Told for the first time from their perspective, the story of children who survived the chaos and trauma of the Holocaust How can we make sense of our lives when we do not know where we come from? This was a pressing question for the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, whose prewar memories were vague or nonexistent. In this beautifully written account, Rebecca Clifford follows the lives of one hundred Jewish children out of the ruins of conflict through their adulthood and into old age. Drawing on archives and interviews, Clifford charts the experiences of these child survivors and those who cared for them-as well as those who studied them, such as Anna Freud. Survivors explores the aftermath of the Holocaust in the long term, and reveals how these children-often branded "the lucky ones"-had to struggle to be able to call themselves "survivors" at all. Challenging our assumptions about trauma, Clifford's powerful and surprising narrative helps us understand what it was like living after, and living with, childhoods marked by rupture and loss.

Shortlisted for the 2021 Wolfson History Prize and a finalist for the 2021 Cundill History Prize Told for the first time from their perspective, the story of children who survived the chaos and trauma of the Holocaust-named a best history book of 2020 by the Daily Telegraph "Impressive, beautifully written, judicious and thoughtful. . . . Will be a major milestone in the history of the Holocaust and its legacy."-Mark Roseman, author of The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting How can we make sense of our lives when we do not know where we come from? This was a pressing question for the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, whose prewar memories were vague or nonexistent. In this beautifully written account, Rebecca Clifford follows the lives of one hundred Jewish children out of the ruins of conflict through their adulthood and into old age. Drawing on archives and interviews, Clifford charts the experiences of these child survivors and those who cared for them-as well as those who studied them, such as Anna Freud. Survivors explores the aftermath of the Holocaust in the long term, and reveals how these children-often branded "the lucky ones"-had to struggle to be able to call themselves "survivors" at all. Challenging our assumptions about trauma, Clifford's powerful and surprising narrative helps us understand what it was like living after, and living with, childhoods marked by rupture and loss.

It is autumn of 1985 and fifteen year-old Jessica Thurwell, a budding musician, Beatles fanatic, and hopeless romantic, is starting her new life at the small, prestigious Fieldings Academy. Away from the glare of her mother's soap star celebrity and the sprawling confusion of her suburban high school, Jess hopes to shed her mousy, friendless persona. When the charismatic and seemingly popular senior, Perry Wagner, takes Jess under her wing and makes her a part of her tight-knit clique of friends, Jess can't believe her luck.

But soon she discovers the sacrifices and hard work involved in staying in the girls' good graces when she is thrust into a world where not only her new friends could care less about her music and passion for the Beatles, but also where drugs, manipulation, and back stabbing are par for the course and more complex than any plot on her mother's soap.

Things aren't made any easier when Jess finds she has developed a crush on Perry's hunky and overly flirtatious boyfriend Marcus. As she tries to escape the clutches of the clique, she realizes it's going to be a lot tougher than she thought. And then a tragic event shockingly unfolds late in the year, forcing Jess to come face to face with the reality of the world she wanted so much to be a part of.