Heartbreaking and yet hopeful, I think I’d say this book was ultimately about belonging.

It’s tragic how many children, Jewish especially, were lost during WW2, never returned to their families and even hidden away when they were found. And yet the book showed some of the grey areas too - children who didn’t have family left but loving foster families who wanted them, but were taken as a matter of principle. I get it, without teaching them their history and the importance of it, so much would be lost, but at what cost to the children themselves? I’m not sure what the right answer is. But the insurmountable work done in identifying all the lost children, and reconnecting them somehow was so inspiring, and something I wasn’t really aware of.

I thought the book did an excellent job at showing the very real struggles kids in any circumstances of displacement would be faced with, not knowing where they belonged or how, or to whom. And not often having anyone to fill in the blanks for them. Often philosophical, I thought it was very moving.