Last Train to Freedom

Deborah Swift

THE two thousand Jews who managed to escape the Nazi invasion of their native Poland in 1939 and fled to neighbouring Lithuania found themselves caught in a deadly pincer movement when rampaging Russian troops moved west the following year.

Caught between two ruthless armies, there was only one route that offered the possibility of survival...an almost six thousand mile journey across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and onward to freedom.

A forgotten, and little known, chapter of wartime history springs to life in all its heartbreaking cruelty, peril and human cost in a gripping new novel from bestselling Lancashire-based author Deborah Swift (pictured below) whose Secret Agents trilogy, which included The Silk Code, The Shadow Network and Operation Tulip, thrilled her army of fans. Swift, who lives in Warton, near Carnforth, used to work backstage as a scenographer in many North-West theatres, including Liverpool Playhouse and The Duke’s theatre, Lancaster, and it is her imaginative flair, painstaking research, and keen eye for drama and authenticity, that has made her historical novels so viscerally real and exciting.

And she once more turns to real history in this breathtaking page-turner which explores the true story of Japanese diplomat Sugihara Chiune – based in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas – who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees by issuing them with transit visas from Lithuania to Japan before the Russians invaded and all embassies and consulates were forced to close. It’s a story filled with betrayal, espionage, danger and daring as Jewish refugee twins, Zofia and Jacek Kowalski, discover that the price of escaping the clutches of two brutal enemies is not just a perilous train journey across Russia, but taking on a clandestine mission to deliver a package containing explosive intelligence on the Nazis.

In June of 1940, the Jewish refugees who have found an uneasy sanctuary in the city of Kaunas are well aware that Russian troops are ‘massed like a dark smudge’ over the border and when the invasion begins, Zofia and Jacek Kowalski know they must flee to survive.

The twins left Poland after their father was shot by the Nazis and now their temporary refuge is no longer safe and the ‘feeling of restlessness, having nowhere to go’ comes flooding back. Jacek’s work as a journalist on a local newspaper makes him particularly vulnerable to the Russians who will see him as anti-Soviet while his anger at their situation is like a volcano ‘ready to erupt.’ Zofia – who speaks fluent Polish, Russian and English – feels her twin brother’s hurt but she is much more of a realist and accepts that the world has changed and there was nothing on earth they could do to change it back.

Caught ‘between the jaws of two lions,’ the twins and Jacek’s Lithuanian sweetheart Masha are thrown a lifeline when Japanese consul Sugihara offers them Japanese visas – which could be their tickets to freedom – on one condition... Zofia must deliver a top-secret parcel to government officials in Tokyo. Inside lies intelligence on Nazi atrocities, evidence so incendiary that Nazi and Soviet agents will stop at nothing to possess it. Pursued across Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Express, there is danger at every turn as Zofia races to expose the truth before Japan moves ever closer to allying with the Nazis. With the fate of countless lives now hanging in the balance, can she complete her mission before time runs out?

One of the secrets of Swift’s success as a historical novelist is the depth and rich detail of her research, an aspect of her writing which she finds the most enjoyable and rewarding. And the immaculate wartime backdrop she paints for this emotionally charged and heart-pounding tale brings to life both the plight of homeless Jews and the people of the Baltic nations caught up in a vicious power struggle between Germany and Russia.

Full of the darkness and danger of being ensnared in some of the Second World War’s most horrific events, Swift’s enthralling tale seamlessly weaves together actual events with a fictional drama without losing sight of the very real suffering of the Jewish people who were hunted and haunted by enemies every step of the way. And at the heart of the action is the constant uncertainty, desperation and menace for Zofia and Jacek as they set out on on their epic train journey across the vast wastelands of Russia. Travelling on a dubious visa, pursued by both the SS and agents of the Russian secret police, and not knowing who to trust, they guard a secret that would almost certainly be their death warrant if it was discovered.

Real history in the raw, heart-pounding drama, bone-chilling danger, intrigue, romance, and characters to love and fear…Last Train to Freedom has it all. Don’t miss the ride!
(HQ, paperback, £9.99)