Old Brown Suitcase

Ages 10 & over. The Old Brown Suitcase , an award-winning book that has sold extraordinarily well both nationally and internationally, now appears in a new edition. The novel narrates the absorbing story of a young girl who survived the Holocaust against all odds. Slava, a fourteen-year-old teen, comes to Canada with her parents and sister and a suitcase filled with memories of a lost childhood, memories that now haunt her new life. She cannot forget the hunger, stench and disease in the Warsaw Ghetto, nor the fear and humiliation of being incarcerated behind a high brick wall. She cannot forget her extraordinary escape from the Ghetto, leaving behind her beloved parents and sister. Nor can she forget being swallowed up in a strange and unknown place to survive under a hidden identity. The story juxtaposes heart-wrenching scenes from a child’s life in war-torn Poland with the life of a teenager trying to adjust to a new country in time of peace. In Canada, it is not easy for Slava to build a bridge between two cultures; nor is it easy to live with the turmoil of her immediate past. At the same time she must face the new challenges involved in being an immigrant, a Jew and a teenage girl. Historical notes on the Warsaw ghetto and a bibliography for future reading have been appended for those who wish further insights.