- Paperback: 340 pages
- Publisher: Trafford Publishing (20 Mar 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1425145914
- ISBN-13: 978-1425145910
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,490,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A remarkable child and era…the moving story, simply told, of a German boy's journey through loss, loneliness, fear, uncertainty, love and hope in war-torn Germany and post-war rural Ireland.
About the Author
Dianne Ascroft was born in Toronto, Canada in 1960 and earned a B.A. in History at the University of Windsor in 1984. She has lived in Scotland and Northern Ireland since moving to Britain in 1990. She has written historical articles and music personality interviews and profiles for Irish and Canadian newspapers and magazines and was a contributor to an Irish local history book, The Brooke borough Story. Her competition entry, The Contest, was shortlisted and broadcast on Downtown Radio, Belfast in their 1998 Short Story Contest. She lives with her husband and pets - a pair of cats and a pair of goats - on a small farm in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Curiosity about the past has inspired her long-standing interest in history and genealogy and her love of historical fiction. Her hobbies also include Celtic music, quilting, hiking and travel. She is a member of the Historical Novel Society. Visit her website at www.geocities.com/diannetrimble
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is a thought provoking book tackling a difficult subject with great warmth and humanity. It takes you back to post-war Ireland through the eyes of a child. In that sense it's a great piece but also it examines wider social issues especially the pain of seperation and the heartbreak of war. Ultimately Ms ashcroft has produced a great book well worth reading.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The pace is gentle but the subject is not. What was most moving about this book was the portrayal of the way foster care affects a child.
Erich experienced the pain of having to leave foster parents he loved, and the agony of having to live with parents who didn't treat him kindly. And on top of that, the constant insecurity of having pretty much no say in the matter. Sometimes he felt there was no one to turn to; and even when there was someone he trusted, he didn't know if he'd have to leave them suddenly, or if they'd leave him.
There was also the problem of being separated from his brother, then reunited (making him feel his position in his new foster family was threatened), and later they were separated again.
As Erich gets older, he loses more people and has less control over who he can hang on to, and I feel this comes across very well and compelled me to keep reading. The more I read, the more I felt unable to put the book down: I had to see how things would turn out in the end.
I liked the gentle pace because although in some ways I felt the urge to rush on and see what would happen, I also enjoyed 'looking at the scenery as I passed'. It made the journey very vivid and beautiful.
It kept its sense of realism nicely though, too. And although it is set in post-war Ireland, it could just as easily describe the emotional experience of being a foster child today, or at any time.
Because of its subtlety, I would recommend it for children of any age: the story follows Erich from age 5 to 15 so most children will relate to something of Erich's feelings and adventures. But adults could enjoy it on a deeper level because there is a lot beneath its surface, too.
A good read!!
Erich experienced the pain of having to leave foster parents he loved, and the agony of having to live with parents who didn't treat him kindly. And on top of that, the constant insecurity of having pretty much no say in the matter. Sometimes he felt there was no one to turn to; and even when there was someone he trusted, he didn't know if he'd have to leave them suddenly, or if they'd leave him.
There was also the problem of being separated from his brother, then reunited (making him feel his position in his new foster family was threatened), and later they were separated again.
As Erich gets older, he loses more people and has less control over who he can hang on to, and I feel this comes across very well and compelled me to keep reading. The more I read, the more I felt unable to put the book down: I had to see how things would turn out in the end.
I liked the gentle pace because although in some ways I felt the urge to rush on and see what would happen, I also enjoyed 'looking at the scenery as I passed'. It made the journey very vivid and beautiful.
It kept its sense of realism nicely though, too. And although it is set in post-war Ireland, it could just as easily describe the emotional experience of being a foster child today, or at any time.
Because of its subtlety, I would recommend it for children of any age: the story follows Erich from age 5 to 15 so most children will relate to something of Erich's feelings and adventures. But adults could enjoy it on a deeper level because there is a lot beneath its surface, too.
A good read!!
Format:Paperback
A moving harsh fictional story that undoubtedly lies within the heart of any War-German child who has had to through such a bitter experience.
I found it a quite interesting story from a historical perspective as the face we receive from that terrible time is mainly based on war battles but not much is known about the little victims that were left parentless.
Ireland becomes the magical land that gives Enrich a second opporunity in life to become accepted and above everything loved. However, although I consider it quite good I found it sometimes exhausting because of the constant changes Erich undergoes and where he harly ever finds solidarity or love. Anyway I think it is a good reflection on how humans work and do not stop to think about the terrible condition that a war child experiences until he finally finds a place in society, a place which Erich finally seems to have achieved. The growth of the child, the path he takes is wonderfully described by the author and is a rich and necessary historical record, although it is a fictional one, of the magnifient humanitary action that some countries carried out to help those children to start a new life.
I found it a quite interesting story from a historical perspective as the face we receive from that terrible time is mainly based on war battles but not much is known about the little victims that were left parentless.
Ireland becomes the magical land that gives Enrich a second opporunity in life to become accepted and above everything loved. However, although I consider it quite good I found it sometimes exhausting because of the constant changes Erich undergoes and where he harly ever finds solidarity or love. Anyway I think it is a good reflection on how humans work and do not stop to think about the terrible condition that a war child experiences until he finally finds a place in society, a place which Erich finally seems to have achieved. The growth of the child, the path he takes is wonderfully described by the author and is a rich and necessary historical record, although it is a fictional one, of the magnifient humanitary action that some countries carried out to help those children to start a new life.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poignant story of how war can damage children forever
Many of the other reviewers have summarised the storyline, so I shall simply say that this is an entertaining, sad and sometimes poignant story of Erich, a German war orphan who... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2009 by Lesley West
Postwar Ireland through the eyes of a child
Based on the historic the historic event, Operation Shamrock, an Irish Red Cross project, many German children were helped and saved from malnutrition and starvation by the Red... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2009 by R. DelParto
A bygone age....
At the end of World War II the Red Cross under Operation Shamrock brought malnourished and orphaned children from Germany to Ireland to be fostered or adopted. Read more
Published on 10 May 2008 by TillsGeliebte
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