Clayton, Meg Waite,

The last train to London : a novel / Meg Waite Clayton. - First edition. - 451 pages ; 23 cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

In 1936, the Nazis 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 Zhofie-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 Zhofie-Helene on a perilous journey to an uncertain future abroad.

ISBN: 9780062966285 (tr. pbk.)

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Kindertransports (Rescue operations)--Fiction.
Jews--Austria--Vienna--Fiction.
Jewish children--Fiction.
Jewish refugees--Fiction.

Subjects--Geographic Terms:
Vienna (Austria)--History--20th century--Fiction.

Index Terms--Genre/Form:
Historical fiction--2019.

Dewey Class. No.: 813/.6