Acquired Book By: When I initially joined this blog tour – I was betwixt and between the medical crises of my mother – from asthmatic attacks to emergency surgery – long before my father was hopsitalised himself this June. It was a medically critical Spring and start of Summer for my family. This is why I pitched the idea of an interview for the blog tour and would follow it with a review of the novel itself – however, the closer the interview came to be revealled the more curious I began of how the story begins – as just the premise itself had me hooked as an eager reader! I decided to read my standard preview of the first twenty-five pages and share those thoughts alongside the conversation I had with Ms Swift. The fuller ruminative thoughts and review will be forthcoming lateron this month of June.
I received a complimentary copy of “Last Train to Freedom” direct from the author Deborah Swift in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On what intrigued me & convinced me I had to read this novel:
There was a moment in time where I would *devour!* war dramas – my blog’s archives are full to the brim with war dramas and dramatic Historical Fiction stories set during and around different war eras as a whole. I shifted from my focus on the wars themselves to human dramas and human-interest stories set in those generational eras but not entirely focused on the war or the battles in the field themselves. Until I stumbled across this particular novel – and the other series Ms Swift has written. Every so often, I find myself readily intrigued and wickedly convinced that it is time to return to a beloved section of Historical Fiction and resume from whence I had once left off reading the war dramas I once loved so dearly. I had to put them aside years ago when I found them more guttingly emotional to read than uplifting to conclude. Sometimes you have to be honest about what kinds of stories you can handle.
However, having said that – the setting of this novel – the train itself is what convinced me I had to read the story! I’ve been wickedly curious about trains and train travel the full of my life. I’ve had the JOY of riding on trains in the past – from long distance to short commutes – so I know a bit about what is involved on them. I’ve never had a sleeper car but there is something being on a train and getting caught up in the goings-on of the other passengers as well as seeing the landscape change through the windows. It has its own atmosphere and hive of activity as much as the fact that if someone were paying close attention – it is living life in a bit of a fish bowl too. Not much would get past the keenly observant.
Therefore, here are my initial thoughts as I read the first twenty-five pages:
As we enter Zofia’s life, she’s observing how many refugees are flooding into Lithuania. We’ve pulled back the folds of time and have re-visited June of 1940. Where people are escaping with their lives and little else. Yet, Zofia in this moment appears to be calm and going through the motions of making soup – sustenance for more people than it can yield into bowls. Her mind and eyes are alert and her heart tells a a greater story of survival – as Swift etches a lot of emotion and anguish into these short pages – yielding us entrance into Zofia’s state of mind.
Given the immediate threats of war on the persons who are living in affected areas – you can have empathy for Zofia’s own fears – of the unknowns and the uncertainties of what she is about to face or what she cannot, yet fathom will come to pass. War changes everything but it’s the mind that has the hardest time to shift past it. It remembers all.
Swift pulls us directly back into those eerie moments of occupation – where the tanks are in the streets and no one had enough time to heed the warnings of their arrival. They were simply caught unawares and off-guard – rounded up by soldiers (especially the men) and most of the women were left to sort out what would come next in their lives. The towns were plundered and threats were made to some of those left behind – yet, how to stay sane through it all? How to keep you head and plan your next move when your fully aware of the realities of what keeps fear your constant companion?
It was in those tense moments – where Zofia realised that she wasn’t going to be with her Uncle anymore as he was pulled away from her – so forcefully and without mercy. Her brother wasn’t as smart as he was reckless – making impulsive choices that he’d regret one day. Off he’d gone the night before and never returnt home. All for the fancies of a girl and not taking the circumstances, they were finding themselves in seriously.
A moment of choice was before Zofia – and what a choice it was for her to make! She had her go bag and she had courage but where to go? What to do about her brother!? And, worst of all – how to let go of knowing she’d might never see her Uncle alive again? The cruelty of war never lessons.
You felt so anchoured into the footsteps of Zofia that the echoes of the past and the realities she was facing felt all too real as you read her story. By the time I left the text, she had reunited with her brother but convincing him to leave was another battle she’d have to wage with him. He was stubborn but something tells me she will get through to him somehow. The rest of the villagers are afraid for their own lives and are changing their own opinions to match the occupiers of their country. That was a hard bit of truth to read about but one that was expected. Swift holds nothing back to place you directly into the living truth of the moment and gives you a reason to keep turning the pages even if you question if you have enough courage to find out what comes next!
Last Train to Freedom
Subtitle: To share the truth, she must survive the journey...
by Deborah Swift
Source: Author via The Coffee Pot Book Club
1940. As Soviet forces storm Lithuania, Zofia and her brother Jacek must flee to survive.
A lifeline appears when Japanese consul Sugihara offers them visas on one condition: they must deliver a parcel to Tokyo. Inside lies intelligence on Nazi atrocities, evidence so explosive that Nazi and Soviet agents will stop at nothing to possess it.
Pursued across Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Express, Zofia faces danger at every turn, racing to expose the truth as Japan edges closer to allying with the Nazis. With the fate of countless lives hanging in the balance, can she complete her mission before time runs out?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-0008739706
Published by HQ Digital
on 3rd February, 2026
Format: Trade Paperback
Available Formats: Paperback, Audiobook and Ebook
Converse via: #TheCoffeePotBookClub, #HistFic, #HistoricalFiction, and #LastTrainToFreedom
About Deborah Swift
Deborah Swift is the English author of twenty historical novels, including Millennium Award winner Past Encounters, and The Poison Keeper the novel based around the life of the legendary poisoner Giulia Tofana. The Poison Keeper won the Wishing Shelf Readers Award for Book of the Decade. Recently she has completed a secret agent series set in WW2, the first in the series being The Silk Code.
Deborah used to work as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV and enjoys the research aspect of creating historical fiction, something she loved doing as a scenographer. She likes to write about extraordinary characters set against a background of real historical events. Deborah lives in England on the edge of the Lake District, an area made famous by the Romantic Poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge.
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