Halinka — Mirjam Pressler

This exquisite novel by one of Germany's most honored children's book authors is about an abused girl's secrets and fantasies, her dreams and lies, her enemies and friends. It is about the walls we build to protect ourselves when life is all pain, and about what happens when good fortune comes and we finally invite it in to stay.

Set in a home for troubled girls in Germany just after World War II, Halinka shows another side to the Holocaust--the price paid by the Jews who were left alive. For Halinka, all politics and history--even family history--are best forgotten. Everything is best forgotten, and she dares not even think about the word "hope." But her aunt Lou, who is always hopeful, may be right.