The Children of Willesden Lane

April 8, 2002
One of 10,000 Jewish children sent to England by fearful parents at the dawn of WWII, aspiring pianist Lisa Jura was 14 when her family put her on a Kindertransport train in Vienna. In this alternately heart-wrenching and uplifting story, Jura's daughter, Golabek, a pianist, and writer Cohen trace the six years Jura spent in London, where she found surrogate families in the 31 other young refugees at the Willesden Lane hostel, and in the working-class British women at the East End garment factory that employed her. The authors beautifully capture Jura's passion for music and her determination to realize her dream of becoming a concert pianist. Her quest to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music seems to inject hope into everyone with whom she comes into contact: the hostel owner provides her with a piano and practice time, her housemates band together to drill her on technique and theory, and a co-worker makes her an audition outfit. Yet this is no Babes in Arms.
Jura's struggle to hold herself together on the trip to England and as she makes a life for herself without the guidance of her beloved mother is as bleak as her musical successes are joyful. And the depictions of V-Day are especially vivid: rather than celebrate with the masses, Jura retreats to the hostel. The war may be over, but for her and her fellow young refugees waiting to learn the fate of their families, the tragedy will continue.

Lisa Jura, an Austrian Jew, was already a skilled pianist at age 14, when her parents sent far from home to escape the Nazis. Along with ten thousand other youngsters, she was part of the Kindertransport, which brought the children to London, where they found homes and built lives. The author narrates this amazing biography of her mother's life in a melodic voice. Golabek adopts subtle German inflections for the narrative and provides a stronger German accent for the dialogue of Mrs. Cohen, who runs the refugee hostel at Willesden Lane. On a lesser scale, she provides well-done British and French accents. Lisa's life and thoughts are full of music, and her playing bringing solace to herself and her neighbors during the bombing of London. Golabek's soft, emotional voice describes Lisa's music-filled hopes and dreams while classical music soars throughout this beautiful audiobook, bringing tears and smiles to listeners. M.B.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine