The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival [Paperback]

Mona Golabek (Author), Lee Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

Based on the true story of her mother, Mona Golabek describes the inspirational story of Lisa Jura Golabek's escape from Nazi-controlled Austria to England on the famed Kindertransport. Jewish musical prodigy Lisa Jura has a wonderful life in Vienna. But when the Nazis start closing in on the city, life changes irreversibly. Although he has three daughters, Lisa's father is only able to secure one berth on the Kindertransport. The family decides to send Lisa to London so that she may pursue her dreams of a career as a concert pianist. Separated from her beloved family, Lisa bravely endures the trip and a disastrous posting outside London before finding her way to the Willesden Lane Orphanage.It is in this orphanage that Lisa's story truly comes to life. Her music inspires the other orphanage children, and they, in turn, cheer her on in her efforts to make good on her promise to her family to realize her musical potential. Through hard work and sheer pluck, Lisa wins a scholarship to study piano at the Royal Academy. As she supports herself and studies, she makes a new life for herself and dreams of reconnecting with the family she was forced to leave behind. The resulting tale delivers a message of the power of music to uplift the human spirit and to grant the individual soul endurance, patience, and peace.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of 10,000 Jewish children sent to England by fearful parents at the dawn of WWII, aspiring pianist Lisa Jura was 14 when her family put her on a Kindertransport train in Vienna. In this alternately heart-wrenching and uplifting story, Jura's daughter, Golabek, a pianist, and writer Cohen trace the six years Jura spent in London, where she found surrogate families in the 31 other young refugees at the Willesden Lane hostel, and in the working-class British women at the East End garment factory that employed her. The authors beautifully capture Jura's passion for music and her determination to realize her dream of becoming a concert pianist. Her quest to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music seems to inject hope into everyone with whom she comes into contact: the hostel owner provides her with a piano and practice time, her housemates band together to drill her on technique and theory, and a co-worker makes her an audition outfit. Yet this is no Babes in Arms. Jura's struggle to hold herself together on the trip to England and as she makes a life for herself without the guidance of her beloved mother is as bleak as her musical successes are joyful. And the depictions of V-Day are especially vivid: rather than celebrate with the masses, Jura retreats to the hostel. The war may be over, but for her and her fellow young refugees waiting to learn the fate of their families, the tragedy will continue.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

' A tale of one young woman's courage... hopeful, personal and true' Los Angeles Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446690279
• ISBN-13: 978-0446690270
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > History > Europe > Austria

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a grand & hopefilled read!, April 28, 2002

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Hardcover)

This is a Heroine's journey during time of war. From Vienna, the city of music, to a little house outside London, where Lisa Jura will find safety & a piano where she can continue her mother's legacy.

It is the memories of the descent into the hell that Adolph Hitler visited upon the people of Europe, upon the life of one girl with a huge talent & a family who sent her away that she might survive.

It is memories of danger & death, as well as hope & the goodness in people's hearts, & how a dream made a girl brave & true to her heritage.

THE CHILDREN OF WILLESDEN LANE is passionate, engaging & charming, destined to find its place beside THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable!, June 14, 2002

By 

Paul G (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Hardcover)

The Children of Willesden Lane is a remarkable, transporting story, at once upllifting and heartbreaking. I'm a better person for reading it. The authors' flawless narrative style facilitates a "can't put the book down" memoir read. After grabbing their readers' hearts, Golabek and Cohen seize their readers' minds with a cogent, compassionate, and otherworldly understanding of the intricacies of living a life in music, and its accordant near-mystical ability to bring humanity as close as it can get to the divine. Such are Golabek's and Cohen's gifts that one can almost hear the music coming from the pages of The Children of Willisden Lane. I loved this book. It is a gift.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Frank's "Might Have Been", July 7, 2002

By 

D. McDiffett "iteachlit" (Salina, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival (Hardcover)

Anne Frank's parents turned down the chance to send their daughters to England before the war, not recognizing the imminent danger until it was too late. Lisa Jura's parents did recognize that danger and took advantage of an empty seat on the Kindertransport to send Lisa to the relative safety of the English countryside. Several other reviews have noted the "can't put it down" quality of this wonderful story. I must add my agreement to that sentiment! The only interruptions in my reading were stopping to play at least a snippet of the Chopin, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff pieces on my CDs, so I could follow Lisa's enjoyment of them even better! This book should be used by all teachers who teach Anne Frank's story, as it is a beautiful look at the life Anne herself might have had had her parents only seen the danger in time.