Someday We Will Fly - Hardcover

Rachel DeWoskin spent her twenties in China as the unlikely star of a nighttime soap opera that inspired her memoir Foreign Babes in Beijing. She is the author of Repeat After Me and Big Girl Small, which received the American Library Association's Alex Award for an adult book with special appeal to teen readers; Rachel's conversations with young readers inspired her to write her first YA novel, Blind. Rachel is on the faculty of the University of Chicago, where she teaches creative writing. She lives in Chicago with her husband, playwright Zayd Dohrn, and their two daughters.
Rachel and her family spent six summers in Shanghai while she researched Someday We Will Fly.

Gr 7 Up-When Lillia's mother disappears as they are about to leave Poland for Shanghai, fleeing persecution because they are Jewish and caught up in World War II, Lillia, her father, and her younger sister are forced to leave without her mother. They settle into a new life in Shanghai, but Lillia remains haunted by the mystery of her mother's whereabouts and the whole family struggles with their new, precarious position. Refugees in a land divided in its own ways by class and race, they each must cope with loss, poverty, and displacement. As the family's circumstances worsen, Lillia must decide how far she will go to help her father and sister. The historical setting and explorations of disability and interracial relationships add interest to the story. However, the number of different plot elements means that no single point is developed fully, leading to some difficult-to-believe moments and some underdeveloped relationships. Nevertheless, readers will be left with a story detailing poverty, failure, and strength. References for further reading add additional depth and credibility to the setting. VERDICT Grounded in historical details and unflinchingly portraying refugee life, the novel takes World War II fiction in a new direction.-Zoё McLaughlin, Michigan State University