This is what I would call a young adult book with wide appeal. It's the story of two Jewish sisters, Stephie and Nellie Steiner, who are sent to Sweden from Vienna in the summer of 1939. Their parents are trying to get visas to leave for America, and the girls expect to join them for the trip in three months, maybe six. Upon arriving in Göteborg, they are told that they will not be in the same household, but that they will be hosted in the same village on an island. Seven-year-old Nellie is placed with in a cheerful family with two young children, and twelve-year-old Stephie with an older couple further out of the village, "at the end of the world." Stephie's host mother is stern and her husband is away a lot of the time with a fishing crew, but when he's home, he is sympathetic and kind. As Stephie tries to fit in and behave as expected, she is faced with challenges at home, at school, and in making friends. As the war begins in Europe, her fears for her parents increases. Will they be able to get visas?

I enjoyed this novel, the first in a quartet about the Steiner sisters. It reminded me of [Anne of Green Gables]. Like Anne, Stephie feels very different from those around her: she doesn't speak the language, she's Jewish, from an urban city, and without her parents. Her host mother is very reminiscent of Miss Cuthburt and her husband plays a role like Matthew's. But [A Faraway Island] is more somber, with the war looming in the background and fears for her parents running as an undercurrent through her life. I enjoyed this story and have ordered the next one in the series. ( )

In this novel, two Jewish sisters (ages seven and twelve) must leave their home in Nazicontrolled Austria in 1939; they grapple with austerity, loneliness, and prejudice when they are taken in by two Swedish Christian families on a remote island.

3.5 stars ( )

I read this because A) it won a Batchelder, and I love that award B) it is Swedish. I found it to be a bit tedious. OK, she's miserable and her sister isn't. I get it. So much time was spent building up just how horrible her life is, and how miserable it is, and then it was all fixed in a few chapters at the end. There were some interesting secondary characters who weren't very well developed at all. The Christian-conversion themes were jarring to my liberal American sensibilities, although they're historically accurate, I wish there had been more discussion about them.

I should say, that I probably would have liked this more as a child.

I was really surprised to read in the author's note that these are so widely read and translated and made into TV specials. Perhaps I should read the others in the series. But I probably won't. ( )

Sisters Stephie (12) and Nellie (8) are among 500 Jewish children transported from Austria to Sweden in 1939. The sisters miss their parents very much, but they console themselves with the thought that their parents will be sending for them soon and the whole family will emigrate to America. The sisters end up on a remote island staying with different families. Nellie settles in fairly quickly with her host family, but Stephie has a hard time adjusting to the stern woman who has taken her in. She has trouble fitting in at school, where she is bullied by the other students.

This book has won multiple awards in both the original Swedish edition and the English translation. It has an Anne of Green Gables meets the Holocaust feel, but it's more melancholy. There's no “bosom friend” like Diana Barry, and readers will be aware that Stephie's misfortunes are bound to grow as Nazi persecution of the Jews increases. This book should also appeal to fans of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. ( )