SYNOPSIS:
“Look after each other… and get home safe. And when you do, tell everyone what you saw and what they did to us.” These are Hanna’s father’s parting words to her and her sister when their family is separated at the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Her father’s words — and a black C-sharp piano key hidden away in the folds of her dress — are all that she has left to remind her of life before. Before, Hanna was going to be a famous concert pianist. She was going to wear her yellow dress to a dance. And she was going to dance with a boy.

But then the Nazis came.

Now it is up to Hanna to do all she can to keep her mother and sister alive, even if that means playing piano for the commandant and his guests. Staying alive isn’t supposed to include falling in love with the commandant’s son. But Karl Jager is beautiful, and his aloofness belies a secret. And war makes you do dangerous things.

WHY SHOULD YOU CHECK IT OUT?
Music and tragedy often go hand in hand for the survival of the human spirit. In particular, this one sounds like a YA version of 2002’s “The Pianist” with Adrian Brody. Throw in a forbidden romance with the son of the Nazi man running the prison and this is sure to appeal to readers who may not always go for historical fiction. It’s always important to reflect on our pasts, though.

This cover. This. Cover. At first it looks like a really beautiful cabaret style poster with the pianist’s long fingers gliding easily across the keys. But then we look closer and realize that the interesting star-designs are actually the sharp points of barbed wire, like that which would surround Hanna’s concentration camp prison. That the only colors of the cover are reds, white, and black help to draw the mind to Nazi Germany soon after.

This is Australian author Suzy Zail’s first YA novel, though she has written award-winning children’s books. Suzy is an internationally published author, freelance journalist and former litigation lawyer. She was inspired to write about the Holocaust when her father–diagnosed with a terminal illness and given six months to live–told his family the previously unknown details of his childhood, surviving a German concentration camp, and becoming a refugee in Australia. “Writing this book allowed me to revisit my father’s story and remember him and the millions of other children and teenagers who didn’t survive”, Suzy says. “By reading about the Holocaust and trying to understand it we can make sure it never happens again.”

EARLY REVIEWS SAY…
Hanna’s story is reminiscent of such classics as Aranka Siegal’s Upon the Head of the Goat (1981). … With fewer living Holocaust survivors each year, it’s increasingly important to tell their story, and this is one, however soft-pedaled. (Kirkus Reviews)

Although she witnesses much cruelty and degradation, Hanna also discovers courage, integrity, and ingenuity in surprising ways; in particular, through Karl, the quiet, musical son of the cruel commandant for whom Hanna plays piano, who calls her “by my name, not my number.” An elegant, disturbing portrait of one of history’s bleakest moments, offset by the subversive power of love. (Publishers Weekly)

NECESSARY DETAILS
YA Historical Fiction
Hardcover & ebook, 256 pages
Published on October 14th 2014 by Candlewick (ISBN 0763664030)
http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=title&mode=book&isbn=0763664030