'Live, Miri. Don't let the Nazis wipe out our entire family, our entire people … Don't think of anything but survival … Promise me, Miri. Promise me you'll try to survive.'
I nodded slowly. And promised.
Miri's happy life is interrupted when the Jew-hating Germans march into Warsaw. Soon, she and her family must move to the ghetto. She hopes that now they will be left alone, but what the Nazis have planned is far worse than she could have ever imagined.
Based on true events, Within These Walls gives a realistic account of what it was like to be a Jewish child in Warsaw during the Holocaust.
Within These Walls, written for 11- to 14-year-olds (though compelling reading for all ages), was first published by Scholastic Australia in 2016. It was shortlisted by the CBCA in 2017, and won the 2018 WAYRBA Older Reader award. The book went out of print in 2021.
The author explains why this new Hybrid edition is being published in 2025:
'Since October 7, 2023, the number of antisemitic incidents in Australia has grown by over 300%. There have been increasing incidents of synagogues and Jewish businesses being firebombed, and of Jewish property being vandalised and destroyed. Hatred of Jews has infiltrated our schools, our universities and even our hospitals. Holocaust education is part of the fight against the growing antisemitism that surrounds us. It is up to us all to call out antisemitism when we see it, and to educate our children, so that they understand where hatred can lead.'
