(2) YA Translated by Linda Schenck. Stephie (A Faraway Island; The Lily Pond), now sixteen, has a host of worries: her parents are prisoners in Theresienstadt; she and sister Nellie are estranged; and her education is in jeopardy. Several life-changing events push Stephie toward adulthood (and make this series entry a book for older readers). Present tense and a limited third-person narration give the story unusual immediacy and impact.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2015

(2) YA Translated by Linda Schenck. It’s been a year since Stephie and her little sister left their home in Nazi-occupied Vienna for the safety of a remote Swedish island. As this sequel to A Faraway Island opens, Stephie, now thirteen, is moving to the mainland to continue her education. Her story of adjustment to a new school and of a first crush is both specific and universal.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012

(1) 4-6 Translated by Linda Schenck. Stephanie, twelve, and Nellie, eight, Jewish sisters from cosmopolitan Vienna, are evacuated to a fishing village on a small, stark Swedish island. The girls are separated: Nellie is placed with kind, warm Aunt Alma and Stephie with stern, brusque Aunt Marta. Through straightforward, unsentimental prose, an unusually fine balance is achieved between small, child-centered humiliations and joys and larger adult issues.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010