The Train That Took You Away by Catherine Hokin [Audiobook]

🎙🎙🎙 Narrated by Sarah Durham 🎙🎙🎙

Description from Goodreads:

"Berlin, 1938. I wipe the tears streaming down my darling son’s face, my heart shattering into a million pieces. “I promise I will find you, my love. No matter what…”

Ever since the Nazis came to power, violence has spread through the city Esther Spielmann once called home. Each night she prays her family will be spared. But when her husband and father are murdered alongside fellow Jews during Kristallnacht, she has no choice but to send her beloved son, Sascha, to safety.

Esther’s heart breaks as she watches his thin legs trembling in the cold as he is ushered with the other crying children towards the Kindertransport. As the train leaves in a cloud of smoke, she thinks of the painting of the two of them hanging in their house. In it, they are tightly embracing and laughing, everything just as it should be. She vows that she will hold him like this once again. But has Esther made a promise she can’t possibly keep?"

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This is a heartbreaking but powerful story of the intertwined stories of Esther, a Jewish mother, and Amalie, an art conservator.  

Esther Spielman, loses her family and sends her son away during Nazi occupation; she has to fight for survival in the hope that she will be reunited with her son.   Amalie, driven to protect art from Nazi looters, remains in Berlin, going against her family's pleading to return home to England; her experiences there fuel her continued fight for justice when she is forced back home.

I'm not going to go any further into the story but will say that it had me riveted from the very beginning with the narration of Sarah Durham being second to none and really bringing each of the various characters to life.

Highly recommended for people who enjoy reading books from this time period and many thanks to the author, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this excellent audiobook.

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