Anca’s Story is a Holocaust survivor tale aimed at the YA - Young Adult market. It is a book of historical fiction set at the end of World War II. Anca Pasculata is a frail old woman who comes to a British school to address teenagers about her experience as a 12 year old Holocaust survivor.
I found this a very powerful book and because Anca related her tale from the standpoint of an elderly woman looking back on her childhood, it was told from the voice of experience. The language used was not that of a 12 year old girl but of a very articulate and educated adult. Her extensive vocabulary added such depth to the story seen through the eyes of a child yet spoken with words of a university professor. Anca was born and raised in Romania yet her English vocabulary was outstanding. I am 57 years old and my only language is English but I had to look up quite a lot of words to be sure. In our depot we have a driver from Romania working with us and we would never hear him use words like these for example…
...Obdurate to my lachrymose appeal, my friend’s father responded with a silent shake of his head and began to step back inside, his hand on the door to close it. “Go, Anca. You are no longer welcome here.” …
...Obdurate and lachrymose! These are not common English words but highlight the quality of the writing within this book. Very vivid pictures are painted with these words, scenes that remain with you after you have finished reading this book. In particular steam train journeys, wandering through an unknown forest and men, women and children standing naked in a field.
Being historical fiction, the people Anca bumps into are convenient to the plot and you end up mumbling to yourself “as if?”. A lot of this novel is just Anca stumbling along but clearly Saffina has done her research very well and the true horrors of the time are skilfully woven into Anca’s tale.
Because the Holocaust was 70 years ago, it is very hard to imagine today just what things were like in 1944. However this book brings to you how awful things were through the eyes of a child growing up in ignorance of the grand scheme of things within Europe from 1939 to 1945.
I finished this book and found my whole reading experience quite haunting. I think that Anca’s Story is a GOOD read and I will vote it 4 stars. I do feel it is an illustration of a historical period told in the style of a first person narrative. Therefore all the groundwork is already in the history books and Saffina was able to form her story from the records. I do not think Anca’s Story is as good as Saffina’s first novel Sugar & Spice, which I voted the top score of 5 stars. Anca’s Story did have a big effect on me though and as I look at the queue of passengers waiting to board my coach, I wonder how people could choose which people in an anonymous crowd to accept or reject.
Anca’s Story is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2012.
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