I wanted to write a story that would engage readers and also help them to think about the experiences of children who have to leave their homes because of war or persecution. I am very aware that Anna’s experience is worlds away from my own, but her story was one that interested me deeply and that I felt had something to say, not only about the frightening power of prejudice and hatred, but also the transformative power of courage and kindness. I hope I have done it justice.
Bibliography
I could not have written Anna at War without the following books and sources:
Kindertransport by Olga Levy Drucker (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1992)
Pearls of Childhood by Vera Gissing (London: Robson Books Ltd, 1988)
Other People’s Houses by Lore Segal (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1963)
The Ninth of November by Hannele Zurndorfer (London: Quartet Books Ltd, 1983)
The Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen (London: Franklin Watts, 2017)
We Came as Children: A Collective Autobiography, edited by Karen Gershon (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1966)
I Came Alone: The Stories of the Kindertransports, edited by Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowensohn (Lewes: The Book Guild Ltd, 1990)
…And the Policeman Smiled: 10,000 Children Escape from Nazi Europe, by Barry Turner (London: Bloomsbury, 1991)
Marks of Distinction: The Memoirs of Elaine Blond, with Barry Turner (London: Valentine, Mitchell & Co. Ltd, 1988)
On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood, by Irmgard A. Hunt (New York: HarperCollins, 2005)
The Children Who Cheated the Nazis: The Complete Transcript of the TV Documentary (The Kinder Archive Project Ltd, 2012. TV documentary produced for Channel 4 by Golden Reed Productions Ltd)
Nicky’s Family: The true story of the ‘British Schindler’, Sir Nicholas Winton, film directed by Matej Mináč, 2011
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, film directed by Mark Jonathon Harris (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2000)
The Nazis – A Warning from History, BBC documentary, 1997
How We Lived Then: A History of Everyday Life during the Second World War, by Norman Longmate (London: Hutchinson and Co. Ltd, 1971)
Mrs Miles’s Diary: The Wartime Journal of a Housewife on the Home Front, by Constance Miles, edited by S.V. Partington (London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2013)
Jambusters: The Story of the Women’s Institute in the Second World War, by Julie Summers (London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2013)
Agent Zigzag, by Ben MacIntyre (London: Bloomsbury, 2007)
Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People, by Julia Boyd (London: Elliott & Thompson Ltd, 2017)
I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the websites and virtual archives of the National Archive, BBC WW2 People’s War, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the British Library.
Also by
FOR YOUNGER READERS
A Piglet Called Truffle
A Duckling Called Button
A Sheepdog Called Sky
A Kitten Called Holly
A Lamb Called Lucky
A Goat Called Willow
FOR OLDER READERS
The Secret Hen House Theatre
The Farm Beneath the Water
Evie’s Ghost
Copyright
First published in the UK in 2019 by Nosy Crow Ltd
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ISBN: 978 1 78800 471 8
eISBN: 978 1 78800 589 0
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text copyright © Helen Peters, 2019
Cover copyright © Daniela Terrazzini, 2019
Chapter titles from Chapters 27–45 are taken from
If the Invader Comes, a Ministry of Information pamphlet published in 1940.
The right of Helen Peters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of Nosy Crow Ltd.
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All of the characters and events appearing in this work are fictitious.
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