The Children's War
by Monique Charlesworth
Ethics

Anchor Books, September 2005

About the Book

This is the story of two children caught in the midst of war. It is 1939 and thirteen-year-old Ilse, half-Jewish, has been sent out of Germany by her Aryan mother to a place of supposed safety. Her journey takes her from the labyrinthine bazaars of Morocco to Paris, a city made hectic at the threat of Nazi invasion.

At the same time in Germany, Nicolai, a boy miserably destined for the Nazi Youth movement, finds comfort in the friendship of Ilse’s mother, the nursemaid hired to take care of his young sister. Gripping and poignant, The Children's War is a stunning novel of wartime lives, of parents and children, of adventure and self-discovery.

About the Author

Monique Charlesworth was born in Birkenhead, England, and has lived in France and Germany. She began writing fiction while living in Hong Kong and is the author of three previous novels. She has worked as a journalist and as a screenwriter for both film and television. She lives with her husband and two children in London.

Review by BookBrowse.com

In controlled, gorgeously precise prose, The Children's War presents a refreshingly oblique angle on the horrors of Hitler's rise to power and the ensuing world conflict. Through two unforgettable, carefully crafted young protagonists, author Monique Charlesworth reveals a child's-eye view of the vertiginous loss of control inherent in war–and the hidden reserves of strength that mark survivors.

Praise

Robert MacNeil, The Washington Post Book World:
"Richly satisfying and utterly absorbing. . . . Fascinating and original. . . . Charlesworth tells the story so artfully that she brings an utterly fresh perspective to bear on familiar psychological territory."

The Boston Globe:
"Rich in local color and character detail. . . . Powerful and poignant. With her cinematic eye for description and her story's propulsive narrative rhythm, Charlesworth thrusts us into the very heart of chaos."

The New York Times Book Review:
"Breathlessly suspenseful. . . .[Charlesworth] moves her story through fast, terrifying intricacies of plot. . . . [Her] greatest success is to show how these children grow into morally mature adults, learning about treachery not just by seeing it around them, but by making difficult and sometimes terrible choices themselves. . . . Engrossing."

The Baltimore Sun:
"In her evocative story of adolescents groping, without guide or compass, through the labyrinth of war, Charlesworth tells us hauntingly what happened to these children and how they struggled to survive."