Lisa of Willesden Lane, Mona Golabek
Lisa of Willesden Lane, Mona Golabek
List: $14.99 | Sale: $10.50
Club: $7.49

Lisa of Willesden Lane
A True Story of Music and Survival During World War II

Author: Mona Golabek, Lee Cohen

Narrator: Amy Scanlon

Unabridged: 1 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/16/2025


Synopsis

An inspiring true story about one girl's escape from the Holocaust to become a concert pianist against all odds, made popular by Mona Golabek's acclaimed theatrical performance and the beloved novel The Children of Willesden Lane -- now available in an early chapter book format.
In pre-World War II Vienna, Lisa Jura was a musical prodigy who hoped to become a concert pianist. But when enemy forces threatened the city -- especially its Jewish population -- Lisa's parents were forced to make a difficult decision. They secured passage for only one of their three daughters through the Kindertransport, and chose to send gifted Lisa to London for safety. As she yearned to be reunited with her family where she lived in a home for refugee children on Willesden Lane, Lisa's music became a beacon of hope for all of her peers.
A story of the power of music to uplift the human spirit, this compelling tribute has moved and inspired hundreds of thousands of students and adults across the globe. Now is the perfect time to bring this timeless story of hope to even younger audiences as Mona Golabek's mission to transform historical testimony into youth empowerment has driven many requests for shorter, illustrated formats. Both a picture book and chapter book will be available.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennybeast on July 30, 2020

Things I loved: True story, and an inspiring one. The fact that the book has been adapted for early chapterbook in addition to middle grade -- FANTASTIC, do more of that, please! I particularly like the low page count. The hopeful message, despite the very tragic reality. Things that could have been bet......more

Goodreads review by Emily on April 23, 2023

Read this book for my daughter’s book club. Wow what an amazing story. Reading and learning about wwii is simply amazing. Seeing the view point of the war through a child/teen was interesting. I could not imagine going through what Lisa went through and all those other children. Then to come to the......more

Goodreads review by Erin on March 01, 2021

I loved that this was based on a true story and was inspiring. It definitely is written for younger middle grade readers. It felt like it was rushed and there was a lot of details and emotion left out but i think that was a result of squeezing a complicated story into an early middle grade novel. I’......more

Goodreads review by Emma on April 14, 2022

A great true story of a Jewish pianist during World War II for beginner readers. I am not a beginner reader but saw it at the library and knew the story from my research on piano women and so picked it up! There is an early reader version and an older reader version adapted from the story written by......more

Goodreads review by Gerry on May 17, 2022

A lovely story about a sad time in the world. This book for children has facts to explain what happened in history to better understand this true story.......more