Deep Sea by Annika Thor

Deep Sea is the third book in Annika Thor's quartet of novels about the Steiner sisters who have been sent to Sweden to escape the Nazi sweep of Jews in Vienna, Austria. Stephie Steiner is now sixteen years old and attending grammar school on the mainland  in Goteborg, Sweden. Meanwhile, her younger sister, eleven year old Nellie, remains on with her foster parents, Auntie Alma and Uncle Sigurd. Stephie visits Nellie once per month and during school vacations, something that pricks her conscience because she promised to take care of Nellie. In Goteborg, Stephie lives with May, her parents, Aunt Tyra and Uncle Britten and their large family in Standarna. Unlike most of her older siblings and other children in the area, May has been able to continue on through to grammar school due to scholarships.

Stephie had been receiving postcards from her parents who are living in Theresienstadt, a camp in Czechoslovakia. The postcards do not have pictures and have exactly thirty words, often asking for food parcels to be sent. The last card she received was in the autumn of 1942 but a new card, dated March 13, 1943 tells Stephie that her mother will be singing "Queen of the Night" in The Magic Flute opera put on by the camp. This was a song her mother, an opera star always wanted to perform.

Every Wednesday Stephie meets her friend, Vera, who is also from the island. Vera works as a housemaid for a family that lives in the center of Goteborg, near the house where Stephie lived in her first year of grammar school with Sven and his parents. Vera loves to dance and has been trying to get Stephie to come with her to the Rotunda or Rota, a restaurant at the Liseberg Amusement Park. Although she's only four months older than Stephie, Vera acts much older than her sixteen years, going to dances and using plenty of make up. She tells Stephie that she has an appointment with a photographer who has promised to take pictures of her for magazines. Stephie doesn't feel good about this but she knows Vera wants to be famous some day.

At school Stephie is doing well, in large part to her homeroom teacher, Miss Hedvig Bjork who has been a teacher for only five years. Miss Bjork tells Stephie that she will likely receive a scholarship to continue on to high school and that she's certain the relief committee will provide a cost-of-living allowance.

Stephie's trip home to the island to see Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert and especially Nellie finds her younger sister rebellious and troubled. Nellie wishes she looked like the Swedish children around her. She tells Stephie that she continues to write their mama and papa every week, although she sounds upset. Before leaving the island, Stephie asks Aunt Marta to contact the relief committee about paying for her room and board for the next school year. She later learns that the relief committee will not sponsor her for another year because she is expected to "earn her keep". This news is especially discouraging to Stephie, who wants to study to become a doctor. Miss Bjork suggests that with her good marks they might be able to get the relief committee to accept a compromise - to fund her for two years of high school. This will mean that Stephie will have to complete her first year of high school during the summer. Miss Bjork is successful in getting the relief committee to fund Stephie for two more years and she arranges to tutor Stephie over the summer on the island.

Two letters from Stephie's parents reveal several things; first that her mother was not able to sing at the concert and secondly that Nellie has not been writing to their parents. This leads Stephie to return to the island and confront Nellie. Nellie is convinced that Mama and Papa gave them up and did not want them, infuriating Stephie. Meanwhile Stephie decides to accompany Vera to a dance at the Rota. With the help of Vera she is made up to seem older and spends the night dancing. But when things get out of hand, Stephie decides to leave Vera behind and go home. This night will have repercussions for both girls but especially for Vera.

When summer arrives, Stephie returns to the island to prepare for the arrival of Miss Bjork and her friend Janice. The summer means working on completing her first year of high school and trying to reconnect with Nellie. But this summer will bring with it both surprises and a terrible loss that leaves Stephie reconsidering what it means to be Jewish.

Discussion

Like the other novels in this series, Deep Sea is slow paced but gradually draws the reader into the story. Told from Stephie's point of view, she struggles to find her own identity as a dark-haired person of Jewish ancestry in a predominantly Christian society populated by fair-haired, blue-eyed people. Readers also see Stephie coming of age as she watches her friend Vera make poor decisions that negatively impact her future.

The novel demonstrates how the Holocaust broke apart families and how it impacted those children who were separated from their parents. The price of safety was high; lost years, disrupted relationships between parents and their children, loss of Jewish culture.  For example, Stephie thinks about what was and what might have been. "After four years in Sweden, Stephie has nearly forgotten that she once lived in a big, beautiful apartment with soft carpets and antique furniture. That she and Nellie had a large, bright nursery, and Papa had a study full of books. If they had still been living there, she would never have known anyone like May. Or anyone like Vera."

When Stephie discovers that Nellie has not been writing to their parents she wonders about how the war has changed things. She assumed that after the war they would be able to resume their lives and go back to their homes. But her friend Judith tells her they don't have homes anymore. "Until now she had always imagined that when the war was over, things would be like before. That Momma, Papa, Nellie, and she would return to their big apartment near Prater Park and that they would be a family again."
"Is it possible to be reunited just like that, after four, five, or six years, and live together as if nothing had happened? If the war goes on for a couple more years, Stephie will be an adult when it ends. Nellie, her little sister, will be an obstinate teenager who feels more at home in Sweden than in Vienna."

The novel also touches on one aspect of life for Jewish children who were hidden or sent to live in other countries, often with Christians, and that is the forced or encouraged conversion from Judaism to Christianity. In our era, where different cultures are respected the idea that Jewish children would have been forced to become Christians might seem incredible. It's easy to look back at this time period through the lens of our era that is more accepting of differences and criticize the actions of previous generations. There was a history of discrimination against the Jewish people that extended through the centuries before. This attitude allowed for pogroms in Eastern Europe and for inaction on the part of many countries, including Canada and the United States, when Nazi Germany began to restrict the rights of Jews in Germany and eventually began to force them into ghettos. Fearing the worst, an effort was made to save Jewish children by either hiding them with Christian families in Europe or sending them off the continent to England and Sweden. For those hidden in Christian families, it was imperative that these children pass as Christians. This meant they had to learn Catholic prayers, go to Mass or Christian services and eat pork. For those children sent to Sweden, Jewish children were sometimes expected to participate in Christian worship and even to convert.

In Deep Sea, one scene in particular stands out. Stephie goes to the church to ask for money to send a care package to her parents at Theresienstadt. However, before they are even willing to consider donating, the Christian parishioners question Stephie, asking what seem like the most ridiculous questions.
"Remind me," the woman says. "Your parents aren't Christian, are they?"
"No," says Stephie. "They're Jewish."
"Would it be possible for them to be baptized at the camp?"
Stephie can't believe her ears. Here she is talking about cold winters, hunger, and illness, and the lady suggests that her parents change their religion!:
"If they were Christian," the woman goes on, "I'm sure it would be easier for us to help them..."

In the end, the people refuse to send a package but offer to pray. Faith without good works brings God to no one. Aunt Marta partially understands Stephie's pain when she tells her of the congregation's decision. "I heard them, and I grieve the fact that there is so much hardness of heart among people who ought to know what love of one's fellow man implies."

When Judith comes to visit Stephie at Aunt Marta's and sees her eating pork and later on sees the picture of Jesus in her room she admonishes Stephie and accuses her of betraying her heritage. "What have they done to you?" she asks. "Did they force you to convert to Christianity?" This leads to a great deal of conflict for Stephie, who recognizes the sacrifices Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert have made on her behalf. Under the wonderful encouragement of Uncle Evert, Stephie manages to stay strong in light of so many disappointments.

One can't help but feel the similarities between this novel and Anne of Green Gables. Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert are like Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert while May resembles Anne's best friend, Diana and Miss Hedvig Bjork is Miss Stacey, Anne's optimistic mentor and teacher.

Overall, Deep Sea is a good read for young teens, exploring family separation and the effect of war on families, loneliness and adjusting to life in a very different culture. This novel's third person narration make Stephie's experiences seem real. I am looking forward to the publication of Annika Thor's fourth book.

Book Details:

Deep Sea by Annika Thor (Translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck)
New York: Delacorte Press     2015
228 pp.

The Lily Pond by Annika Thor

The Lily Pond is the second of four books by Annika Thor that tells the story of the Steiner sisters. However, this short novel focuses mainly on thirteen-year-old Stephanie as she moves to the mainland to attend school in Goteborg, Sweden. It is an exciting time for Stephanie because she will be boarding with Dr. Soderberg's family. This means living in the same house as Sven, their eighteen-year old son, whom Stephie likes very much.

Stephanie is accompanied by Aunt Marta to Goteberg and to the Soderberg's home, a four story yellow brick building. The Sodeberg's have a beautiful home with "elegant rugs" and "antique furniture". Stephanie is to room in the bedroom of the Soderberg's daughter, Karin who has married. The room has beautiful white furniture, a small mirrored dressing table, a bed with a pink bedspread and a spacious closet. It also has a door that connects to Sven's room next door. 

The first evening Stephanie is invited to dinner with Dr. Soderberg and his wife. But when she tells him what has happened to her own father - also a doctor - he changes the subject. Sven returns home on the Sunday evening along with his dog, Putte. He is puzzled to find Stephanie eating dinner in the kitchen with their maid, Elena and decides also to eat there. Sven also refuses his mother's invitation to accompany them as they go to pick up his sister Karin and her husband Olle, instead taking Stephanie for a walk so she knows the way to her school.

Stephanie and Sven walk through part of the city with its new theatre, art museum and concert hall. This is different from Vienna where the buildings are all very old. Still Goteberg brings back memories of Vienna, with its trams and cobblestone streets, its shops and tall buildings. Sven shows her the Girls Grammar School she will attend and they then go to a lily pond. The small pond has white water lilies but also red lilies further out, along with swans and ducks. Sven warns Stephanie that some teachers are supportive of "the new German order". 

At school Stephanie is in a different class from her island school mates, Ingrid and Sylvia. Her homeroom teacher is Hedvig Bjork, who will teach math and biology. Stephanie takes an instant like to Ms. Bjork who is friendly and enthusiastic.

After a half day of class, Stephanie makes a new friend in May Karlsson and they agree to sit next to one another in class. May explains the tram lines to Stephanie, telling her that she lives in Mayhill. The two girls also have Miss Fredriksson for history and Christian studies and Miss Krantz for German. Miss Krantz admonishes Stephanie for speaking Viennese German insisting that the only German that will be spoken in her class is that spoken in Berlin, the capital of the Reich.

Stephanie's school is very near to Sven's boy's school and boys often wait outside the school fence for girls. Two girls, Lilian and Harriet are the only girls in Stephanie's class who have boys waiting for them. While everyone wants to be in Lilian and Harriet's circle of friends, May doesn't and neither does Alice Martin, an unfriendly classmate whom Stephanie has been trying to befriend. When Lilian and Harriet talk about their boyfriends and love, Stephanie believes they don't know what it is to be in love like she does. Unfortunately, Stephanie is confusing Sven's friendship for something more.

Stephanie continues to visit Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert, and she also visits Vera who is interested in life in a city like Goteberg. Unlike Stephanie who wants to become a doctor, Vera dreams of marrying a wealthy man to save her from poverty. Visits to the island reveal that Nellie is losing her ability to speak German and is losing her Jewish faith. This is evident from a second visit when Nellie wonders if God isn't helping their parents because they are not Christians.

When Stephanie returns to school after her weekend visit, Harriet and Lilian question her as to the identity of the handsome boy who met her at the school gates. Stephanie lies to them, telling the two girls she and the boy are "going steady". It is a lie that leads to more and more lies. 

In addition to all this, Stephanie must deal with the uncertainty of her parents situation as Jews in occupied Austria. As conditions deteriorate more and more for the Jews in Austria, her parents find themselves increasingly restricted in where they can work and shop. Desperate to leave Austria for the United States, they attempt to obtain exit visas. Just when things seem to be working to their advantage, Stephanie's mother becomes ill with pneumonia and cannot travel. Stephanie is experiencing her own crisis when she is accused of cheating and then makes a shocking discovery about Sven. But just when she's about to give up on her dreams, true friends come to the rescue, leaving Stephanie hope for a better future.

Discussion

The Lily Pond is the second novel in the series about two sisters who were part of the transport of five hundred Jewish children to Sweden at the onset of World War II. While the main story focuses on Stephanie's day to day life at the girls grammar school and her struggles as a teen refugee during war, Annika Thor also hints at the broader events occuring in Nazi Germany through letters by Stephanie's parents. 

As an Austrian-Jewish refugee now living in Sweden, Stephanie must adapt to life in a very different culture. Although Stephanie is flourishing academically, she is struggling to deal with the many situations a young teenage girl encounters. She has moved from an island where she's only lived a year to a new city where she knows no one. Fortunately, Stephanie makes a good friend in May Karlsson who lives in the poorer Mayhill district. May's large family are welcoming towards Stephanie and are very sympathetic to her situation. 

Life with Soderberg family is also challenging as it brings back  memories of Stephanie's own family. However, unlike Stephanie's own parents, the non-Jewish Soderbergs who live in a large home with a maid, remain relatively untouched by war at this point. And like many Swedes, they do not yet understand what is really happening in Europe. This is seen by Mrs. Soderberg's insensitive remarks to Aunt Marta when she complains about rationing and how the fishermen have it lucky. Mrs. Soderberg doesn't understand the risks that people like Marta's husband, Evert are taking navigating in waters with mines. 

When Stephanie attempts to tell Dr. Soderberg about her own father and how he has had his medical practice taken away by the Nazis, he quickly changes the subject. They do not know that her father has lost his practice and is now working in a Jewish hospital that has few medicines to treat the Jewish patients. Her mother, once a fashionable, elegant woman is now working as a maid. 

Stephanie is further humiliated when she is asked to stay at the Soderberg's home during a weekend instead of returning to the island as the Soderberg's are having a dinner party. Stephanie who has attended her parent's dinner parties in Vienna, believes she will be part of the dinner but instead is stunned to learn that she will be serving at the dinner. Even worse she is introduced to the guests as a refugee. 

The Soderberg's inability to comprehend what is happening to Jews in Europe is revealed at dinner after Christmas when Stephanie tells them that her parents were unable to leave for America because her mother fell ill. When Mrs. Soderberg suggests that Stephanie's mother might be able to convalese in the countryside, not understanding the situation at all, Stephanie becomes enraged. While Sven wants Stephanie to tell them what is really happening, his mother and father shut the discussion down. They do not want to face the unpleasant reality of what is happening to Jews in Europe.

Even at school Stephanie encounters prejudice. Stephanie finds that one girl, Alice Martin who is the only girl with dark hair like her, inexplicably hates her. Eventually Stephanie learns why. Stephanie makes Alice feel ashamed to be Jewish. She tells Stephanie, "My family has lived here for four generations...We've never had to be embarrassed about being Jewish. My parents and grandparents speak perfect Swedish. My father's a prominent businessman. We socialize with everyone worth knowing in this city. But now you refugees are turning up. People who have nothing, and who can't even speak Swedish. That makes it different for us, too. People might think we're like you."  Like the Soderbergs, Alice Martin and her family refuse to face the reality of what is happening.

In this way, Annika Thor highlights the plight of Jewish refugee children assimilating into a new culture without the benfit of their parents and often other Jewish children and families. No doubt these children found it difficult when their beliefs clashed with those of their foster families. During this era, there was little respect or tolerance towards the Jewish children's beliefs and often they were expected to adopt Christian beliefs. In some cases this was required for survival, as when children were given shelter in Nazi occupied areas of Europe. There can be no doubt that for many small children, as demonstrated in The Lily Pond with Stephanie's younger sister, Nellie, this caused doubt, and confusion. Stephanie's visits to the island reveal that not only is Nellie losing her ability to speak German but she is also forgetting her Jewish beliefs.

The letters Stephanie receives from her parents, trapped in Austria reveal the plight of many European Jews during the late 1930's and the early 1940s. Her parents letters reveal that living conditions are becoming desperate, with little food and medicine. Restrictions make life very disfficult for Jews. Few countries were willing to accept adult Jews, as Stephanie discovered in the first novel, Faraway Island when Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert petition the Relief Committee to take in her parents. And in The Lily Pond, as with Stephanie's parents,  those Jews lucky enough to get a visa to America or another country sometimes were unable to leave due to illness or other circumstances. And sadly that is what happens with Stephanie's mother, who is too ill with pneumonia to travel, despite having a visa to America.

Set against this larger story is Stephanie's infatuation with Sven, the son of the Soderbergs. Sven doesn't treat her like a boarder - in fact he's more like a good friend. leading the lonely Stephanie to misunderstand his kindness. Soon after she arrives as the Soderberg's home, Sven takes Stephanie to a small lily pond, where they sit and talk.  Sven is completely unaware of Stephanie's crush on him as he views her as a little sister. 

Once Stephanie begins to lie about her relationship with Sven, one lie leads to another. However, Stephanie doesn't repeat these lies to her friend May because she knows "May knows her much too well; she'd see right through her." Stephanie also begins to realize that she's going to have to continue to lie to satisfy Harriet and Lilian. "Well, that won't be difficult. She's already pictured it all in her head, images of romantic scenes that will make Lilian sigh and Harriet long to hear more...Marvelous scenes starring her and Sven..." For Stephanie, this is her chance to become a part of Harriet and Lilian's friend group and keep them liking her. It's her chance to fit in, to belong, something as a Jewish refugee she longs for. 

However, during a crisis that forms the climax of the novel, Stephanie's lies catch up with her and she receives a reality check.  Fleeing from school after being falsely accused of cheating, Stephanie sees Sven at the lily pond with his girlfriend, Irja. In a scene that is overly dramatic and probably unlikely in 1940s Sweden, a hysterical Stephanie reveals her feelings and demands Sven kiss her, which he reluctantly does.

Despite the over-the-top drama, there is a happy resolution to both the issue at school and between Stephanie and Sven, who remain friends. As an aside, while Sven apologizes to Stephanie, she never apologizes to him. Nevertheless, The Lily Pond is an interesting novel about life in 1940's Sweden. This novel also has a scene reminiscent of the Anne of Green Gables novel, when Stephanie saves May's younger sister, Ninni from a croup attack (in the novel Anne of Green Gables, Anne saves Diana Barry's younger sister Minnie May from croup).

Book Details:
The Lily Pond by Annika Thor
Delacorte Press    2011

A Faraway Island by Annika Thor

Twelve-year-old Stephanie (Stephie) Steiner and her seven-year-old sister Eleonore (Nellie) arrive in Goteberg, Sweden by train. They are part of a group of refugee children from Vienna, Austria. A lady escorts Stephie and Nellie along with the other children to a large waiting area where a lady from the local relief committee welcomes them. Each child's name is called and an adult comes forward to claim them. But Stephie and Nellie are taken by taxi to the harbor where a boat takes them to an island. 

There they are met at the dock by a woman who tells them her name is Alma Lindberg or Auntie Alma. Aunt Alma's home is "...a yellow wooden house with a glass-enclosed veranda."  She has two children, Elsa and John. Inside, Stephie and Nellie meet a stern-looking woman, Aunt Marta. Neither Stephie nor Nellie speak Swedish but they manage to learn a few words to understand what is happening.

After some milk and buns, Stephie leaves with Aunt Marta, causing Nellie to be very upset as their mother had promised they would stay together. Stephie rides on Aunt Marta's bike, far along the island road to "...an isolated house, pressed up close to a stony cliff..." with a red boathouse by the water's edge. To Stephie, the house feels like it is at the "...end of the world." Stephie's room is small with a sloping ceiling and a small window. She has a bed, dresser and table but no books or art except for a picture of Jesus. Not long after Stephie settles in, Uncle Evert arrives. Stephie immediately feels a connection to him as they try to talk in a mixture of German and Swedish. 

Stephie and Nellie, along with Aunt Alma and her children spend their summer days at the beach swimming. Stephie doesn't swim however because she only has an old black woolen swimsuit that Aunt Marta has given her. When Aunt Alma's husband, Uncle Evert returns, Stephie learns that he is a fisherman who has a boat named Diana. Aunt Alma's husband,Sigurd is a member of the crew along with a boy named Per-Erik and four others.

Stephie continues to write letters to her parents describing a pleasant life in Sweden so her parents won't worry. Meanwhile she and Nellie wait and hope their parents can leave Austria. However, with the start of World War II, Austria is now at war as it is part of the German Reich. One day Vera Hedberg, a girl with red hair, shows Stephie and Nellie where to pick blackberries. This ends in a disaster for Stephie who stains and tears her skirt and is punished by Aunt Marta. The sisters are taken to a "revival meeting" as the island's Pentecostal Church. When they are overcome with emotion by the music and cry, they later learn that Aunt Alma and Aunt Marta believe they have accepted Jesus and are now redeemed. A few weeks later both girls are baptized and begin attending Sunday school. 

Eventually Stephie and Nellie are able to speak Swedish well enough to attend school. Stephie is disappointed to be placed back in the sixth grade which she completed a year ago in Austria. She is even more disappointed to be given used textbooks and workbooks. But Uncle Evert surprises her with a new wooden pencil case. School proves to be challenging for Stephie as she has to deal with being bullied by classmate Sylvia and her friends. However, Stephie excels and decides to try for the opportunity to attend the grammar school in Goteberg. That notion is quickly put to an end however by Aunt Marta who tells her they cannot possibly afford the tuition nor to board her in the city.

With the outbreak of war and the invasion of Norway and Denmark, Stephie begins to realize that her family's dream of obtaining visas to America and leaving Europe is now unlikely to happen. Her only hope is to have the relief committee consider sponsoring her parents. So desperate is Stephie that she attempts to walk across the ice to Goteberg. When this fails, Aunt Marta and Uncle Evert attempt to make a case for helping her parents without success.  As she struggles to deal with this reality, Stephie continues to move forward with her life, making new friends, and gradually capturing the heart of Aunt Marta too.

Discussion

A Faraway Island is the first book in a four book series by Swedish author, Annika Thor, about two Austrian-Jewish sisters who are sent to live in Sweden during the Second World War. The books were written in 1996 and have recently been translated from Swedish into English. The first two books have recently been published by Random House Yearling Books, with the final two slated to follow soon, although no date has been issued as to when.

Annika Thor was born into a Jewish family living in Goteborg, Sweden sixty years ago. Thor considers that had her paternal grandparents not immigrated from Belarus in the early 1900's, she would likely not have been born. After the Kristallnacht in November, 1938, the Jewish community in Sweden arranged for the transport of over five hundred Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to safety. Sadly, the parents of these children were never allowed to immigrate with them, and many never saw their children again in this life. The Jewish children generally ended up living in rural areas, very different from their middle class upbringing. The cultural shock, in addition to the stress of relocating alone, must have been enormously traumatic. As with many Jewish children who were placed with families of other faiths, often their cultural and religious heritage was not respected. Thor based her books on "interviews with about a dozen of the real refugees who shared their childhoods, their letters, and their diaries, as well as on the research of Ingrid Lomfors, a Jewish historian in Sweden who explored the destinies of the five hundred refugee children."

Told through the narrative of twelve-year-old Stephie Steiner, Thor effectively portrays the cultural shock that many Jewish children would have experienced. Stephie's family were well off Jewish Austrians living in Vienna. At this time, Vienna was the cultural capital of Europe with its music, literature and fine arts. Stephie's father was a doctor,her mother an opera singer when she was younger. Stephie's parents were well off and took part in the vibrant culture that existed at this time in the city.  In Vienna they had a large apartment with a cook, a housemaid and a cleaning lady. Stephie's family attended concerts and movies, and took vacations. When Britta asks Stephie if her family are rich, this brings back memories of her life in Vienna. "She remembers the large apartment, the beautiful furniture, the soft rugs. She remembers her mother's elegant clothes, her fur coats and hats. And Papa's study with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, filled with leather-bound volumes". The photograph of her parents show that her mother was well dressed, "Her permed hair, her lipsticked lips, the elegant stole around her neck."  

Stephie finds herself in an isolated house, at the end of the island and feels like it is at the "end of the world." Life is sparse and plain. Stephie notes that her bedroom at Aunt Marta's has no books and no art. Her own mother looks so different from "the women on the island with their tightly twisted buns, their plain faces and cotton dresses." She speaks German and cannot understand Swedish, although she learns the new language quite quickly. Everything from the landscape, to the climate, to the food and even to the school are very different from life in Vienna. 

As was very common during this era, the religious beliefs of Jewish refugee children was not often respected. Those who were placed with Christian families were often coerced into practicing the Christian faith. In some cases, learning to recite Christian prayers or being baptized was done to protect Jewish children from being identified by the Nazis. However, in Stephie and Nellie's situation that immediate danger is not present. When Stephie arrives at Aunt Marta's home she immediately notices the picture of Jesus in her bedroom. Soon after she and Nellie are baptized, enrolled in Sunday school. They do not resist as they are young children, totally dependent on the adults who are caring for them. Their foster parents seem oblivious to the fact that they might believe differently. Stephie doesn't tell her mother about being baptized because she is worried this will upset her. It is a troubling secret that she believes she will have to keep the rest of her life - a burden no child should have to carry. Although Stephie feels some confusion about Christian beliefs, the author doesn't really explore this aspect of life for the two girls.

The Jewish experience during this early part of the war is told through flashbacks of Stephie remembering events in Austria prior to her and Nellie leaving. For example Stephie remembers how they were not able to go to the beach in Vienna as this was forbidden to Jews. She also remembers returning from the playground with Nellie and seeing the elderly furrier and his wife on their knees scrubbing the sidewalk as people mocked and laughed at them. And when she struggles to tell Aunt Marta about what happened with the summer guests' dog Putte, she reveals how the Nazi soldier shot her beloved dog Mimi in front of her.

Although the novel focuses on the journey of Stephie and Nellie, there is also a second journey that involves Aunt Marta. She is a crusty, severe woman described as "...a woman with a thin, stern-looking face. Her salt-and-pepper hair is twistedinto a tight bun at the nape of her neck." She is critical of most everything Stephie does. It is revealed later in the novel that Marta Jansson lost her daughter, Anna-Lisa and was never the same. This loss seems to have locked her heart and her emotions deep inside her. However when Aunt Marta becomes aware of just want Stephie and Nellie have endured, she stands up for Stephie after an altercation between Stephie and the shopkeeper's son. She defends Stephie, calling her "my little girl". This term of endearment goes a long way to healing the hurt and loss that Stephie has been experiencing.

Despite the setting in rural Sweden and a different era with the onset of World War II, A Faraway Island is in many ways similar to the novel, Anne of Green Gables written by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The movie adaptations by Kevin Sullivan in 1985 were extremely popular through the late 1980's and well into the 1990's. There are similar characters and events: stiff and no-nonsense Auntie Marta is similar to the crusty Marilla Cuthbert, quiet, unassuming Uncle Evert is like Matthew Cuthbert able to connect with the young girl they've taken in, Sylvia is like the irritating bully Josie Pye, while Stephie's teacher,  Miss Bergstrom is similar to the wonderfully uplifting Miss Muriel Stacy. At one point in the novel, Uncle Evertt, in a moment reminiscent of Matthew Cuthbert, tells Auntie Marta, "She's a fine girl. I'm glad we took her in." As with Anne Shirley whose attempt to dye her hair leaves her with short hair, Stephie also ends up with short hair after attempting to trim the burned hair from her braid.When Stephie is told she cannot go on to grammar school in the city of Goteberg, an unexpected benefactor, their summer guests - a doctor and his wife, arrange for Stephie to board at their home in the city. 

This short novel is well written and holds the reader's interest with the ongoing troubles and tribulations of the young protagonist who must adapt to her new life in Sweden. Stephie's plight is real and it's easy to feel a great deal of empathy for her, especially since we know the likely fate that awaits her parents in Austria. Annika Thor doesn't go into too much detail as to the Jewish experience in Austria, just enough to demonstrate the cruelty of the Nazi regime to younger readers. The author has set up the story for the next novel, with Stephie moving to Goteberg to continue her studies.

This book will be of interest to girls, aged 8 to 12 who enjoy historical fiction. 

Book Details:
A Faraway Island by Annika Thor
Random House Children's Books 2009 translated by Linda Schenck
247 pp.