In 1930s Vienna, playwriting Jewish teenager Stephan enjoys a close friendship with whip-smart Christian girl Žofie-Helene. Everything changes horribly with the Anschluss, and Stephan and Žofie-Helene are just two of the many endangered children smuggled out of continental Europe by Truus Wijsmuller, a member of the Dutch resistance. New York Times best-selling author Clayton draws on Wijsmuller's real-life story; with a 200,000-copy first printing.

Clayton (Beautiful Exiles; The Race for Paris) pulls readers into the lives of three families and their entwined fates in this fictional account of the Kindertransports (Children's Transport), the real-life efforts to save thousands of Jewish children by getting them across the Nazi border into safe homes. The story starts with everyday joy and heartache. In 1936 Austria, Stephan, the teenage son of a Jewish chocolatier, begins a romance with Žofie-Helene, the daughter of a Christian anti-Nazi journalist. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Truus Wijsmuller and her husband cope with the pain of her infertility by smuggling Jewish children out of Germany. Truus convinces Nazi officials to allow her to remove Jewish children from Austria, but their cruelty requires her to rehome exactly 600 youths within a week before the borders close. Stephan and Žofie-Helene and their families must find a way out before the window for Truus to rescue threatened children shuts.

VERDICT With its well-developed characters and race-against-the-clock plot, this fantastic novel should have broad appeal, especially with fans of historical fiction and thrillers. [See Prepub Alert, 3/4/19.]—Heidi Uphoff, Albuquerque, NM

Clayton (Beautiful Exiles) reaches into the troubled lives of the Third Reich's civilian victims, drawing readers into one woman's efforts to save children in this excellent novel based on actual events. Geertruida Wijsmuller, known as "Tante Truus" and part of the Dutch resistance, is determined to risk everything to save children of all ages despite—or because of—her inability to bring a pregnancy to term herself. In Vienna, the lives of two children are highlighted: Stephan Neuman is Jewish, and because he turned 17 in 1938, he's barely allowed to escape to England in the 1938–1939 Kindertransport, which will not accept 18-year-olds. Stephan's friend and budding beloved, 15-year-old Sofie-Helene Perger, is not Jewish, but her mother is a journalist who refuses to stop writing articles critical of Hitler. Stephan, an aspiring playwright, must adapt to the changes in his life, which was once filled with wealth from his father's famous chocolate factory. Math prodigy Sofie also tries to adapt, uncertain about how to help Stephan without threatening her own family. The children and Tante Truus's stories don't intersect until later in the book, when she secures them safe passage to England due to a daring, last-second decision. Clayton effectively captures the dim hope of survival amid the mounting terror of the lead-up to WWII. This is a standout historical fiction that serves as a chilling reminder of how insidious, pervasive evil can gradually seep into everyday lives. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc. (Sept.)