The Girl From the Train

Irma Joubert’s upcoming The Girl from the Train was actually published nearly a decade ago but this November will be the first time an English translation of the novel has been published. I’m not sure why it took so long for and English edition to make it to bookstores but Elsa Silke’s translation is superb and well worth the wait. I hope it will be talked about as much as The Girl on the Train and not simply in the context of their both having similar names (though if people read The Girl from the Train in the confusion, I don’t think it would be a bad thing).

Gretl Schmidt has her doubts about her mother and grandmother’s insistence that she jump from the train when it nears the hill but Gretl does as she’s told. Jacób Kowalski acts on the intelligence Poland’s Home Army receives and sets charges that will destroy a bridge when a train carrying German soldiers goes to cross it. But there’s an unexpected train coming from the other direction – a train carrying thousands of Jews headed toward Auschwitz. Gretl hears the explosion and believes it’s from planes dropping bombs. A few days later, Jacób is called to a house in the woods where a woman gives him custody of foundling Gretl. Jacób and Gretl’s lives are intertwined from then on; through the war and their later separation, while Jacób watches his beloved country fall under the growing influence of Soviet Russia and while Gretl crosses continents to find a new family in South Africa, their thoughts frequently turn to one another.

One of my favorite aspects of this novel is the way it addresses trauma, coping to survive, and eventually confronting that trauma. Gretl is not quite seven when she jumps from the train and loses her family. She has spent her whole life living in Nazi Germany and more than half of that time the world was also at war. Yet she has an incredible capacity and thirst for knowledge, absorbing languages and mathematics like a sponge. Her adaptability helps her to survive in Poland as the Nazis and Soviets battle for control of a nation struggling to maintain its individuality and culture, always while suppressing truths about herself and her own heritage in the name of survival. After the war is over and Jacób’s family can no longer afford to care for her, Gretl follows instructions and becomes the model German orphan, finding herself in South Africa in an Afrikaan family. Only as a young adult is she forced to confront the fact that she hasn’t yet come to terms with the tragedies of her childhood.

At the heart of the novel is a love story but to reduce the novel to simple romance is to do a disservice to the multitude of other forms love takes throughout the book – including the evolution of love between the central couple. Familial love and affection are perhaps the most prevalent where everyone wants the best for Gretl, whether they are her family through blood or circumstance. The many forms of sacrifice go hand in hand with that desire and because of the novel’s setting there are plenty of opportunities for demonstration.

The final chapters of the novel drag a bit as it plods along towards the story’s inevitable conclusion. But the story’s optimism and spirit in the face of undeniably harsh realities and the prejudices that arise in the wake of the war’s resolution are a nice break from so many novels that would indulge in bleakness. The level of detail regarding the various languages and cultures and how they’re presented is also wonderfully comprehensive, forcing the reader to work and acknowledge just how difficult the relocations are on Gretl and Jacób.

The Girl from the Train will be available (in English) on November 3, 2015.*

*(The original release date for this edition was September 8; I’m not sure when or why it was changed to November 3)

When a Polish man saves a young German girl from a train explosion that he caused, neither could ever anticipate the life experiences that await them. But, Jakób brings Gretl home and offers her protection and safety for as long as he can. When the day comes where he realizes he can no longer safely look after her, Jakób sends Gretl to South Africa and a family anxious to adopt a little girl.

Historically, World War 2 is one of my favorite literary subjects. The experiences both in Europe and the Pacific during that time fascinate me. The perspective here was different and amazing. I had never heard of German war orphans being sent to South Africa for adoption. So Gretl's perspective as a Jewish girl in a Protestant country offered a contrast. Jakób's view from the Polish aspect offered a new perspective as well.

While I didn't completely love the writing style, I did love the story. It was at once compelling and heartbreaking and yet touched me in a way that stayed with me for days afterwards.

The main characters are Gretl, a German girl with Jewish roots, and Jacob, a Polish, Catholic young man. Gretl is the sole survivor in her family of a WWII train loaded with passengers, headed to a prison camp. Her grandmother and mother make she and her sister jump from the train before it reaches it destination. She’s about 10 years old when this happens. The story follows her through the next 12 or so years as she grows up and bounces around from place to place and country to country. It is certainly a survival story. It shows the fortitude and courage of some of the youngest WWII, displaced persons. The places Gretl goes are amazing to me. The story revealed yet another side of WWII and its prejudices across the world.

Fairly good book – some nice moments, but the language is a little stilted at points and it feels repetitive on occasion. The beginning is better than the end in my opinion if I am honest – it feels like it kind of settles at the end, rather than daring to do what it really could. There is a real sense of danger and sadness at the start, but it all feels too perfect in the way it ends and it seems a little surreal and improbable in the way events pan out, which feels like it robs the reader a little. The opening part of the book presents distinct possibilities of promise and definitely shows us a world that contains endless danger and stark reality, but it doesn't hold true to this throughout, especially when it presents a happy ending that is unlikely given the circumstances - that said, it is nice to believe that this sad little girl could have her dreams come true and it presents us with a sense of hope in this respect.
The characters are mostly okay, particularly Jakob Kowalski, who maintains a true sense of self and Gretl/Gretz/Grietke is presented honestly and sensitively as a vulnerable child who has undergone terrible ordeals and untold pain and sadness; however, they do lose some of their dimensions a little at times and the dialogue becomes a tad stilted and almost childish in parts. For me, there is too much obvious dialogue that could be left out and at times we are told too much information, rather than finding it out for ourselves.
With all that in mind, it is still worth a read overall: readers will enjoy trying to piece some elements of the story together and they should give it a chance, but it probably won’t set your world alight by the end.

5 stars!

I absolutely loved this book! One of the best books I've read this year. Will definitely be on my top 12 for 2015! It was about the Jews and WW2 and it mentions Auschwitz, but it wasn't about that at all. It was about a little girl who was on her way to Auschwitz but fled from the train at six years old and was found by a Polish boy/man of 19 years old. He takes her to his family farm where she lives for three years, but they can't keep her for any longer. His real family is growing and his mother tells him he must find a new home for her. Plus the mother is worried, the little girl is after all, a Jew. He finds an article in the paper where they are looking for Aryans to be adopted by South Africans. He takes her to several orphanages until he finally ends up at a Red Cross one that is aware of the project and says they will take her. He has no idea what happens to her nor she him for ten years.

Of course, the book lets the reader know and it's a mesmerizing tale that kept me totally engaged throughout the whole book. Then they find each other. Find out more, buy, borrow, rent the book!

Thanks Thomas Nelson and Net Galley for the free e-galley in exchange for a free review.

An incredible read filled with characters not easily forgotten! Although the last pages of the book may have been read it is definitely a title that will linger with you. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this beautiful story.

Oh how I loved this book! If you’re reading my reviews, you probably think, “she always says that”. But I’m so fortunate to read really awesome books and my motto is, “life is too short to read bad books”.

This book was wonderful. A truly wonderful, heartwrenching story of a little girl, Gretl, who is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Her mother and grandmother encourage Gretly and her sister to jump off the train, telling them they would so jump and they’d all be safe. Before her mother and grandmother could jump, the train is blown up. The accidental explosion, mean to blow up a German troop train, was set by Jakob Kowalski.

Jacob finds Gretl and her sister Elza and takes them to a family. Elza dies and the family can’t continue watching Gretl when they have four children of their own. Jakob takes Gretl to live with his family. He never really gets to know her until he is injured in the war and comes home to recover. This is where he learns what a smart, special little girl Gretl.

Eventually, Jakob’s family can look after her no longer and he takes her to an orphanage with the home that she will be one of 50 children selected to go to South Africa and be adopted into new families.

As one of the older children, Gretl relizes she’s not going to be chosen so she uses her smarts to get selected and sent to South Africa where she is adopted by a wonderful family. She’s never known a life like this, one of privilege, and she grows up to be a successful college student when she runs into Jakob again.

Jakob had to leave Poland or be arrested and ended up in South Africa because they were looking for engineers and he knew the country was against communism. He also knew that Gretl was there.

They come back together, eventually falling in love. But his Catholic faith and her Protestant faith don’t make the arrangement look possible in the eyes of her father.

This is a wonderful story. It’s sad and happy and I wish it wasn’t over. Two thumbs up! :-)

This is a highly unusual book and story. Our heroine is very young when the story begins and while this book is fiction, a tale is told that rivals non-fiction stories of survivors that I have read from this time period. It is not graphic, but detailed without as much of the horror. You see the story though the eyes of a child in the beginning. In the middle, a young woman and in the end, a woman. While there is a romantic story line that completes this book, that is not the focus of the story. This is a wonderful book, about the means of survival that many refugees, Holocaust survivors, orphans and others experienced during WW2 and even today.

I enjoyed the unique voice the author gave to Gretl as well as to Jakob. It was highly unusual and deep writing. If you enjoy a book that will make you think and dig into history, pick this one up!

I loved, loved, loved this book. Gretz is only 5 when she escapes from a train headed for Auschwitz. A short time later, the train is destroyed when bombs explode under the trestle. The Polish resistance set the bombs to explode when a Nazi troop train was supposed to pass. The train carrying the captives was unexpected. Jacob who was with the resistance finds the girl a few days later and takes her to his family's home. She stays with them for 4 years and the two become close. When Jacob's family decides that tyey can no longer offer her shelter, Jacob finds her a place with a group of German children being sent to South Africa for adoption. This is the story of Gretz's life in hiding. She continues to hide the secret of her Jewish heritage even after she is adopted by a loving family in South Africa. Jacob continues to resist the Communist government in Poland and is forced to flee. He travels to South Africa and traces Gretz because he has always worried about his decision to send her away. Jacob finds Gretz who is now attending university. Despite their age difference of 13 years, the two fall in love.

Six-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Aushwitz. Jakób Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks.

The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert was written in Afrikaans in 2013 and is now available in English. It has been very well translated and keeps the flavour of the Afrikaans language through the English words on the page. This is a story about Gretl Schmidt, a young girl who escapes from a train bound for Auschwitz and Jakob who is responsible for planting a bomb under the bridge that this train is destined to travel over. Jakob is part of the Polish resistance, called the “Home Army” and his journey becomes intertwined with Gretl’s as their actions on that fateful night change everything and set a course for their futures.

Within these pages you’ll find a story about courage and fear and how the terrors of war tear at the soul and how, through it all, love and hope endure. This is a touching and sometimes heart wrenching story, seasoned with a bit of humour and romance.

I particularly enjoyed this book because of the rich history and because once Gretl lands in South Africa, she ends up in Pretoria. (A place where I spent my junior years! – and not only that in the same suburb!)As a South African born, living abroad, the terms and words are as comfortable as your favourtie pair of warm slippers. As hard as it is to believe the prejudices of those days were very real and Irma Joubert gives readers a peek into what it was like to live through WWII and in Africa in the late 1940’s, through to the late 50’s. Gretl will crawl right into your heart from the first chapter, I loved her forthrightness.

This book is a history lesson and fiction novel all rolled into one and I thoroughly enjoyed it and can see why it has been a best seller in Afrikaans, Dutch and promises to be so in English too.

I wish I could get my hands on the original Afrikaans book though! (Yes, I can read Afrikaans!) Oh wait, I can, it is on Amazon!

In case you are interested, the original version, Tussen stasies (Afrikaans Edition) is available on Amazon.ca . Tussen stasies means, “between train stations”.

All in all this book gets 5 stars from me for an all round unforgettable book. I would love to see it become a movie.

Just finished a great book. Loved the story and descriptions of the places, happenings and hurt. Easy to picture all that was happening with Gretz and feel like a part of the story.

Wow! What a story! It felt like I was sitting next to someone who knew Gretl and Jakób, listening to them tell me their story, more than it felt like reading a work of fiction. The Girl From the Train (not to be confused with The Girl ON The Train lol) took me through an entire gamut of emotions - from poignant sadness to "the world is right again" joy to everything in between.

Both Gretl and Jakób quite honestly stole my heart - and the two together? I was done in. Bookworm/story-loving Gretl who has stoically endured more than her share of heartache for one so young. Serious, kindhearted, heroic Jakób who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. Both have secrets that could damage their friendship... a friendship that really shouldn't exist because of who she is and who watches him. But a friendship they do have. A deep, lasting, rare friendship that transcends political and religious prejudices, eventually distance and years, and even powerful secrets. Oh, my dear readers - there is so much I could say about them but it's not my story to tell. You must read it for yourself.

The Girl From The Train was originally written in Afrikaans and published in South Africa, where it became a bestseller in 2013. Then it journeyed to the Netherlands where it again became a bestseller. Now, Thomas Nelson Publishers have brought this beautiful story of love and loss and heroism and sacrifice to English audiences. As such, the writing style loses a little to translation and takes a bit of adjustment at first. It just doesn't flow like the fiction I'm used to reading; it has more of a nonfiction feel to it. But oh please don't let that discourage you from picking up your own copy. Once I was a couple of chapters in, I was captivated and could not have turned away to save my life.

Bottom Line: Rich with history and humanity, The Girl From The Train will replace dates and facts with faces and heartbeats to make the events come alive in your spirit. I learned much I did not know about Poland in the years during and after WW2, as well as about South Africa and the German orphan initiative there. But woven vividly through all the information were the people - the reason I could not put down the book, the reason my heart became so involved in the reading and in the outcome. If you were captivated by The Book Thief, you don't want to miss The Girl From the Train! If The Book Thief wasn't really your thing, you are not alone - it wasn't my favorite either. The Girl From The Train is everything I wanted The Book Thief to be, and I think you'll enjoy it too.

I really enjoy books that fill in parts of historical events that aren't usually told. This is a story about WWII and how one girl and a young man from very different backgrounds make it through the war in Poland and then continue to deal with what comes after. I thought it was very well written and I really grew attached to Gretl, as a young girl and then again as a young woman in her new life in South Africa. I thought Jakob was a dashing, strong, steady, anchor for her.

Lovely story!

This book introduced me to a part of the world that I knew very little about—South Africa. I would not have been disappointed if it had included even more about the country. But I learned things from this book while enjoying the story. It is hard for me to imagine that someone could have the difficult life that Gretz had and she was still quite young at the end of the book. This was a well written book that I thought was about the aftermath of the second war but it was so much more. It was a history lesson as well as a love story. And there were some very hard questions that were handled very well. Sometimes a Christian fiction book fails to tackle the tough subjects but this one. And surprisingly, some of the questions I had were answered. The book demonstrated how failure to communicate can lead to other problems, also.
It is a book that I am likely to purchase for my library and recommend to my Christian reader friends.

“The Girl from the Train” by Irma Joubert is one of those books that stay with you long after you’ve finished reading the last page. The story begins in April, 1944 in Poland. The Resistance had planned to blow up a troop train. But it was an unscheduled train bound for Auschwitz, taking Jewish Poles to the concentration camp that triggered the bomb first. Gretl is the only survivor of that train. Jacob Kowalski, a member of the resistance, finds Gretl, a six-year-old little girl, hiding along the roadside and feels compelled to take care of her. She just wants to go to an uncle in Switzerland. That, of course, is not possible since the Germans occupy most of Europe and travelling is exceedingly dangerous. For four years, Jacob tried to take care of Gretl. He found a group in Germany that was helping orphaned German children immigrate to South Africa to be adopted by Afrikaner families. Because rules were so strict, Gretl had to keep secret that she was Polish and Jewish. What follows is a wonderful story about love and redemption. This is the first book of Irma Joubert’s that has been translated from Afrikaans to English. I hope it won’t be the last. I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it highly.

I received a Kindle copy of this book from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. It is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming and written in wonderful prose. The history of orphaned German children immigrating to South Africa is probably not well known in this country. I didn't want this wonderful lovely story about war, love and forgiveness to end.

Amazing book set towards the end of WW2. Describes two central characters love for each other which transverses pain, hurt and separation. This book also illustrates kindness, love and hope across culture and class.

Thomas Nelson - Fiction and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Girl from the Train, in exchange for an honest review.

Much has been written about the countries involved in World War II, but there are very few books in the historical fiction realm that cover the impact the war had on the citizens of those affected areas. The Girl from the Train follows Gretl, who escaped from a train just moments before it was mistakenly blown up by Jakób. By some twist of fate, the two cross paths when the family that took Gretl in could not keep her. Jakób and Gretl form a bond which, due to circumstances such as food shortages and lack of space, lead her down a different path and away from her protector.

The Girl from the Train spans several years and many locations, yet it is a cohesive story with a well paced plot. This wonderfully imagined story is rich in history, while the realistic characters and setting are so steeped in realism that one forgets this is a work of fiction. My level of anxiety was heightened throughout my reading of this book, as I kept expecting the worst to happen. The Girl from a Train is a wonderful story and one that I will not quickly forget.

This novel takes the reader on an amazing journey of human growth, survival, and love as our main characters survive World War II and the aftermath in drastically different ways. The primary main character is six-year-old Gretl Schmidt who begins the story by leaping from a train heading for Auschwitz. Gretl's story is a coming of age tale of a young girl who has to hide who she is and struggles to cope with all of her secrets as she grows. Her story begins in Poland, as an orphan German Jew hiding with a Catholic Polish family, and ends in South Africa where she is adopted by a Protestant family, but still hiding her roots. The second main character is Jakób Kowalski, a young Polish resistance fighter, who's family temporarily takes Gretl in after the train. His story seems to revolve around surviving in Communist Poland after WWII but takes a drastic turn when he becomes involved in a protest and the subsequent trials. Ten years after Gretl moves to South Africa she is reunited with Jakób.

The beginning of the novel is fairly fast paced, reflecting the drama of WWII, while the second half is much more subdued, as the characters lives have settled post-war. However, the second half of the story kept me engaged and brought me to tears on more than one occasion. As an avid reader of WWII novels, fiction, and non-fiction, this story was unique and enthralling.

This is a very interesting book because the setting was not one I was used to while reading WWII novels. The book focuses more in the after war period, with a Communism threat hanging over the world.
The author tackled very well different the controversial ideas inside religion and politics presented though the book. I was really curious to see what was going to happen in the end.
I enjoyed all the characters, specially grandpa John.
Gretl (who is given many names throughout the novel) at times was a little annoying and childish, but I commend her honestly many times. How she was brave enough to express her feelings even though the coinsequences might have been dire.
Over all this was a satisfying read and I'll keep an eye on other books from this author with a South African setting.