Monique Charlesworth

In 1939, a young girl sits alone in a station waiting room in Marseilles. Half-Jewish Ilse has been sent out of Nazi Germany to safety in Morocco by her mother. But her journey takes her back to France, where she cannot escape the Nazi occupation. Blown about by circumstances beyond her control, she must grow up alone in a demi-monde of refugees, whores and freedom fighters.

In Germany, Nicolai struggles against his destiny in the Hitler Youth. His only comfort is the friendship of Ilse’s mother, who works as a nanny in his affluent household.

The war eats up their youth. Though hope grows in France, a dark tableau is unfolding in Germany, and this reluctant soldier and brave young girl must fight for their survival.

 

Inge was German, half-Jewish, and a Holocaust survivor, all of which she chose to deny. Talented and able, charismatic and infuriating, she surged through life constantly reinventing herself. Sent out of Nazi Germany to the souks of Meknès, she fled a freezing attic in war-torn Brussels to land in a council estate in Birkenhead. London offered the escapee a new start... until her past caught up with her. Triumph finally came in France where nobody knew who she was - least of all the friends who adored her.

After her death, deep secrets emerged. Her daughters knew that she had always misled others - but not that they, too, might be collateral damage. Compelling, frank, and witty, this memoir is part detective story, part daughterly fury.