Let Me Tell You a Story: A Memoir of a Wartime Childhood

By Renata Calverley

Przemysl, Poland, 1939. Two-year-old Renata is woken by her Mamusia in the middle of the night and bundled into the basement. The peacock quilt she is wrapped in reminds her of a story about a giant who guards a mysterious place called the Underworld. She drifts back to sleep as the sound of thunder rages around them.

No one has explained to Renata what war is. She knows her Tatus, a doctor, is in Europe with the Polish Army and that her beautiful Mamusia is not allowed to work at the university anymore. But, more than anything, she notices that their frequent visitors - among them Great Aunt Zuzia and Uncle Julek with their gifts of melon and lovely clothes - have stopped coming entirely. One morning Mamusia returns home with little yellow, six-pointed stars for them to wear. Renata thinks that they will keep them safe.

June, 1942. Two soldiers in grey-green uniforms burst into their apartment carrying guns. Renata, Mamusia and grandmother 'Babcia' are taken to the Ghetto and crammed into one room with other frightened families. The adults are forced to work long hours at the factory and to survive on next to no food. One day Mamusia and Babcia do not return from their shifts.

Renata is five years old. Utterly alone, she is passed from place to place and survives through the willingness of ordinary people to take the most deadly risks. Her unlikely blonde hair and blue eyes and other twists of fate save her life but stories become her salvation.

A true story of the horrors of war, Let Me Tell You a Story is a powerful and moving memoir of growing up in extraordinary times, and of the magical discovery of books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781408834510

Renata Calverley

Renata Calverley was born in Poland in 1937. She has an Honours Degree in English Literature and American Studies from Nottingham University, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from the London University Institute of Education and a Diploma in Creative Writing. A retired deputy head of a Sixth Form, she taught English for thirty-five years, including twenty years at Aylesbury Grammar. She is an accomplished public speaker, regularly recounting her experiences to societies and interested parties across the UK. Renata Calverley lives in Oxford with her husband.

Reviews for Let Me Tell You a Story

[.monkey.-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a nice book. A woman's memoir looking back at her time as a little girl in Poland during the Holocaust, and the horrors she went through. But ultimately with a fairly happy ending, for once.

[sixteendays · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Less "A memoir of a wartime childhood" and more "a childhood that happened to occur during wartime". While the war definitely frames Renata's life and dictates where she gets sent and how often, ultimately her recollection is that of a very young child that didn't understand what war was and therefore just ran about acting quite spoiled and constantly deciding she hated everyone that wouldn't give her everything she wanted. I know that some people have a very good memory of their childhood, but the level of detail here is almost impossible to believe, which also made me side-eye the story the entire time.

[sublunarie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Less "A memoir of a wartime childhood" and more "a childhood that happened to occur during wartime". While the war definitely frames Renata's life and dictates where she gets sent and how often, ultimately her recollection is that of a very young child that didn't understand what war was and therefore just ran about acting quite spoiled and constantly deciding she hated everyone that wouldn't give her everything she wanted. I know that some people have a very good memory of their childhood, but the level of detail here is almost impossible to believe, which also made me side-eye the story the entire time.