StoryGnat #10: Anna (or perhaps Judith)
Or probably both.
Hello again, StoryGnatter!
First up, how are we at the tenth edition of StoryGnat already? It feels brand new and like we’ve been doing this forever, at the same time.
Whether you’ve been here from the start or are just dropping by for the first time, I’m very grateful you’re here.
This week, I’d like to share one of my favourite books with you. Or my favourite trilogy of books, to be more accurate. And no, it’s not Twilight and it’s not The Hunger Games.
When Hitler Stole White Rabbit
This is a story that blends history and literature – two topics that love. It’s Judith Kerr’s semi-autobiographical trilogy, which starts with When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
Yes, the same Judith Kerr who wrote The Tiger Who Came to Tea and the Mog books (neither of which, weirdly, were childhood favourites of mine).
I first read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit when I was about 11. Kerr blends her own experience with a little fiction, changing names (she becomes Anna, her brother Michael becomes Max) and some of the finer details – presumably to dull the edges of what’s a very personal tale and allow her to tell her family’s story in a way that doesn’t invade their privacy too harshly.
The first book tells the story of Anna’s childhood from the time she left Germany in the 1930s, to her eventually heading to London.
What I love in particular about this, is how this is a novel that’s absolutely soaked in the history of World War Two, and yet there’s relatively little actual war in it. Instead, it follows young Anna, her brother and parents as they travel across Europe, meeting different cultures and trying to find their place in them. The war is ever present, but also peripheral to the really relatable struggles – and joys – of everyday life as a child, and as a family.
The second novel, The Other Way Round (later republished under the name Bombs on Aunt Dainty) follows Anna’s teenage years in London. The Blitz is a strong character in this one, but so are the insecurities and excitements of growing up and discovering who you really are. The book very much grows with the author, and reading these at the age I did, I was a little older than Anna in the first book and a little younger than her in the second. They were perfect, and fascinating.
The third book, A Small Person Far Away, is different again. Written from the perspective of an adult, married Anna, dealing with her ageing mother, I really struggled with this one as a child. I just didn’t ‘get’ it. The title made no sense to me and I just couldn’t relate to the book itself. I reread it as an adult, though, and it’s just as incredible as the first two. As with the first two, it grows with the reader.
In a wider context, the books give us a little insight into the perspective of people who are forced to flee their country because of war and persecution, and their struggles on their journey to safety, learning to settle in a new country, and as an immigrant who’s lived in a country for a long time. And in a world where people the world over are fleeing conflict and persecution, that is a useful perspective for us all to have a little understanding of.
Next week will be the last StoryGnat before I take a couple of weeks off for Christmas and New Year. But it’s a good one. Although I would say that, and I always do.
Megan