I first saw this hosted by Reading is My Superpower. You just grab a book, either one you are currently reading or on your TBR and write out the first lines. Just a fun way to get people interested in what you are reading.

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•First Lines•

Prologue

“The giant train rattles north, steam wheezing from its black funnel, scarlet wheels clicking with rhythmic certainty across the track – toek-toek-toek. Grete looks at the children, sitting in their carriages, ten on each of the opposing bench seats, their single suitcases beneath their bare knees. Her heart breaks for them, but she has to hold it together; they need her strength not her pity.”

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•Book•

•Synopsis•

November 1938, Germany. Grete guides two small children onto the train. Placing her arms protectively around their shoulders, she prays the journey is uneventful because she must get six-year-old Adele and eight-year-old Rosa out of Germany…

Grete always longed to be a mother, but it never happened for her so, as the clouds of war gather over Europe, she’s devoting her time to helping Jewish children escape the Nazis. She remembers the face of every single child she’s taken on trains to freedom in the Netherlands. The danger increases with each trip, but, today, she has to get her best friend’s children to safety, because they are closest thing she has to family.

But at the border, the train screeches to a halt and she hears the shout of a Nazi guard. Then the sound of boots coming towards their carriage. When the door bursts open, she draws herself up tall, and prepares to face the interrogation she knows will come. With shaking hands, she passes over Rosa and Adele’s tattered papers and hopes they aren’t scrutinised too closely.

Grete is ready to do whatever it takes to keep her small charges safe…

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I am going on a bit of a WWII/Holocaust reading binge for a bit. I have three other similar books lined up after this one. The Children on the Train is due to publish on August 4th of this year. I am currently about 40% of the way through. It has some heartbreaking moments for sure, but the author has not gone into overtly graphic detail which is better for me since I am a pretty emotional person.

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What book grabbed your attention from the beginning?