I was very surprised by The Belgian Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. This 1917 novel tells the story of two Belgian refugees--two children, a boy and a girl, Jan and Marie or Janke and Mie. This isn't a quaint historical book. No, it was contemporary.
The book tells of the German army invading Belgium, disrupting if not destroying the villages and farms in their path. The twins' father joined the army when the first rumors of invasion came. The twins become separated from their mother when the German army comes to their farm. The children are hidden safely away, however. They come out of hiding to discover their farm a wreck and their mother missing. Which about matches the picture of their village. The children start searching for their mother in a nearby town, but an immediate reunion is not possible. Fortunately, the children meet a handful of kind souls along the way: 'Granny' and Father and Mother DeSmet and their children.
The two eventually end up in America as refugees! It is quite an adventure how they got there! This isn't a sad refugee story, but a happy one with a couple of surprises at the end.
Have you read any of the 'Twins' books?
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