The Star and the Shamrock

I learned about this delightful book from Renee's Reading Club on Facebook. If you can say that a Holocaust novel is delightful. What was especially nice about The Star and the Shamrock by Jean Grainger was that the kindle version was free! How nice is that.

This is a historical fiction novel about the Kindertransport in the early days of World War II. Ariel Bannon, a Jewish woman married to a non-Jew who was arrested and taken away in Germany, feels that the salvation of her children rests on sending her children to Ireland, to her husband's Catholic cousin, Elizabeth... who just happened to have been married briefly to a Jew who was killed on the last day of World War I. Elizabeth was living in Liverpool, England, when Ariel's letter arrives via a circuitous route.

Liesel and Erich Bannon's arrival in Elizabeth's life causes major changes. A bombing in Liverpool forces Elizabeth back to her home in Northern Ireland where she and the children meet a large group of other Kindertransport children - and their protectors.

Back home, living in her mother's house, Elizabeth comes to terms with her relationship with her mother. And she is able to open her heart again, something she thought she would never be able to do after losing her husband and her baby many years before.

There is a sequel available on Amazon about Ariel's story. And then there's a third installment coming out later this summer.