LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, I was reminded very much of Charlotte Gray when following Jake Wallis Simons’ heroine Rosa Klein, the background of Jewish suffering every bit as compelling as Schindler’s List. His novel follows Rosa Klein as her despairing parents manage to find her a place on one of the last kindertransports to leave Berlin. It is a story powerfully told, demanding your complete attention, involving you in a story of heartbreak, love and loss as Rosa attempts to make a life and career for herself alone in this new bewildering country of Britain. It’s a film waiting to happen although so vivid is Jake Wallis Simons description and attention to detail I feel I’ve seen it already. If you only read one novel this year make it this one.
Judging Panel Fiction Uncovered 2011: ‘As the net closes in on the Jews of Berlin, a family places their hopes for survival in their teenage daughter, sending her from Germany to England. As she fights to make herself understood in a strange land, can she save them in time?’
Like for Like Reading:
Schindler’s Ark, Thomas Keneally
Charlotte Gray, Sebastian Faulk
Sue Baker
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About
The English German Girl Synopsis
This powerful, meticulously researched novel is a moving tale of one girl's struggle against a world in turmoil. In 1930s Berlin, choked by the tightening of Hitler's fist, the Klein family are gradually losing everything that is precious to them. Their fifteen-year-old daughter, Rosa, slips out of Germany on a Kindertransport train to begin a new life in England. Charged with the task of securing a safe passage for her family, she vows that she will not rest until they are safe. But as war breaks out and she loses contact with her parents, Rosa finds herself wondering if there are some vows that can't be kept ...A sweeping tale of love and loss, with the poignant story of the Kindertransport at its heart, this is an exceptional accomplishment from one of Britain's bravest and most vibrant young writers.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781846972089 |
| Publication date: |
20th May 2011 |
| Author: |
Jake Wallis Simons |
| Publisher: |
Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited an imprint of Birlinn General |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Jake Wallis Simons Press Reviews
'Here is new young voice in British fiction - entertaining, provocative and original. Jake Wallis Simons will surely prove a name to remember'
BERYL BAINBRIDGE
‘Fascinating and moving’
MONICA ALI
‘Vividly realised, brilliantly executed. Advances through the
twentieth century like a train through the night’
NICHOLAS ROYLE
Author
About Jake Wallis Simons
Jake Wallis Simons is a novelist, journalist and graphic artist. His acclaimed first novel, The Exiled Times of a Tibetan Jew, was named by the Independent on Sunday as a Book of the Year. His second novel, The English German Girl — about the Kindertransport — will be published by Polygon in April 2011.
Jake’s comics have been commissioned by the Times, for whom he writes regular features on arts and culture, ideas and psychology, food, child development, Israel and religion. He has also written features for the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the Telegraph, La Repubblica and other publications, and his work has been featured in The Week magazine. He is a contributor to BBC Radio 4′s From Our Own Correspondent.
Born in London in 1978, Jake was awarded a first class degree in English from St Peter’s College, Oxford, before undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Jake is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, and Practitioner-in-Residence at Bournemouth University. He lives with his family in Winchester.
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