'In 1946 two young Hungarian refugees arrive in Naples determined to start a new life after losing everyone they loved before the war. Vera Frankel and her best friend, Edith Ban, are haunted by their terrifying escape from a train headed for Auschwitz after their mothers threw them from the carriage, promising they would follow. But instead the girls found themselves alone in a frozen, alien land. They managed to find refuge and barter for their lives by working on an isolated farm in Austria until the end of the war.
'Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American general, Vera finds work and new hope at the United States Embassy and, despite her best intentions, falls in love the handsome and enigmatic Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to drastically change course. Their quest to overcome their terrible losses and rebuild their lives takes Vera and Edith from Naples to Ellis Island to Venezuela and finally Sydney as they begin to build careers, reunite with old friends – and find love.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'Three recent début novels employ the genre of the Bildungsroman to explore the complexities of female experience in the recent historical past.'
'Three recent début novels employ the genre of the Bildungsroman to explore the complexities of female experience in the recent historical past.'
