Summary

In this section, Clara and her family leave Russia in a pogrom and travel through Germany towards North America. Travelling by train, Clara observes other Jewish refugee families “carrying their whole lives on their backs like a great army of snails” (69). The German border guards brutally force them to strip and clean themselves, harshly reminding the family they are unwelcome in Germany. They pass by train through Germany to Hamburg before disembarking to travel by boat up the Elbe River to the North Sea, sailing for three days towards England. Clara narrates “we cling to anything not buckling or bending in the face of the vaulting waves. None of us have found our balance yet” (79).

Entering England, Clara is estranged firstly by the language barrier, not understanding a word of English “which is no cousin to Yiddish or Russian” (80). They are moved to...