THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON is a powerful, historical novel that moved me. The era is World War II in Austria, with a true heroine, Gertrude Wijsmuller who I cheered for the entire book. She helped thousands of children escape from Nazi-occupied Europe to safety and new lives in England. It was known as the Kindertransport. She was brave, cunning, and loving. Gertrude is happily married to Joop and are hoping to have a child after many miscarriages and heartbreak. Gertrude is a member of the Dutch resistance. She has managed to smuggle Jewish children out of Germany without documentation but her biggest endeavor is coming soon for her with impossible odds.
In Vienna in 1936, 15-year-old Stephen Neuman is wealthy and heir to the family business, Neuman Chocolate. The family-run business is known and respected throughout Austria. The Neuman family is Jewish. Stephen enjoys a luxurious life and lives in an opulent palace with his family including his beloved 5-year-old brother, Walter, who is never without his favorite toy, Peter Rabbit. Stephen dreams of writing and directing plays and enjoys traveling through the intricate underground tunnels and he is very familiar with them. Zofie-Helene is a 14-year-old brilliant mathematician and Christian. Her mother writes for an anti-nazi magazine. Zofie and Stephen become close sharing their future hopes and dreams while exploring the underground tunnels together.
Things change drastically as the Germans invade Vienna. The Nazi party takes over the lovely Neuman home forcing them to reside in the servants quarters on the third floor. Stephen's mother is ill, dying of cancer. His father is arrested and killed en route to an internment camp. It is up to Stephen to care for his mother and brother and hide from the Nazis. He hides underground, sneaking out to check on his mother and brother.
Adolph Eichmann, a rising star in the Nazi Party. is in charge of the Jewish residents he hates. He is cold and unyielding. Gertrude goes to him when she hears England will take children. find them homes, if she can get them across the pond. A diabolical scheme is developed by Eichmann to allow 600, not 601 or 599 children, if they leave on their Sabbath with no possessions. The voyage is thrilling and tells a powerful story of hope and survival. Gertrude becomes Tante Truus to the children including Stephen, Zofie, Walter, and his beloved Peter Rabbit.
Meg Waite Clayton has done her homework, along with stellar research bringing this moving and incredible story to life, pulling at your heartstrings. Unable to put down, it is one of my best reads this year. Love, Loss, Loyalty, Heroism, Family, Faith, Cruelty, Terror, THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON has it all. Great job and thank you, Ms. Clayton.
The New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Exiles
conjures her best novel yet, a pre-World War II-era story
with the emotional resonance of Orphan Train and All the
Light We Cannot See, centering on the Kindertransports
that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied
Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape to
safety.
In 1936, the Nazi are little more than loud, brutish
bores to fifteen-year old Stephan Neuman, the son of a
wealthy and influential Jewish family and budding
playwright whose playground extends from Vienna’s streets
to its intricate underground tunnels. Stephan’s best
friend and companion is the brilliant Žofie-Helene, a
Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-
Nazi newspaper. But the two adolescents’ carefree
innocence is shattered when the Nazis’ take control.
There is hope in the darkness, though. Truus Wijsmuller,
a member of the Dutch resistance, risks her life
smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany to the
nations that will take them. It is a mission that becomes
even more dangerous after the Anschluss—Hitler’s
annexation of Austria—as, across Europe, countries close
their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate
to escape.
Tante Truus, as she is known, is determined to save as
many children as she can. After Britain passes a measure
to take in at-risk child refugees from the German Reich,
she dares to approach Adolf Eichmann, the man who would
later help devise the “Final Solution to the Jewish
Question,” in a race against time to bring children like
Stephan, his young brother Walter, and Žofie-Helene on a
perilous journey to an uncertain future abroad.
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