The Old Brown Suitcase

The Old Brown Suitcase by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz is an award winning book that tells the absorbing story of a young girl who survived the Holocaust against all odds. Not long after the Second World War, Slava, just fourteen, immigrates to Canada with her parents, sister, and her brown suitcase that holds all that is left of her lost childhood, memories that now haunt her new life. Memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, the hunger, stench and disease, the fear and humiliation of being incarcerated behind a high brick wall, haunt her. Her father organizes a daring escape, and she is secreted away to the country to live with her grandmother, where she is safer, but not out of danger. Heart-wrenching scenes from Slava’s life in war-torn Poland are juxtaposed with scenes from her new life – the life of a teenager trying to adjust to a new country after the war. Slava must learn a new language and build a bridge between two cultures while still being reeling from the turmoil of her immediate past. She has no choice but to face the new challenges involved in being an immigrant, a Jew and a teenage girl. This audio edition includes notes on the Warsaw ghetto. A fictionalized account of the author’s real experiences, Slava’s story is moving and inspirational.