened girl is thrust into her arms.
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Four-year-old Ilse is crying for someone to protect her. In that moment, Margarete makes a desperate choice that will change both their lives forever. She tells a lie. She tells the world they are sisters.
As they travel across Europe to an uncertain future, Margarete vows to protect Ilse. But when they arrive in England, their fragile new family is at risk of being torn apart.
Now Margarete must fight harder than ever to keep the promise she made. Because sometimes the strongest families aren’t the ones we choose. And sometimes a single brave lie can change everything.
My Review
It’s 1938 and ‘Twelve-year-old Margarete has lost everything — her parents, her home, and the fragile safety of the orphanage she once knew.’ Because Margarete is Jewish and is ‘lucky’ in that she is being sent to England on a Kindertransport train. My mother and her mother – also Jewish – were living in Vienna at the time. My mother was 22. They were also escaping to England. When I say they were lucky, they could have been sent to Auschwitz or Belsen and been ‘exterminated’ along with six million other Jews.
While waiting for the train, a large man thrusts a small child into Margarete’s arms. The child is called Ilse and looks like a beautiful angel. And in that moment Margarete vows to protect her. So she tells everyone that Ilse is her sister, who had been sent to a different orphanage.
After a traumatic journey by train and boat, they arrive in England where Ilse will be fostered. But Ilse won’t leave Margarete, so she screams and screams until the Kingfishers decide to take both girls. And so they stay together, Margarete being terrified of her lie being discovered.
But in spite of Margarete’s friendship with the Kingfishers’ daughter Judith, life is not easy for her. She has none of Ilse’s looks or charms, and clashes with Mrs Kingfisher at every turn.
And so we follow the lives of the three girls, their relationship with each other, and with the foster parents. They are often bullied at school for being German. They change their names to Margaret and Elsie to sound more English, and while Elsie doesn’t care about her Jewish roots, Margarete wants to celebrate the Jewish festivals and attend the Synagogue. She has to leave school at 14 to work in a factory.
It’s such an interesting and inspiring journey and an insight into some of the most harrowing experiences of children during the war. Margarete is haunted by the memory of Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass – and also of the SS soldiers who constantly checked them on the train, looking at the tags round their necks. Ilse remembers little apart from being hidden in a dark, dusty cupboard under the stairs, and making a sock doll which she called Kathe to take on the journey to England.
It’s very moving and while the girls’ childhood was emotional and harrowing, it was the last few chapters that had me in tears.
Many thanks to @ZooloosBT for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Jan Casey is the author of several novels portraying the lives of some of the ‘forgotten heroines’ of WW2, employed variously as construction workers, bomb trackers, letter censors and war artists. The Women of Waterloo Bridge, Women At War, The Woman with the Map, The Letter Reader, and The War Artist, all published by Aria (Head of Zeus). She spent part of her childhood in California, but later moved back to the UK. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Norwich, where she lives.
Connect with Jan
Social Media Handles
Facebook: @JanCaseyAuthor
X (formerly Twitter): @JanCaseyAuthor
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com
Purchase Links:
www.amazon.co.uk
Thank you so much for being a part of this adventure x 💙🩵
Dear Jan Casey, Your book stood out during our community’s book selection process for the 12 Month Reading Challenge. There was something about the way a single, desperate lie could transform two terrified children into sisters, binding them together across a lifetime, that immediately captured our attention. The world you built around the Kindertransport feels so achingly real, from the chaos of a Berlin train station in 1938 to the quiet struggles of fitting into a new life in England. The way you follow Margarete and Ilse from their harrowing escape through to their adult years, showing how the trauma of displacement echoes across decades, created a narrative that is both sweeping and deeply intimate. What struck us most was the weight of the promise Margarete makes to protect Ilse, a child thrust into her arms by a stranger. Margarete is only twelve years old, orphaned and terrified, yet she has the courage to claim a frightened four-year-old as her sister. The lie is both her burden and their salvation. The novel explores the lifelong impact of this choice, following Margarete, Ilse, and Judith, the Kingfishers’ daughter who dreams of having a sister, as they navigate prejudice, bullying, and the struggle to preserve their identities. The way the chapters are told from each woman’s perspective, with Judith’s sections in diary form, creates a rich tapestry of voices that makes the story feel profoundly personal and deeply human. The book left us with the impression that family is not always a matter of blood, but of choice and fierce, unwavering love. I am Katie Beltran, reaching out on behalf of Swifties Who Also Read, a community of just over 500 active readers who genuinely love discussing, recommending, and supporting books throughout the year. We are known for being one of the more engaged reader spaces on Goodreads, and we currently run a 12 Month Reading Challenge where we carefully select authors and books to feature each month. We do not choose randomly. We look for books that deserve more visibility and meaningful engagement from readers who actually pay attention. When we feature a book, we do more than just mention it. We create an Author Featured Page that introduces the book to our community during the monthly challenge, giving it real exposure among readers who actively participate in discussions and recommendations. We optimize the author’s Goodreads profile and place the book into carefully chosen reading lists to improve discoverability and strengthen the author’s presence on the platform. We also produce a Community Welcome Trailer that introduces the author and the book to our readers before the challenge begins, building early interest and giving the book a proper introduction. We have done this with a number of authors already, and many of them told us they appreciated the experience, not because of any grand promises, but because their books genuinely reached more readers, sparked thoughtful discussions, and gained visibility among people who otherwise might never have found them. We have also put together a community Overview that we have created for authors, to help explain who we are and how we work. It answers most of the questions authors typically have before deciding whether to move forward. If you would like to take a look at it, just let us know. We are happy to share it. Warmly, Katie Beltran On behalf of Swifties Who Also Read
I am not Jan Casey. I don’t understand