Przemysl Poland 1939. Two-year-old Renata is woken by her Mamusia in the middle of the night & bundled into the basement. The peacock quilt she is wrapped in reminds her of a story about a giant who guards a mysterious place called the Underworld. She drifts back to sleep as the sound of thunder rages around them. No one has explained to Renata what war is. She knows her Tatus a doctor is in Europe with the Polish Army & that her beautiful Mamusia is not allowed to work at the university anymore. But more than anything she notices that their frequent visitors
- among them Great Aunt Zuzia & Uncle Julek with their gifts of melon & lovely clothes
- have stopped coming entirely. One morning Mamusia returns home with little yellow six-pointed stars for them to wear. Renata thinks that they will keep them safe. June 1942. Two soldiers in grey-green uniforms burst into their apartment carrying guns. Renata Mamusia & grandmother ' Babcia' are taken to the Ghetto & crammed into one room with other frightened families. The adults are forced to work long hours at the factory & to survive on next to no food. One day Mamusia & Babcia do not return from their shifts. Renata is five years old. Utterly alone she is passed from place to place & survives through the willingness of ordinary people to take the most deadly risks. Her unlikely blonde hair & blue eyes & other twists of fate save her life but stories become her salvation. A true story of the horrors of war Let Me Tell You a Story is a powerful & moving memoir of growing up in extraordinary times & of the magical discovery of books.