I just finished another excellent historical fiction novel based on true history by one of my favorite WWII fiction authors. The author has written 7 other historical fiction novels and I have read every single one. This is her 8th novel written during the beginning of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
STORY SUMMARY
It is 1942 and Sadie Gault is just eighteen years old. She still lives with her parents (Papa and Mama) in the horrible Krakow, Poland ghetto. Before they were forced into the ghetto by the German Nazis, they lived in a middle class apartment in the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. She dreams of becoming a medical doctor someday. One day, the Germans decide to clear the ghetto of all the Jewish people. Most are killed trying to escape the large trucks. Sadie and her parents (her mother is pregnant) flee to the sewers underneath the city. There is one other family in the sewer as well. And one day......Sadie looks up to see a girl about her own age, buying flowers.....the girl sees Sadie......
Ella Stepanek is from an affluent Polish family. Her mother is dead and her father died in the war. Her stepmother, Ana Lucia, is a German collaborator and makes life miserable for Ella. Ella's brother, who is gay, is living in Paris with his partner and Ella hopes to escape to Paris to live with them and study painting. Ella is scorned by her friends because of her stepmother and she is longing for her fiance, Krys who has gone off to fight in the war. She wanders around Krakow aimlessly. Until..she catches a glimpse of a pair of eyes looking up at her from a sewer grate. When she goes over to investigate, she discovers it is a Jewish girl in hiding.
A new friendship is born........
and then......2016 arrives.......who survived??
MY THOUGHTS
This book is intense. Apparently, there really were some Jewish people living in the sewers of Lviv, Poland. The author states in her notes at the back of the book, that she based this fictiousess story around those people, but giving it the setting of Krakow. She did a lot of research into the ways that these people managed to live in order to survive.
The character development is rich in this book. There are not a lot of characters, each one has a different personality, and you will find yourself rooting for each of them. I love that they seemed to come alive through the pages of this story.
The main themes (besides surviving the horrors of WWII) are friendship, bravery, perseverance, sacrifice, hope, kindness, and love.
The ending is NOT predictable although I kind of knew where the author was going with the two main characters....not sure how I knew...I just had this vibe...and I was correct. The ending is superbly done. It really displays the various trials and triumphs of a person.
The ending abruptly summarizes what happens to certain characters after the war. I felt like this was too abrupt. Like all of a sudden we have a neat and tidy package of a story wrapping up. But the twist at the end make it worth reading.
It is heart-wrenching at times and painfully truthful.
It is exciting, dramatic, and compelling. It's a real page-turner and I stayed up far too long many nights this past week to keep reading.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
Sounds like a very good book. Thanks for the review. :-)
Sounds good. I have two of this author's books in my piles. I probably should get to them first.
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