Spare, intimate, and deeply moving.
Set between Nazi-occupied Vienna and wartime rural England, Shapiro’s novel traces two sisters as they are pushed from sheltered family life into early, uncompromising independence. When Anni and Rosie leave Vienna, they carry more than suitcases—they carry fear, hope, and secrets. With borders closed to Jews, they travel under false names, pretending to be “Aryan” children on holiday. England is safer but not easy to live in. War is coming, blackouts fill the nights, and children whisper that the sisters are spies because they speak German. As danger grows, Anni and Rosie discover that their small talents—knitting, courage, and quick thinking—can change lives.
Shapiro tells the story in a restrained, steady voice, allowing fear, courage, and hope to rise naturally from daily routines rather than dramatic speeches. Minor actions—Anni counting their papers, Rosie holding tight to her doll, words in a new language learned through trial and error—carry much of the emotional force. The novel never hurries its scenes of danger or care. Instead, it shows how both live together, shaping the girls’ decisions and the way they come to understand their world.
Caterina Baldi’s artwork mirrors the novel’s quiet tone, helping readers pause and absorb what the girls are facing. What stays with the reader is not a dramatic peak, but the gradual gathering of change: language bending identity, work forming a sense of place, and sisterhood shifting into care. Anni and Rosie are not made into figures, but into girls learning to carry a weight forced on them.
A thoughtful historical novel about sisterhood, displacement, and finding purpose when childhood is cut short.
Visual Language Books
Pub Date September 4, 2025
Page 210
ISBN: 978-1891328367
Price: $10.95 trade paperback
Genre Middle Grade/ Young Adult Fiction
