I listened to the audiobook version of this story, and I do think I would have been more engrossed in the physical book - I think I would have felt more emotional from it.
Don't get me wrong, I loved it, it was powerful and very well written. The research carried out must have been a lot of work!
I'd definitely recommend it to my audience.
I liked the narrator,.she did a good job.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was good. The story was heartbreaking and so well written that I could visualize some of the scenes. Highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Antonia Whillans does a fantastic job narrating this story with many characters! Its definitely an enjoyable listen!

A desperate mother hands off her 2 week old twins to one of the Quaker volunteers on a kindertransport in 1939. Dora, the volunteer, does not know that the basket has 2 undocumented babies in it let alone their story. This is the tale of the lives that these twins touched on the eve of WWII.

I am familiar with the evacuation of jewish children but its been awhile since I have read a story about the kindertransports to England through Holland. But this was a richly layered story told from the points of view of the twins' parents and their rescuer. The pacing is fast, the story is very realistic and I loved the characters.

Highly recommend!!!

The Twins on the Train by Suzanne Goldring
Narrated by Antonia Whillans

From 1938-1940 children, most of them Jewish, some of them "imperfect" in other ways according to those who set the standards for a perfect German, were transported from Berlin to safety in Great Britain. This was no sending off the kids for a while, the reality of the situation was that these children faced death if they stayed with their parents, if their parents hadn't already been sent to camps that almost guaranteed their deaths. Parents and other family members put their children on these transports knowing they would never see them again, hoping these children would have a chance of lives elsewhere, away from this deadly prosecution.

We meet Rosa, whose husband is probably already long dead, mother of a seven year old girl and of newborn twins. She regrets the decision she made about not sending her daughter on the train and it's too late to take back that decision. But Rosa will save her twins, if at all possible.

Dora works for the Quakers of England and her heart breaks for all the children they can't help. Her heart also breaks for the children she is able to rescue as they leave their families for a new place where they can survive, leaving everything behind. Brave little kids, some who have already met physical and emotional harm at the hands of the people who want them dead.

The work that Dora and others do is dangerous although she doesn't realize, at first, just how much danger she is in when in Germany. But as war grows closer for Great Britain, no one is safe in Germany, and Dora and her coworkers must try to get the last few children out of Germany. Sadly their work ends before it is done but that can't erase all the good that the Kindertransport accomplished for so many children.

This historical fiction gives us a picture of those who tried to do as much as they could until they could do no more. The sacrifices of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, knowing there was no hope for themselves, but hoping their children could have a chance to be saved, were repeated over and over. Imagine having to say goodbye to your children forever because there is no other choice. It'd be so easy to hope against hope that by keeping them by your side that things might work out someday, when the reality is that keeping the children by your side would mean death for them, too.

Antonia Whillans narrates the story and her soft, matter of fact voice doesn't exaggerate the danger, it doesn't have to do so. As we see the bigger picture of ongoing tragedy we also get to see the impact on a much smaller scale, of two babies lives being changed forever, and the impact of those who try to save them and others. Of course, the story is sad on a scale that can be hardly imagined but the story is also inspiring as we see just a few of those who gave their all to lead others towards life and freedom.

Thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.