The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia, by Esther Hautzig, came as a recommendation from Kiwi. In 1941 the Rudomin family was arrested and exiled from their home in Poland. They would spend five grueling years in Siberia, yet even though they were always hungry and often cold, Esther found some good moments. The strength of the human spirit is remarkable!

That book inspired a return to a couple of books I read before I started my blog. The first to come was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne. Young Bruno has moved with his family from Berlin to a strange place ... there are lots of people, but they are behind a wire fence. One day, as he is walking that fence he meets a boy his own age. A friendship develops as they learn about each other. They'd like to actually play with each other, is there room under the fence?

The second reread to go with this book trail that Kiwi started me down was Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford. There are just two Asian students at a local school in Seattle in 1942. One Chinese, one Japanese. A friendship develops, one that will last a life time. One wears a button ("I am Chinese"), one is sent away. There is a musician, and a special song. For a while the letters go back and forth, then they stop. Forty plus years later boxes of items left behind are found in the basement of a hotel and Henry Lee finds something belong to the family of the young girl he loved so long ago. Would it be possible to find her after all these years?

All these books, so well written, deal with families living somewhere not of their own choosing. They made for compelling reading.

Reading Hermit With Dog