The World Starts Anew: The Star and the Shamrock Series - Book 4 Kindle Edition

The World Starts Anew: The Star and the Shamrock Series Book 4 is by Jean Grainger. This book is just as intense and emotional as the others in the series. Through this series, we readers have watched Liesl and Erich Bannon grow up in Ireland among strangers who took them in after they were brought to England by the Kindertransport. They were to stay with a cousin in London, Elizabeth; but after her home was bombed during the Blitz, she took them to Ireland where they stayed in her parents’ home. They became friends with the children at a nearby farm which had been set up for Jewish children who weren’t placed in homes. The entire group on the farm as well as the townspeople became good friends and acceptance was granted to all. After the war, Liesl and Erich’s mother came to Ireland to be reunited with the children. She and the lady who hid her during the war and the lady’s son also came to their town in Ireland. Rather than take the children away from their adoptive parents, their mother stayed and became part of the extended family. Now, Liesl and Erich are grown and are making lives of their own. As usual in people’s lives, real life is not without its struggles and problems. Most of Liesl’s problems were in Book 3 but Erich’s are just beginning.Jean Grainger does a fantastic job of creating this story and combining her imagination with the beauty and ugliness of life in Ireland after World War II. She tells their story with a truthfulness that makes it necessary to expose some of the dark secrets that life includes. She shows that with the combined strengths of everyone around us, we can overcome the dark secrets and be left with the light of the best life has to offer. Her novels are always well researched and well written. Like the others in the series, having a box of tissues nearby is advised.How I let this book sit unread since November, I have no idea. The only thing I can come up with is that I kept it because I knew the series would be over when I finished this book. That makes me sad.

This set of books is wonderful. Such lovable characters who have had so much trouble in their lives but worked through those troubles by leaning on each other and trusting God to lead them.

A lovely novel about the love and friendships among people of different faiths. Being very ecumenically inclined myself, even as an Episcopal priest, I found it heart warming and good. I have a sneaking suspicion that God doesn’t much care what we call ourselves as long as we love and care for one another to the best of our abilities.

I wish that I could give this book, and the entire series, more than 5 stars, but this is the best we readers can do. It was a wonderful book that ended a fantastic series. I will miss the characters from the Star and Shamrock books as they have become like friends or family to me. This book was so important as it included the many good and not so good features of life in Ireland at the time, including the kindness of the people who took in and cared for the children from the Kindertransport; the IRA; the horrors of the Catholic Church's treatment of unwed mothers and the kidnapping of their children and yet, it ended on a hopeful note. I don't want to say more so as not to spoil the story for other readers.Jean Grainger is one of my favorite authors and I look forward to more wonderful books to come. To date, I have read everything she has written and recommend every one of her books to fellow readers.

I really enjoyed this series by Jean Grainger. I felt that I could relate to the characters and I certainly connected with all of their struggles. I highly recommend all of these books.

Another excellent series by Jean Grainger that has improved and expanded my knowledge. I've been to Ireland. I've met Holocaust survivors and seen their tattooed numbers first hand. This series coming led my experiences.

I really loved this series. Stories about WWII are abundant but this told from the point of view of children in the Kindertransport was heartbreaking and heartwarming. Everyone in the story had incredible personal growth and the lesson learned is exposure to different faiths only emphasizes the similarities that our religions have when we don’t dwell on the differences.

Nice ending to the book series

This book was sincere . I liked that the rabbi figured prominently in the story and that his life improved near one 8p end. He deserved it He made everyone's life better during the war .And I really liked how he manovered to have a bigger stick. Great book!

This is one of Ms Grainger's loveliest books. Like all her books it takes you into Irish communities with characters so real you want to meet them. This series follows the lives of Jewish refugees who escaped the Nazi horrors in a small farm in Ireland, and grew up there after the war. The main hero for me is the Rabbi who stays on at the farm so that survivors can keep in touch with him, including one who grew up to be a vicious criminal but one the Rabbi nurtures, still, in the hope that he'll change. It's a time when, in the Magdalene Homes for Unmarried Mothers babies were sold and the mothers earned their keep in the laundries, and there was still religious intolerance. Three faith leaders - Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish are the best of friends, supporting one another with humour and real affection. Jean Grainger is very gifted and her books are a delight.

Having read the first three books in this series I was thrilled to find the fourth, and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was sad to say goodbye to all the characters. Oh, if only the world was like Ballycraggen we could live in relative harmony in acceptance of our differences.

Well with tears in my eyes, I say goodbye and God speed to the characters in this series. I enjoy the insights into faith and the camaraderie developed with the priest, rabbi and minister. Through the series, the growth of characters was well developed. As. a senior having worked with people and also watched their growth while staying in touch, I am amazed at their resilience to deal with what life deals us. The way it happens though as illustrated, is through our relationships with friends! Kindnesses does begat kindness. Thanks again Jean Grainger.

Lovely end to the series, for all characters. A good story with more truths of horrendous moments in history.. Well written