On Dec. 2, 1938, 11-year-old Marianne Kohn arrived in London, among the first of thousands of Jewish children rescued from Hitler’s Germany by the Kindertransport in the months before war began on Sept. 3, 1939.

Marianne’s story, which began with the award-winning Good-Bye Marianne, is based on fact. The author herself, as a child of eight, experienced the terror of an increasingly Nazi-dominated Germany, was rescued by the Kindertransport, and lived in English foster homes until the war ended. She has based Marianne’s narrative on her own memories as well as those of others she has interviewed. Watts has integrated her facts seamlessly into a poignant fictional account of a girl who finds herself billeted with incompatible foster parents: one set “doing their duty,” a second set looking for a replacement for their own recently dead child. Through all this, Marianne is struggling to learn a new language and grieving for her parents left behind in Germany.

Although Good-Bye Marianne provided more heart-stopping moments, this quieter book shows the heroism needed just to get on with life in the face of dislocation and uncertainty. Marianne is a resourceful and resilient 11-year-old. Her struggle to make a new life for herself will endear her to readers, particularly ones at the lower end of the recommended reading range. Those who met her first in Good-Bye Marianne will find this a satisfying – and happy – conclusion to her saga. For teachers, this is a useful addition to units on the Second World War, giving a sense of the anxiety and stress of life as England braced for war.