A Train in Winter

By: Caroline Moorehead

Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson

In Paris, January 1943, 230 French women resisters were rounded up and sent on a train to Auschwitz - the only train, in the four years of the German occupation, to take women of the resistance to a death camp. The youngest was a schoolgirl of 15, the eldest a farmer’s wife of 68; there were among them teachers, biochemists, sales girls, secretaries, housewives and university lecturers. The women turned to one another, finding solace and strength in friendship and shared experience. Forty-nine of them came home.

Drawing on interviews with survivors and their families, on archival research and original sources, A Train in Winter covers a harrowing part of our history but is, ultimately, a portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and endurance.

©2011 Caroline Moore (P)2012 Isis Publishing Ltd

interesting story

What did you like best about A Train in Winter? What did you like least?

reality of deeds during war

did not like lack of ending detail

Would you be willing to try another book from Caroline Moorehead? Why or why not?

yes: good story teller

What does Patience Tomlinson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

do not know

Do you think A Train in Winter needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

yes: characters not completed or closed

Any additional comments?

none

Too many names and dates and facts

What disappointed you about A Train in Winter?

There were too many names and dates distracting from the story line.

What was most disappointing about Caroline Moorehead’s story?

There were too many names and dates distracting from the story line.

How could the performance have been better?

Performance was ok....

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

frustration

Nothing like the blurb . . .

This book was supposed to be about a group of women who survived under the horrible French occupation in WWII - and how it impacted their lives. It would better be described as a detailed history of the gruesome lives that men and women lived during this time in French history. On top of this is the falsetto voice of the narrator. She may be good at elocution - but she is miserable to listen to! (sorry about the dangling participle!)

documentary

What disappointed you about A Train in Winter?

It sounded like a documentary not a story.

What could Caroline Moorehead have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

the voice and accent is boring like listening to a history lesson