Book Review

I'm writing this here because I didn't bring my book journal with me, & I don't want to forget about this book. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel; a novel of war and survival by Louise Murphy was a harrowing read about a pair of young siblings dropped from their father's & stepmother's motorcycle while being pursued by Nazis in WWII Poland. Using the fairy tale's structure, the author describes the horror of these children forcing themselves to forget their past to keep them from exposing the fact that they're Jews. They wander through ancient forest until they spy the hut of an old lady believed by the villagers to be a witch. She hangs bread on spikes on the outside walls of her house for the birds, & the starving children take advantage of her largess.
I read a great review of this book & bought it based on that, but nearly didn't finish it because it was so hard to read knowing it to be largely true. Still, I did persevere & I'm glad I did.