"He paused to take a breath. ‘And there were no sirens. They wanted everything to burn.’"

The Children of Willesden Lane is another great addition to the wealth of memoirs and accounts of World War II. Golabek tells the story of her mother as a Jewish teenager in Vienna; Lisa is a musical prodigy who finds herself sent to England with thousands of other Jewish children through the Kindertransport, an organised rescue effort to get them out of Nazi Europe and to safety. Through Lisa’s eyes we see how the Nazi regime affected Jewish citizens, even those who managed to get away from Nazi occupation, and the worry and confusion that comes with it.

Through her music, however, Lisa is able to find amazing bravery and resilience, as are the other inhabitants of Willesden Lane, who find inspiration from Lisa and each other to work hard and persevere. There is so much courage and hope throughout the novel, and it really shows how brave people of all ages had to be during the war – Lisa may have escaped the terror of Hitler’s regime but there were still obstacles to overcome and hardships to endure, and I liked how the novel showed that perspective of the war.

"It was odd, she thought, how being with others like herself made her fears easier to endure."