Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Boxcars

Author: Jim T. Barfield

Narrator: Daniel Fishman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-26-14

Publisher: Jim Thomas Barfield

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

In May, 1944, a Jewish teenager's career as a promising concert violinist has been derailed, and he is on the run from the Nazis.

With the Gestapo at his heels, he discovers a hidden cave in western France which he establishes as his hideout. There, amidst ancient cave drawings containing possible hidden meanings, and an underground river fed by soothing hot springs, he finds refuge but shallow peace until he joins the French Resistance. At age 17, he is called upon to take part in daring missions against the Germans who are racing to fortify the Atlantic Coast in anticipation of D-Day.

At the same time, a Romani teenage prisoner at Auschwitz, who the famously sadistic Dr. Mengele refers to as "that Gypsy waif", escapes from a Nazi medical experiment and attempts to make her way back to France.

The two teens are destined to meet under such circumstances that their lives become desperately entangled as they struggle to survive the Holocaust. These young adults of radically different backgrounds are cast together during war to experience their own distinct coming-of-age epiphany as they painfully explore their increasingly complicated and awkward relationship brewing beneath the canopy of dissonant cultures and beliefs.

Members Reviews:

Coming of Age in World War II

Mr. Barfield draws on his ancestry to tell this story of two young people during World War II. Interspersed with the dramatic story are vignettes of history that are both interesting to read as well as essential to the story. This novel is about two teens whose paths invariably cross in the backdrop of the war. But this book is not just a story for young adults (although the YA audience will find it interesting and will learn a great deal from it). This story can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Mr. Barfield develops this story in such a way that the reader is drawn into the plot and grows into a caring relationship with the characters. My only quibble with this book is that it ends too abruptly for my taste. I hope that Mr. Barfield will consider writing a sequel soon so this story can be continued and we can further enjoy reading about the lives of these two young people.

Interesting to read...

Reader described scenery and characters well. I wanted to keep reading, instead of waiting for another day. Read in two long sittings. As in all good books, I want to read a sequel to find out more about the main characters,

I bought mainly because I graduated high school with the author. I'm very proud of his talent and can't wait to see him again at our reunion.

Coming of age during a time of Nazi barbarism

Jim Barfield's first novel is bitter-sweet without being maudlin and weaves a lovely story of two young people brought together by chance as they both struggle to escape the horrors of Hitler's "Final Solution". It is a story every young person should read, not only for the uplifting message that friendship and love can flourish despite overwhelming odds but also to honor the many innocent and helpless people of different racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds who were brutally persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime.

Highly recommend!

Adventure, drama, intimacy, factual history combined into one fast-moving easy-to-read novel. A little over 200 pages. I couldn't put it down! I learned things I never knew about the horrors of the holocaust, but the book doesn't dwell there.