FROM THE PUBLISHER

Famed concert pianist Mona Golabek shares the inspirational true story of her mother's escape from pre-WWII Vienna to an orphange in London-243 Willesden Lane. "The music will give you strength...it will be your best friend in life." With these words-the last she would ever hear from her mother-ringing in her ears, young piano prodigy Lisa Jura boarded the Kindertransport and headed for safety. Amidst the dozens of Jewish refugees trying to make their way in war-torn London, Lisa forms indelible friendships, finds romance, and, against all odds, wins a scholarship to study piano at the Royal Academy of London. As she creates a new life for herself, she never lets go of the hope of one day reconnecting with her family. THE CHILDREN OF WILLESDEN LANE is a stunning testament to the power of music to lift the human spirit and to grant the soul endurance, patience, and peace.

Author Biography: A prolific recording artist and producer, Golabek has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and London's Royal Festival Hall. Mona Golabek lives in Los Angeles, California.

Lee Cohen is a journalist, screenwriter and poet. He has collaborated with Mona Golabek on several projects including a recording of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite featuring Meryl Streep. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

One of 10,000 Jewish children sent to England by fearful parents at the dawn of WWII, aspiring pianist Lisa Jura was 14 when her family put her on a Kindertransport train in Vienna. In this alternately heart-wrenching and uplifting story, Jura's daughter, Golabek, a pianist, and writer Cohen trace the six years Jura spent in London, where she found surrogate families in the 31 other young refugees at the Willesden Lane hostel, and in the working-class British women at the East End garment factory that employed her. The authors beautifully capture Jura's passion for music and her determination to realize her dream of becoming a concert pianist. Her quest to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music seems to inject hope into everyone with whom she comes into contact: the hostel owner provides her with a piano and practice time, her housemates band together to drill her on technique and theory, and a co-worker makes her an audition outfit. Yet this is no Babes in Arms. Jura's struggle to hold herself together on the trip to England and as she makes a life for herself without the guidance of her beloved mother is as bleak as her musical successes are joyful. And the depictions of V-Day are especially vivid: rather than celebrate with the masses, Jura retreats to the hostel. The war may be over, but for her and her fellow young refugees waiting to learn the fate of their families, the tragedy will continue. (Apr. 25) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.