Streetcar to Life

It is October 16, 1943, and Hitler’s invasion of Europe is spreading like unquenchable fire. In a ghetto in Rome, the Nazis begin rounding up the city’s Jews for deportation to deadly concentration camps.

Twelve-year-old Emanuele makes a desperate attempt to save his mother. Instead, he’s chased by German soldiers and must take refuge on a Roman streetcar traversing the city. Stop after stop, Emanuele hides in plain sight for three full days, hoping to find his family alive and putting his own life into the hands of kind strangers who risk being shot for concealing a Jew.

A testament to good’s power over evil and based on real life events, The Streetcar to Life is a luminous tale of sacrifice, love, and of finding light when all else seems to go dark.

From the introduction:

My name is Emanuele Di Porto and I am ninety-one years old. On the morning of October 16th, 1943, when the Germans came to the ghetto to carry out a raid, my mother was taken and put on a truck. I ran into the street to save her, but instead she saved me. I have told my story for more than seventy years, but it has only recently gained recognition; many people now recognize me on the street and call me "the tram kid." But I have never been a kid, because at that time there was utter poverty, and everyone had to hurry to grow up and help their family. I have never been a kid, but I will never be old, because in my heart, time has stopped. My story is captured in this book, with some parts being completely true, and others embellished by Tea to bring the past to life.

Tea Ranno was born in Melilli, in the province of Syracuse, in 1963, and has lived in Rome since 1995. She has a degree in law and deals with law and literature. She has published for and/or the novels Cenere (2006, finalist for the Calvino and Berto awards, winner of the Chianti award) and In una lingua che non so più dire (2007). In 2012, Mondadori released La sposa vermiglia and in 2014, again for Mondadori, Viola Fòscari. In 2018 for Frassinelli she released Sentimi and in 2019 for Mondadori L'amurusanza.

Carol Lynch Williams, who grew up in Florida and now lives in Utah, is an award-winning novelist with five daughters of her own. She has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College. She won the prestigious PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for her novel Glimpse and was nominated for the PEN for her book The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson. The Chosen One was named one of the ALA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and Best Books for Young Adult Readers.