As a quaint old Norman church bathed in the late morning sunshine, a young bride waits anxiously for her groom. Anna, a German of Roma origin, is stepping into a new life in London. She will finally escape the horrors of her past. When Anna flees the death camps of 1930s Germany to England, she is relieved. But events in her adopted homeland throw her best-laid plans in disarray. This is her story. It’s a story about hope and heartbreak, love and hate, anger and confusion, blind prejudice and intolerance, and even redemption. Seamlessly, Sam Martin gives a well-rounded view of the war on the home front; its claustrophobic, tense atmosphere, the prevailing opinions of the day, and the seismic decisions taken by those in power.
The world is going through unprecedented times. However, we can all rise through the unknown together by reading. ‘Pictures of Anna’ describes some of our feelings right now: hope, courage, fear, love, kindness, anxiety, dread and other emotions we can’t even put into words.
Sam Martin’s gritty prose tells a sensitive story. It’s a book for all ages.
Arrow Gate Publishing 