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1930s 1940s: The forces of history sweep across continents…
1930s 1940s: The forces of history sweep across continents…
Sixteen-year-old Marta has always longed to follow her father and lead armies into battle. Instead she finds herself leading her fellow girl-guides on a camping trip on the border between Poland and Germany on the very day in September 1939 that the Nazis invade. Immediately the girls are spirited across their Polish motherland to take refuge in a remote nunnery, but their safety is soon under threat…
So begins a perilous adventure across thousands of miles – from the logging camps of frozen Siberia to the British field hospitals of Persia – during which Marta is forced to draw on reserves of courage she didn’t think she had and make choices she never imagined she’d face, as her heart is torn between a fiery young Polish patriot and a charismatic Iranian doctor.
A war across Europe, a war which would destroy many countries
There is a map at the start of the book which contains the borders of the Nazi Soviet pact of 1939, the Polish-German border of 1939 and the Soviet Union and German border.
This novel depicts parts of the war that aren’t usually shown: the plight of Poles caught up as prisoners, taken in by the USSR . The confusion and anger of Russia changing its alliance, how people are afraid of what will happen to Eastern countries such as the unstable borders between East and West. The invaders – Germany and Russia – are out for anything and everything they can get. Loyalties are divided.
The cities of Katowice, Krakow, Tczew and Tunel were attacked with incendiary bombs.
Destination: Germany, Poland, Siberia Author/Guide: Zina Rohan Departure Time: 1930s 1940s
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