Mr Rosenblum and his wife Sadie come to England as refugees just before the outbreak of World War II. They are German Jews, and English culture and customs are at first bewildering. Each reacts in a different way. Sadie strives to remember the smells, sights and emotions of her childhood and the wider family left behind. Mr Rosenblum starts a list of all the things he must learn (and do) in order to become truly English. Gradually his list is crossed off, but each step seems to remove him further and further from his wife, without changing the suspicion with which he is treated in war time England.
Eventually he decides to move to a traditional English village to pursue the last and most fantastical item on his list. There in the village he finds a very unusual English friend, but is also betrayed the very people he thought would help him. In the mean time his wife has seemingly started to loose her grip on reality... and you will have to read the book to find out more!
I was told originally that this was a “charming” story... but it is much more than that. It is certainly positive in its overall message, but tells a powerful and dramatic story, and has complex layers of meaning with at least a touch of Magic Realism. I read it in a sitting and I’ll be reading it again soon. There is nothing in the book to stop a younger student from attempting it, but the reflective nature of sections (such as Sadie’s thoughts about memory) and the complexity of the sub-texts would suggest older readers would find it more rewarding.
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