Esther’s Children
In 1936, a young woman arrives in Vienna. Tess Simpson is the name in her British passport, but she is also Esther Sinovitch, daughter of Jews forced to escape pogroms in Lithuania. Inspired by her parents and the 1933 “Science and Civilization” speech by Albert Einstein, she has become a Quaker and is passionate about peace. In her role with the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, she helps gifted scientists and scholars (her “children”) escape from the increasing stranglehold of Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Tess tries to persuade university professor Otto Singer and his wife to leave Austria, but the old man is stubborn and refuses. Sharing their love of performing music, Tess is attracted to their son, Harry, who also qualifies for support but won’t abandon his parents. After their lucky escape from thugs, she manages to change his mind and arranges a placement for him in an English research facility with the hope that once settled, his parents can join him.
Things don’t go smoothly for Harry when war breaks out. Paranoia and suspicion of refugees find him interned on the Isle of Man where Nazi sympathisers and Jews are forced together, with the inevitable unpleasant results. Tess must use her influence with politicians and officials to help him and many others wrongly imprisoned. Ultimately, many of the refugees saved by Tess prove to be Hitler’s loss and the world’s gain, going on “to contribute to life-changing discoveries, and to the intellectual and cultural life of their adopted homes.”
This is a powerful novel about persecution, injustice and intolerance, but also about hope, dedication and sacrifice. Although set in World War II, its message for humanity remains relevant in our own uneasy times. A fine example of historical fiction at its very best.
