Suzanne Leal

And she knows Henrik because he was a customer of her parents' bakery.

And there they, first of all, just hide themselves away in a barn belonging to the farmer's.

And when they're discovered by these farmers, they stay, which seems to be a wonderful act of rescue.

But as with much of this book, there's a double-edged sword to it all.

So while the wife, Christina, provides them with just enough food to survive, Henrik decides he'll come and visit Rosa at night and he'll have sex with her.

which she can't refuse because of the situation she's in.

So for a long time, the story is about life in the barn with Rosa and her daughter Shira, who she has to keep quiet and who she cajoles to keep quiet by telling her stories about an enchanted forest and a yellow bird who can sing where the girl cannot.

From there, we're brought into the

awful circumstances when she's faced with a choice.

Should she stay hidden in the barn with her daughter or should she let her daughter go to be protected, hopefully, by non-Jewish people as part of a project to save Jewish children?

And it's that awful choice given to a mother.

I think she did that very well.

I think that was one of the real strengths of the book.

And when I started to read it, I was reminded of Room by Emma Donoghue, which for the listeners who haven't read it, is a story of a woman who's the captive of a fairly mad, awful man.

And she gives birth to his child.

And they are hidden really in this room.

And the mother has to

entertain and protect her daughter.

And so there were aspects of that that really came to my mind when I was reading The Yellow Bird Sings.

I think what Jennifer Rosemar does very well is to capture the really visceral elements of hiding.