Image from Google Jackets

With just one suitcase / Cheryl Koenig.

By: Publisher: Melbourne : Wild Dingo Press, 2015Description: xi, 287 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), genealogical table, portraits ; 22 cmContent type:
  • still image
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780987178589
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 920 23
Summary: This is a true story about two boys, Istvan and Frici, who live two kilometres but worlds apart in Romania. One is Catholic, one is Jewish; one grows up on a farm, the other in the affluent part of town. Life is routine and secure, the future seems predictable and each boy knows his place. Yet when the Second World War breaks out, the familiar world with its clear divisions disintegrates. Families are torn apart as men are forcibly recruited to fight in the war. As the country comes under Nazi, then later communist control, people are held hostage to an ever-changing political landscape, punctuated by military interventions and fluctuating allegiances. As the chance of a peaceful future becomes more remote, with a totalitarian regime in control, Frici and his brother, already facing persecution as Jews, escape across the border with the help of people smugglers, the authorities in pursuit. Istvan, just 16 years old, is transported to work in a Russian gulag, before his chance at freedom comes too. In their parallel journeys, both young men leave their families and beloved homeland to an uncertain future for a shot at freedom in Australia, sacrificing all that is familiar. Facing the challenge of building a new life, they even change their names in an effort to belong.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book Book Jessie Street National Women's Library General Stacks 920 KOE (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available for reference in the library and ILL 68189

"Romania 1938: two boys - one Jewish one Catholic - fatefully meet. This is a story of two parallel journeys; of loss, survival, resilience and daring; and the triumph of love and reconnection in Australia."--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

This is a true story about two boys, Istvan and Frici, who live two kilometres but worlds apart in Romania. One is Catholic, one is Jewish; one grows up on a farm, the other in the affluent part of town. Life is routine and secure, the future seems predictable and each boy knows his place. Yet when the Second World War breaks out, the familiar world with its clear divisions disintegrates. Families are torn apart as men are forcibly recruited to fight in the war. As the country comes under Nazi, then later communist control, people are held hostage to an ever-changing political landscape, punctuated by military interventions and fluctuating allegiances. As the chance of a peaceful future becomes more remote, with a totalitarian regime in control, Frici and his brother, already facing persecution as Jews, escape across the border with the help of people smugglers, the authorities in pursuit. Istvan, just 16 years old, is transported to work in a Russian gulag, before his chance at freedom comes too. In their parallel journeys, both young men leave their families and beloved homeland to an uncertain future for a shot at freedom in Australia, sacrificing all that is familiar. Facing the challenge of building a new life, they even change their names in an effort to belong.

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