The Key Is Lost

What would it be like to lose your home, your family, and even your name?

Eva and Lisa Zilverstijn find out. When they go into hiding from the Nazis during World War II, they lose everything but each other.

As they move from attic to attic, Eva and Lisa must rely on their courage, their imaginations, and the compassion of strangers to survive.

Based on the author's own experiences in Wartime Holland, The Key Is Lost is a moving, understated story about the will to live and how two girls triumph against tremendous odds.

Best of the Year Holocaust Books for Youth (Booklist)

As a child, Ida Vos went into hiding in her native Holland to avoid Nazi persecution during World War II. Like Eva and Lisa, she and her younger sister had everything taken away from them, including their family, their home, and their names.

Mrs. Vos has written several award-wining novels based on her experiences during the war. A starred review in ALA Booklist praises Hide and Seek (Houghton Mifflin) for its lack of "exploitation or sentimentality." The Horn Book calls Anna Is Still Here (Houghton Mifflin) "a striking and, ultimately, hopeful account of how the human spirit survives and recovers." Ida Vos lives in Rijswijk, Holland.

Terese Edelstein lived in Leiden, Holland, for several years. When she isn't translating the works of Ida Vos into English, she teaches violin in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.