Book review - Settela's Last Road
Although aimed at 12-year-olds and above, Janna Eliot's book touches on a harrowing subject - that of the plight of the Romany during World War II, describing a simple and idyllic childhood that is ripped apart by the Nazis
The year is 1944 and in occupied Holland the Nazis are rounding up Gypsies and Jews and sending them to concentration camps. Nine-year-old Settela's life is turned upside down when her father and her uncle, together with the other men from their Romany community are suddenly taken from them.
Worse is to come, however, when the soldiers return for everyone else; women, children and old people are loaded onto a lorry and driven off. They arrive at Westerbork camp and after several days there in appalling conditions and with little food, they are eventually transported to Auschwitz where their journey finally ends in the gas chambers.
Settela's Last Road is a fictionalised version of the true story of Settela Steinbach who, with her Sinti (Romany) family and the rest of their community, died at the hands of the Nazis. Events are viewed through the eyes of the young Settela who never gives up hope of escaping from the guards and being reunited with her beloved father again.
The narrative contrasts the simple pleasures enjoyed by Settela and her siblings - their music, dancing, storytelling and happy life in the countryside - with the traumatic and horrifying events they endured in the months before their deaths. The character of Settela is well drawn and the reader goes with her, feeling her heartaches, her hopes and her disappointments as she travels along her last road.
This is a thought-provoking book which fills a gap in the literature concerning the Second World War. The Romany, like the Jews, were persecuted by the Nazis, with thousands being murdered in the holocaust, but very little has been written about the wartime experiences of this group of people.
Settela's Last Road has a serious theme but it is a simply written book which is aimed at 12 year olds and above. Young people reading it will be enlightened by an aspect of our fairly recent European history which is vital that we remember but is in danger of being forgotten.
Setella's Last Road by Janna Eliot, published by Trafford and priced £6, is available to buy now from www.whsmith.co.uk
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