Rating: 5.0
What it's about:
In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel." They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called "witch" by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children.
A novel of journey and survival, of redemption and memory, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel depicts how war is experienced by families and especially by children.
My thoughts:
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is an unforgettable novel centering around two Jewish children in Nazi occupied Poland. The story follows the survival of the two children after they have to be left by their father and stepmother in the forest. The story also follows the father and stepmother and their involvement with the partisans and their efforts to reunite with the children later on. Louise Murphy does a wonderful job braiding the old fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel with her war time novel. The result is creative and believable. This is not a feel good story though. It's heartbreaking and the subject matter is sometimes difficult to read. The characters in this novel are very memorable and the story is the kind that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.
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