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The Handkerchief Map
Product Description
This Young Adult novella is imagined as letters written by three young people living in Europe at the end of WWII. Each struggles to survive and make sense of the War. The lost Russian girl, Helga, writes to her friend, Olga, about the desperation she feels. The Nazi boy soldier, Franz, writes his confused feelings to his mother. Susanna, incarcerated in Bergen-Belsen, longs for her lost husband while she awaits knowledge of her children.
The legacy of the Holocaust and World War II lives on in the awareness of the current generation of Australian youth. More than a coming-of-age tale, The Handkerchief Map is a moving narrative about what happens when humans forget, and remember, that they are all part of the same tribe. As their journeys intersect over the course of the story, the hopes and plans of the characters leave the reader with a sense of optimism.
This book is a useful adjunct to the Modern History syllabus and also to the English curriculum in the Creative Writing (Belonging) strand.
- Amazing new voice in YA literature
- Reminiscent of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief
- Linked to the NSW syllabus
- Modern History and Creative Writing
- Poignant WW2 story
- Not a word wasted
Other Details
Product Reviews
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Local newspaper warm review
Posted by The Byron Shire Echo on 1st Jun 2011
This is not a book of doom and gloom. The author manages to weave hope, compassion and insight into the lives of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances
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A Touching story
Posted by Fiona Cadence Ong on 1st Jun 2011
Easy to read, poignant, scholarly, this book touches the heart of the reader. It affectively allows the reader to comprehend and experience the emotions that run through the three characters in an intensely personal way. The best young adult novel I have ever read and all the more special because it is written by a young adult.
Fiona Cadence Ong – Student, Sydney University
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stunning debut novel
Posted by Leonie Jackson on 22nd Jan 2011
The depth and maturity of this young writer is stunning. The character development within this skillfully written book takes the reader into the lives and thoughts of the three main personalities struggling to make some sense of the horrific times they are living in. Both myself and my daughter (16 years) could not put the book down and read it cover to cover in one sitting. Kiri English Hawke manages, with an economical use of language, to transport us to the Holocaust on an enthralling journey.
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An emotional Journey
Posted by Markylee on 19th Jan 2011
This Impressive style of writing was engaging, I connected with the characters & their emotional struggle with the hell that was occurring before them.
Sincere tears fell, while time stood still until the final page was turned.
A tribute to the Author for recognising a German's personal struggle with the Holocaust.
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astute and lyrical
Posted by Anne on 10th Jan 2011
This is an amazing book for a young author to appear with in the first instance. Obviously she has lyrical skill and a keen interest in history from differing perspectives, but it is her astute analysis of human being that is striking. An absolute reading pleasure, our best xmas present. What is next from this author?
Anne
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The immediacy of the epistolary novel
Posted by Eleni on 23rd Dec 2010
A remarkable book which uses the immediacy of the epistolary style to get into the minds of its characters and show us that we can learn more about wars from individuals than solely from history books. The fact that the writer is not one who has lived through such events as depicted in the book, makes it all the more amazing for its perspicacity and sensitivity.
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Longing or Belonging or Both?
Posted by Judy on 11th Oct 2010
This a remarkable set of vignettes about one of the most troubling events of recent human history, the Holocaust. But the author goes beyond the battlefield and into the hearts of the three characters, Franz, Helga and Susannah. On one level it is a narrative about WWII and its insanity and conversely the power of hope, but might it also be a narrative about a young contemporary Australian grappling with that war but also with issues of loss, longing and belonging in a more everyday sense. In any case this books traverses broad terrain and is written with a poetic warmth and compassion that is beautiful to read
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Compassionate tale
Posted by Steve on 5th Oct 2010
This book shows the sophistication and compassion that Australian youth is capable of.
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A Moving Account
Posted by Briony on 1st Oct 2010
Stunning writing from someone not yet turned 16 years old when they wrote this account - shows a mature grasp of the effects of war on young people's lives.
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