The Girl From the Train

By: Irma Joubert

Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman

Six-year-old Gretl Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jakób Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks.

As World War II draws to a close, Jakób fights with the Polish resistance against the crushing forces of Germany and Russia. They intend to destroy a German troop transport, but Gretl’s unscheduled train reaches the bomb first.

Gretl is the only survivor. Though spared from the concentration camp, the orphaned German Jew finds herself lost in a country hostile to her people. When Jakób discovers her, guilt and fatherly compassion prompt him to take her in. For three years, the young man and little girl form a bond over the secrets they must hide from his Catholic family.

But she can’t stay with him forever. Jakób sends Gretl to South Africa, where German war orphans are promised bright futures with adoptive Protestant families—so long as Gretl’s Jewish roots, Catholic education, and connections to communist Poland are never discovered.

Separated by continents, politics, religion, language, and years, Jakób and Gretl will likely never see each other again. But the events they have both survived and their belief that the human spirit can triumph over the ravages of war have formed a bond of love that no circumstances can overcome.

Praise for The Girl from the Train:

“A riveting read with an endearing, courageous protagonist . . . takes us from war-torn Poland to the veldt of South Africa in a story rich in love, loss, and the survival of the human spirit.” —Anne Easter Smith, author of A Rose for the Crown

• Full-length World War II historical novel
• International bestseller
• Includes a glossary

Stunning

Very interesting and entertaining story. I highly recommend it. Very good voice as well who did the reading.

Highly recommend this book

An exceptional turn page story and excellent narration. A realistic account of the disruption of families and of solidarity during WWII.

Provocative - good people blinded by prejudice

This is basically a love story or even might be considered a romance novel. But the real power of the story, to me, was how effectively it showed the negative effects of cultural and religious bias on good, well-meaning people. A young girl of German, Jewish heritage escapes Auschwitz by a twist of fate. She then spends parts of her life in a Catholic, Polish family and, later, in a Protestant, South African family. Throughout the story, cultural and religious biases for and against <take your pick: Jews, Germans, Polish, Catholics, Protestants, South Africans, and a few others> force the girl to hide part of her background and heritage to protect herself. She must pretend to be German, Polish, or South African at different times, always hiding her Jewish roots. The biases of her various adoptive families are sometimes overly positive ("Germans are too civilized to have participated in the holocaust") but are more often overly negative. The girl herself turns out to be highly resourceful, and the families she lives with are all quite benevolent. But she can never be totally honest and forthright, and at times this proves to be very difficult for her. For example, in one scene a holocaust denier brings back memories of her relatives who were, in fact, victims of the holocaust, but she doesn't dare bring up this fact.
The girl herself and the boy she befriends are a little too perfect to be real, but looking at the world from the girl's perspective is a most interesting way to see the effects of our human tendency to buy in to cultural and religious biases.

Interesting and beautiful story except the ending

It is a beautiful story and has me wanting to share it with my friends who live in Poland, but I don’t like the author’s choice on character development within the end of the story. Without giving anything away, it’s the best I can say.

the background of the story

i liked the historical reference the character and love of the people even with there difference

Loved the story

It would be better if the narrarator was multilingual. The German and Afrikaans pronunciation was not great.

Loved the setting across different countries & cultures

I absolutely loved the story. So raw and relatable. So many gripping moments. I was however struck by how the story expresses the horrors faced by Jews in Germany, but says nothing about the almost identical struggles of Black people in apartheid South Africa. Made me wonder if the author was blind to that due to race privilege or chose not to mention that for some other reason.

Excellent story covering the middle of the 20th C.

OK, granted it's a "chick book," but an engaging one. As usual, the women can look deep into the eyes (which are discussed at length, as well as other parts of the facade) and tell everything they would wish to know about men. That said, it's an intriguing story and well worth the read. It gives much info about wartime Poland & South Africa of the post-war & cold war period.

WW II Historical Fiction

I’m a sucker for historical fiction, especially this era. The story flowed well and kept me listening into the night.

A story worth reading!

A very touching and well thought out story. A pleasure to listen too!
The author does a wonderful job bringing this to life, as does the narrator.