Homelands

Homelands: The History of a Friendship by Chitra Ramaswamy
Published by Canongate Books
ISBN 9781838852696

In 1939, 15-year-old Heinz Martin Wuga, later known as Henry, arrives in the UK from Nuremburg as part of the Kindertransport program. After some exceedingly traumatic experiences, he settles in Scotland, where he meets his future wife, Ingrid, who is also a Kindertransportee.

A few decades later, an Indian couple immigrates from Bangalore to the UK, where they start a family. One of their daughters is the author of this book. She grows up and becomes a journalist. In 2011, she is assigned an interview with Henry and Ingrid. There is an instant rapport between them and a friendship quickly blossoms. With her assignment over and the close friendship deepening (they come to see one another as adopted grandparents/grandchild), she continues to talk to them about their life stories and starts to see similar themes emerging between their experiences, those of her parents and her own. Eventually, she realizes that this book is taking shape. And a fine book it is.

This seems like an ambitious book—as the subtitle says, it is the history of a friendship. It’s more than that, though. It’s also family histories, political history, life story, memoir, and a history of relationships—both that between the author and the Wugas, but also the relationship the author has with literature, in particular the novel Austerlitz by William Sebald, which runs through the book. Ramaswamy deftly weaves together multiple strands of thought to create an engrossing narrative. There is a lot here and in the hands of a less skillful writer, things could get clunky and confusing very quickly, but they don’t. The writing itself is beautiful, as is the story of this friendship. I was absorbed in both the stories and the writing from the start and this continued straight through to the end. I highly recommend this book—definitely 5+ stars.

If you're interested in biography, unlikely friendships, and the conversation around migration and human rights, this will be of interest.
You may have heard of the Kindertransport, and it's often portrayed as a time when Britain was very generous. However, many young people who fled the Holocaust were then treated inhospitably, and this book tells the story of someone who was in the highest security internment camps as a 16 year old.
The author is very present in the text, and her identity and story as a second generation British person allow her to show parallels between Henry's treatment in the 40s and the recent scandals such as Windrush and Go Home vans, and the corruption of those who are given the power to keep people locked in camps when they seek safety.

Homelands is an amazing book, which is nothing less than anyone would expect from a writer of Chitra's calibre. Heartfelt, moving, wonderful - the story of Henry Wuga and their friendship has resulted in a book to savour and recommend widely.