Standards and Correlations

"This is a book about determination, hardship, and overcoming adversity. There aren't many Holocaust-themed books that have a happy ending, which makes this one all the more pleasurable to read." --Jewish Book World

"Lily Renée Wilhelm was fourteen in 1938, a Jewish girl from a privileged Vienna home whose world was about to be turned upside down by the war. In this graphic biography, Robbins, Timmons, and Oh bring her vividly to life, describing her budding talent as an artist and her trips to the ballet and opera. With her father at the helm of the Holland America Steamship Company, money was clearly not an issue—until the Nazis drove their tanks into town. After Kristallnacht, Lily's parents asked the family of Lily's pen pal, Molly, to sponsor their daughter to move to England. In 1939, Lily's escape from Austria on the Kindertransport likely saved her life. We know about the concentration camps, the death camps and the hardships of the Holocaust. Lily Renee, Escape Artist does not revisit these subjects. Instead, it shows us how Lily's life changed in England. Treated with disdain by her friend's mother, she was expected to do the work of a domestic servant and was denied sufficient food. Her misery was exacerbated by the fact that she could barely speak English at the time. She tried hard to find sponsors for her parents so they, too, could escape Austria. Instead of assistance, she was offered "more tea." Fed up with her sponsors, Lily left the house, moved to the countryside and became a nanny. Later she worked as a nurses' assistant. At one point, she was classified as an enemy alien. Ultimately, she was reunited with her parents in America where she found work creating a comic book series with women as the central protagonists. She built a successful life for herself and her family and lived happily ever after. This is a book about determination, hardship, and overcoming adversity. There aren't many Holocaust-themed books that have a happy ending, which makes this one all the more pleasurable to read." --Jewish Book World

"This is a smart little biography that will appeal to history buffs, comic book fans and anyone who likes a gutsy, pioneering heroine." --The New York Times Book Review

"This graphic biography, illustrated in a retro comic book style that befits its subject, describes the life of Lily Renée Wilheim, a Jewish Kindertransport refugee who became a graphic artist of superwomen comic books in New York. Raised in a well-off family in Vienna in the '30s, Lily saw her idyllic childhood descend into one of prejudice, tragedy, Kristallnacht and, finally, escape. This is a smart little biography that will appeal to history buffs, comic book fans and anyone who likes a gutsy, pioneering heroine." --The New York Times Book Review