When the world was ours by Liz Kessler

Three young friends - Leo, Elsa and Max - spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness, and that events soon mean that they will be cruelly ripped apart from each other. With their lives taking them across Europe - to Germany, England, Prague and Poland - will they ever find their way back to each other? Will they want to? Three friends. Two sides. One Memory.
Inspired by true events, this story will captivate readers right until the very end. The book follows multiple narratives, one of each of the children, and depicts three very different experiences of World War II. Leo and Elsa are Jewish and the experiences they both face as young children are utterly heartbreaking. Max is German and whilst his story can be frustrating, in the end the poor boy just wanted to be loved and appreciated, to fit in. The style of writing is very easy to follow, the chapters are short but informative. It flows throughout the years of the War without skipping any important details. The content however is quite hard to read, as with any Holocaust story. Reading about the horrors of the war through the eyes of children will leave you reaching for the tissues. You can see their innocence vanishing as the book goes on and your heart will ache for them.

Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the Holocaust and seeing it from different perspectives. Please note, there are graphic depictions of crematoriums, gas chambers, gun violence and antisemitism. Take care when reading.

Themes: Children in War, Concentration Camps, Death, Different Points of View, Holocaust, Jewish, 1939-1945, Hitler, Adolf, World War, 1939-1945.

Emily Feetham