Anna and the Swallow Man

Reviewed by: MARY PEVERADA - Portland Public Library, PORTLAND, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 22, 2017

Review

This is a World War II novel that is wrought in some of the most beautiful language found in a YA novel. But it is also a disturbing and difficult novel due to the content around the horrors of war and the difficulties of survival. It is written in the third-person. Anna living in Krakow in 1939 with her professor father suddenly finds herself on her own in war torn Poland. Her father has been taken by the Nazis and she has no where to turn. She sees a mysterious, tall stranger on the street and follows him. Thus begins for the two of them years of survival in a war-torn land while always staying on the move. They wander and forage until the war begins to close in around them. Knowing who to trust and where to turn is a constant dilemma. The book is very philosophical and thought-provoking. It can at times be very uncomfortable. Readers who like tidy endings that reveal all - will be disappointed. But war is not tidy and conclusive -

Overall Book Score: good