To Build a Land

by Sally Watson

Hutchinson & Co., 1959, [First Edition], black and white photographic frontispiece, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping edges and corners, no inscriptions, price-clipped dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, chipping and small tears to edges and corners, small pieces missing at back of dustjacket (see photographs)

“The story begins in Naples in 1947; a tough young Italian Jewish boy and his pathetic little sister are sleeping rough among the bombed buildings.  They are picked up and with groups of other children of different nationalities, Dutch, French, Arab, Indian, are taken at last to their new home, a community settlement close to Tel Aviv.  The boys mature quickly; the girls, too, adapt themselves to an exciting new life; often dangerous, for the children’s camp is attacked by Arabs.
This is a serious book, giving a clear insight into the promised land.  But characters, Leo, the hot-tempered Italian boy, Dan the stubborn, reserved Dutch boy, and Shari the beautiful Indian girl whose friendship with an Arab family changes her whole outlook, are finely, vividly drawn.  They are refugees, outcasts, but each of them faces life bravely in his own way.  And then there is Mia, Leo’s little sister, who is frightened of her own shadow, until she finds new-born courage in saving the life of a child.”