When the world was ours

Max, Leo and Elsa are three friends in Vienna in 1936, whose lives are transformed by the course of events over the next nine years.

Vienna. 1936. Three young friends spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that events will soon mean that they are ripped apart from each other as their lives take very different directions...

Inspired by a true story, When the World was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and shows the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.

NOTE : Could be read by top Juniors, but the depictions of the Holocaust, including concentration camps, mean that we have preferred this as Younger Teenage.

Powerfully effective storytelling, the short chapters told from each child's viewpoint adding to the emotional impact. Genuinely moving, especially the ending. Highly recommended.
Does not shy away from the horrors of war - we have categorised this as top Junior Fiction, but the depictions of the Holocaust, including concentration camps, may lead some to prefer this as Younger Teenage.

Could be read by top Juniors, but the depictions of the Holocaust, including concentration camps, mean that we have preferred this as Younger Teenage.