Otto and Daria ― A Wartime Journey Through No Man's Land

A poignant memoir of lives cleaved by war, Otto and Daria is the first-hand account of Eric Koch, a man who once was called Otto. As a Jewish refugee from WWII Germany, Otto first left his country for England, and later arrived in Canada, where he was for a time imprisoned in a camp. The counterpoint to Otto's recollections are the letters from his long-distance love interest, Daria Hambourg, a London girl of bohemian temperament, unusual literary talents and a distinguished, but restrictive, family background. These parallel writings tell the story of two young people caught in the grip of history, and together show what you have to give up in order to move forward.

Eric Koch was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1919. From 1937 to 1940 he attended Cambridge, where he studied economics and law. In May 1940, he was interned as an "enemy alien," together with thousands of other Jewish refugees. He was among those who were sent to Canada, where he remained interned until the end of 1941. From 1944 until 1979 he worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is the author of fourteen books of fiction and six of non-fiction.