This story is a sequel, though not with the same characters, of The Runaway Family, in that it is about the persecution of Jews by nazis and the story of those few that managed to escape to get to England by refugee trains, chiefly children. The earlier one ends where a family manages to escape and arrive, and this begins with arrival of the children on the refugee train to be welcomed in England by their foster parents.
This one focuses on one girl, escaped alive from Hanau, who has to deal repeatedly not only with her identity crisis as a refugee, but also with the dichotomy of being seen as an enemy alien by some in the country where she takes refuge. There are fewer of those, fortunately, and more of the good caring people who give her a home, love of their hearts and more.
The girl, Liselotte Becker who is naturally called Lisa at first, moreover loses her memory when she is caught in an air raid, and hence the name.
The author is excellent in descriptions of how England experienced war, from the refugee trains arriving with children to end of war, and too of the various individual characters who are shaped differently, by nature and by experience thereafter, even when sharing experience.
One wishes though that the final choice of Lisa didn't quite depend on chance and events, and that she had had the choice instead and chosen well, as destiny or rather choices of another did for her. But in any case, it is a marvel the author makes this tale so satisfying, in spite of the terrible events she is describing without sugarcoating.
