Wulf, Linda Press. The night of the burning: Devorah's story.

WULF, Linda Press. The night of the burning: Devorah's story. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 224p. c2006.0-374-36419-2. $16.00. J

As the novel opens, 11-year-old Devorah and her little sister Nechama are in an orphanage in Poland. It is 1920 and they have survived a horrific pogram, which took the lives of family and friends. Devorah is understandably struck with sadness and it is the reflection of that pain in her eyes that catches the attention of Isaac Ochberg. Ochberg is on a mission, a mission to relocate these Jewish children from the horrors of Europe into new homes in South Africa.

As Devorah and Nechama prepare to leave Poland, Devorah remembers her mother and father. She recalls their lives in Poland, the devastation of WW I, and the new dangers of the Russian Revolution. She also has the opportunity to travel, to see the cities of Warsaw, where she becomes the helper of the woman who houses them for a time, and London, where she is given the honor of caring for a library of books destined for South Africa. Devorah is a serious, determined girl, but Nechama is a playful child. Not able to remember the events that they lived through, it is her playfulness and laughter that attract the attention of the wealthy Stein family. They adopt Nechama, but not her older sister. Devorah is adopted by the Kagans, a middleclass couple; she is able to make a home with them and she recognizes that she has found family and happiness there.

The story is based on the life of Wulf's mother-in-law and sheds light on a little-known historical circumstance. The picture of life recreated here is not an easy one, but is one that further enriches the story of Jewish struggle and survival. Janis Flint-Ferguson, Assoc. Prof., English, Gordon College, Wenham, MA

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.