The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.75 stars

The story is a different perspective on WWII. The girl is Gretel, age 6, and is only on the train for a small moment at the beginning of the book. Her grandmother pushes her out while en route. Gretel is a quarter Jewish but also German. She ends up in Poland and is taken in by a young man named Jacob. This is her story of being orphaned by the war and by her country. Is she Jewish, German, or Polish? Placed in an orphanage for her own safety, she becomes eligible for an adoption program where Aryan children are sent to South Africa and placed in homes within settlements. This is new information for me. Of course there would be oodles of German orphans after WWII. What happened to them? This is a story of one girl who went through many transformations and integrations. It was an interesting perspective and one I enjoyed.