A review by enw_reads
The Girl From the Train by Irma Joubert

5.0

World War II novels always pique my interest, so I couldn’t wait to start this book. And I definitely couldn’t put it down. Six year old Gretl Schmidt is on a train headed to Aushwitz. Meanwhile, Jakob Kowalski has plans to blow up a train as he’s fighting Polish resistance against Germany & Russia. Gretl’s train is unscheduled and gets to the tracks first, leaving everyone on the train dead except for Gretl. Jakob finds Gretl and his guilt takes over as he promises to care for her and hold her secrets. But nothing can last forever and Jakob has to send Gretl to South Africa where orphans are promised a fresh start & a bright future. As you journey through the fields of Poland in 1944 to the orphanage in Germany, then on to South Africa in 1956, you truly feel Gretl’s fears and ambitions as she’s sacrificing the life she knows and the ones she loves. This book gave me all the feels as her story continued to unfold.