THE RUNAWAY FAMILYwas previously published as EVIL ON THE WIND. From bestselling author Diney Costeloe, a gritty drama about a mother’s struggle to protect her family and escape Nazi persecution in World War Two Germany. Germany 1937:Fear and betrayal stalk the streets. People disappear. Persecution of the Jews has become a national pastime. When Ruth Friedman’s husband is arrested by the SS, she …
When Ruth Friedman’s husband is arrested by the SS, she is left to fend for herself and her four children. She alone stands as their shield against the Nazis. But where can she go? Where will her family be safe?
Ruth must overcome the indifference, hatred and cruelty that surrounds her as she and her family race to escape the advancing Nazi army’s final solution.
What readers are saying about THE RUNAWAY FAMILY:
‘A powerful and movingaccount of the dark era of Germany’s history … A story which needed to be told and should be read by people of all ages’
‘I personally loved this book… A harrowing insight into the lives of a young Jewish family at the beginning of Hitler’s reign of terror … A sound reminder of man’s inhumanity to man!’
‘My university studies had to go on hold for a while because I couldn’t put it down!’
‘Another great storyby Diney Costeloe’
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I am officially of the opinion that Diney Costeloe can do no wrong. Pick up any of her books and read them. You’ll be swept away into the past with such vivid detail that you’ll really feel you are there. This book was terrifying, especially because it was based on a real event that destroyed millions of lives. I don’t usually read Holocaust fiction, but I’m glad I made an exception for The Runaway Family.
The narrator did a great job in distinguishing between people and drawing you in the story.
I just couldn’t stop listening about the two countries (Germany and Austria) leading up to World War II
There are a lot of books out about the holocaust but this book realistic portrays the fear that the Jewish people where feeling during these riots. Evident was cruelty of people and their mob mentality. The story is heart wrenching, and you feel like you are on emotional rollercoaster ride. Friends betraying friends because they try to save guard their own family members.
How do you explain to a child that they are no longer allowed to play with other children in the playground? Can you image having to put your children on a train so they will have a possibility of a future and knowing full well that you might never see them again? I’m sure you will think about this book long after you finished it.
I love everything by this author
Another awesome book by Diney Costeloe! If you like reading historical fiction during the Holocost then you will love this book. Sad, but definitely has a happy ending.
Escaping Hitler
Heartbreaking and such a sad story. When their store is burned down and her husband is arrested by the Gestapo, Ruth is left to care for her four children. She now has no home for them, the clothes on their back and little money. Where will she go to keep her children safe and provide for them.
She stays at friends and relatives staying one step ahead of the Nazi’s not knowing where her husband is or even if he is alive. Just surviving she works until she hears once again the phrase shouted “Jews Out” and knows that she must move once again. Will she ever find a safe place for her family and will she be reunited with her husband.
This book shows us how terrorized the Jewish people were by the Nazi’s and even by their own friends. Some that once were good friends now pretended to not know them, or shouted bad things at them. In Germany the Jewish were not allowed to have any of the freedoms as others. They could not own a business, they could not go to Cinema or the parks. They had curfews and long lines at the only shops they were allowed to shop at. Most of the time they were hungry, cold and very frightened.
It was a story of a courageous woman and how she fought to keep her children safe and to once again find her husband.
I enjoyed this story and I would recommend it .
Thanks to Diney Costeloe for writing a great story, for Billie Fulford-Brown for doing a fine job of narrating the story and to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for making it available to me.
WOW! This was a very powerful novel! It is a chilling account of pre WWII Germany and man’s inhumanity to man. For some reason I got it into my head that Diney Costeloe was a historical fiction lite writer who penned books that used historical details as mere window dressing for a romance. I could not have been more wrong! This was the most incredible book I have ever read about wartime that didn’t involve combat. I literally had a real visceral response to her writing! There were times when I had to turn off the audiobook because I was overcome with emotions that ran the gamut from tear inducing sadness to anxiety and fear for the family! The tension created by Diney, started on the very first pages and continued right until the end!
First and foremost this book is about a family, the Friedmans. Ruth and Kurt Friedman are hardworking owners of a neighborhood grocery store. They are also loving parents of 4 children. They have a good life in a neighborhood that their families have lived and worked in for generations. That is until the Nazis came to power and state encouraged anti-semitism became widespread. As Jews, both worried but it was the night that a mob, lead by the Nazi SS, came to their neighborhood, burned their grocery down and arrested Kurt that the real terror of their situation hit home. It is the story of Ruth’s attempt to keep her children safe and taken care of along with her actions to find Kurt that form the basis of the book.
But this is also a book about hatred with a warning for us all especially in my country. It is the story of how democracy can easily be demolished and one man rise to power supported by an evil regime. It’s the story of how one group can be ostracized and worse. Perhaps it is the ease in which the Jews were so easily separated out and systematically demonized that I found frightening. It started with sowing seeds of distrust, then dehumanizing the Jews leading to their mass murder. To paraphrase a great quote, History will repeat itself if we don’t learn it’s lesson. It can happen here!
I “read” this book via an audiobook. I highly recommend reading this novel via this method. The skill of the narrator at voicing different characters male and female made it easy to differentiate who was speaking. Her acting skills are extraordinary. It was her skill at voicing evil that raised the tension to heart pounding heights.
5 Stars despite agreeing with other reviewers that the ending felt anti-climatic. I always prefer to be shown when reading not told.
Recommended for all adults.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley. This fact in no way influenced my review.