From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up?Yulek, 17, is alone in the world. His family was killed in the concentration camps during World War II, and now, two years later, he makes a trip from a Zionist training camp in Italy to his former home in Poland before embarking on a journey that will ultimately end in Palestine. In his hometown, he learns that an English woman has been there making inquiries about his family. It could only be his Aunt Malka, who estranged herself from her relatives years earlier by marrying a Christian. But Yulek doesn't know her married name or where she lives. Meanwhile, Malka, now Lady Melanie Faulkner, happens upon a picture of him and some other young people in a Jewish newspaper. She is determined to find him, but complicated circumstances prevent their reunion. As with The Man from the Other Side (Houghton, 1991), Orlev has created an intimate portrayal of the life and times for Jews during the World War II era. Both books go beyond Jewish issues?they have non-Jewish characters who are crucial to plot development and who add balance. In this title, the Jewish postwar settlements in Palestine and the British position regarding Jewish immigration are central to the plot. While history students will find the novel enlightening, anyone who selects it for recreational reading will need a basic background in the period's events to appreciate the story's significance.?Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
(Retrieved from Amazon.com on 6/27/07) ( )