Fever at Dawn - Peter Gardos

A day off after Easter and in an effort to avoid the endless banging of builders at the house, I had to escape and  after a walk in the fresh air, it was a chance to sit and read, something I wish I could do more.  This one didn't take too long, a few hours of non stop reading and time to head out into the fresh air again.

At the end of the war, frail and sick Miklos is sent as a refugee to Sweden to recuperate after being in  Belsen.  He decides that he wants to find a wife, so finds a list of other Hungarian women who have been sent to Sweden and writes them all a letter, with only the names changed.  He hears back from a young girl Lily, who he then corresponds with, and it is their letters that form the central theme of this  book.

Based on the true story of how his parents met, it is at times sweet and gentle and I could see how someone will snap the story up and make a moving movie of it with a couple of young pale actors. I did feel sad though reading it, as most Holocaust stories do, the sheer horror of what those poor people must have endured almost overwhelms you.  Still this is the story of what happens next, how you go on, when most of your friends and family have gone and how you survive. 4/5