I'm reviewing No Way Home ...

... by Elisabeth Dunleavy.  Read on ...

I was approached by the author of this book and asked for a review.  I am so glad that she plucked up the courage to do that.  It has been a privilege to read this memoir.

The story is one of family and war.  In some respects, it is very much a private and personal history of two lives.  In other respects, it is a direct historical record of events seen from an individual point of view.

The central characters are two sisters who are separated by the 1939/45 conflict in Europe.  They are sent to work camps, they suffer the privations of being made homeless, they witness the destruction of towns and cities by the Allies during the blanket bombing raids of 1944, and they eventually find each other – but neither of them is the person they were before hostilities started in 1939.

As the base documents for this book are diaries and letters, the style of writing is very much that of the owners of the words.  Any reader who picks up this book expecting a modern novel narrative will be disappointed.  What I found fascinating about the two voices in this memoir is that they are both distinct and very strong.  Following their individual lives through war, each taking their own route was as page-turning as an enthralling novel.

The sister's personalities are often put to the test as they recount their experiences, wishes, hopes and needs against the background of Nazism and the devastating upheaval of war.

Because of the subject matter, some passages are difficult to read – the direct eye-witness description of the level of destruction in Dresden is just one example.  It resonates particularly with events in Europe and the Middle East today.  But the most telling aspect of the whole of this book is that you know from the outset that what is recorded are individuals' actual thoughts, feelings, experiences, and encounters in their own real time.  As such, that makes this tome a significant piece of social history.  These are two stories that had to be told, and the telling has been exceptionally well done.

You can get the book on Amazon or from Elisabeth's Website where you will find lots more information.  You can take a peek inside Here

You may also be interested in my review of The Vanished Collection, Clouds over Paris, The Light of Days, The Betrayal of Anne Frank, or The French Baker's War