Language of the Heart   

The world stands at the cusp of war. Europe trembles; Germany rocks violently. One young man with fire in his eyes, Solomon Schonfeld, strips his mother’s London home of furniture in order to accommodate the first shipload of what would become thousands of young refugees.

Hannah Cohen of Sunderland, in the north of England, knows nothing of this. Just 21 years old, she’s a fresh graduate of the prestigious University of Durham, proud bearer of a BA in French, German, and Spanish, and the world is her oyster. Bright, articulate, and well educated — one-of-a-kind among the frum girls of her community — Miss Cohen is offered a teaching position at a non-Jewish school even before her exam results come in.

It’s a dreary November morning when Hannah, perusing the Jewish Chronicle as she eats her boiled egg, sees the advertisement that will change the course of her life. It’s an appeal for help: German-speaking volunteers are needed, there are boatloads of children arriving from Europe, escaping Nazi rule, unable to communicate with their rescuers. The advert is signed by Solomon Schonfeld.

Hannah is the youngest of a loving family, the daughter of one of the most influential community members, and now, a successful language teacher. She has no reason to leave her comfortable life in Sunderland, no reason to move to the hustling city of London, no reason to abandon the career she’d been so eager to begin.