Every story has a beginning, a journey, and an end. Author Vera Leinvebers’s story begins in her beloved homeland of Latvia, just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Her early childhood is filled with joy and music, but this idyllic, carefree existence is irrevocably silenced by the advancing drumbeats of war. The journey that follows proves so intense and harrowing that in order to fi nd the emotional separation necessary to face her traumatic childhood memories, Leinvebers fi lters her experiences through the eyes of a young Latvian girl called Lara. No Time to Cry tells the story of Lara’s harrowing ordeal in war-ravaged Europe. It is a story about brutality, hatred, and unimaginable loss, but it is also a lasting testament to one little girl’s indomitable will to survive. When she loses nearly everything she holds dear, Lara desperately clings to the all that remains—the music indelibly etched in her memory and a small, smooth stone that she retrieved from the charred remains of her former home. That small stone became her symbol of strength. If it could survive the inferno and devastation, so could she. Join Lara as a traveller on the path of her war-ravaged childhood, a path that clearly proves that no matter how much one might suffer, when the goal is to survive there is simply no time to cry.