Pearls of Childhood

The author was one of the Kindertransport children, who left her native Czechoslovakia for Britain in 1939, along with her sister. There she was raised by caring foster parents and eventually went to stay in a special boarding school for Czech exiles. Most of Vera Gissing's family, including her parents, perished in the war. She returned to Czechoslovakia, but in the end decided to settle in England.

Gissing kept detailed diaries during the war and relies heavily on them for this memoir, copying many entries verbatim. She also includes photographs and letters her parents sent her. She does a very good job striking the right balance between details of her daily life in England and the constant worry and tension from back home. This is a show more better-than-average Holocaust memoir and a good example from the Kindertransport. show less

Forget The Diary of Anne Frank or The Book Thief, this is my favourite beyond-a-doubt book on the subject of Jews and Nazi Germany.

It is the true story of a Czech Jewish girl who is sent to England by her parents to escape the Nazis, written by the girl herself.

It deals with the difficulties she had to overcome, such as being shipped to a country whose language she couldn't speak, sending letters to home, being split from her sister.

Needless to say I cried buckets, and books very rarely make me cry.

It may not be written particularly eloquently, but it is a book from the heart.