Hana's Suitcase a True Story

An international bestseller and remarkable true story based on an award-winning radio documentary. ‘Really, it’s a very ordinary looking suitcase. You could fit quite a lot in it. Books, games, treasures, toys. But nothing is inside it now. Across the front, there is a girl’s name, Hana Brady. A date of birth: May 16 1931. And Waisenkind. That’s the German word for orphan.’

When Hana’s suitcase arrives from Germany at the small Holocaust education centre in Japan, all the children who visit want to know about Hana. Where did she come from? Where was she going? What did she pack? When Fumiko Ishioka, the centre’s curator, decides to find the answers, she embarks on a journey of discovery across Europe and North America, and seventy years of history.

What Fumiko finds in Hana’s suitcase is a true story of terrible sadness and great joy.