Review of The Forest of Vanishing Stars

Harmel, Kristin.  The Forest of Vanishing Stars.  Gallery Books, 2021.

 

In 1922, Jerusza, an elderly mystic, kidnaps two-year-old Inge Juttner from her wealthy parents in Berlin because she feels the child’s parents are “bad people”.  Jerusza changes Inge’s name to Yona, which means dove, because she has a dove-shaped birthmark on her wrist.  She raises Yona in the forests of Eastern Europe as her own child.  She only has two rules Yona must follow—she must always obey Jerusza, and she must stay hidden in the forest, away from men who might hurt her.  Not only does Jerusza teach Yona how to survive in the forest, but she also teaches her practical things—more than five different languages and about the world’s religions.

 

In 1942, Jerusza passes away, and Yona is left on her own.  One day, she comes upon two men, one of whom is unsuccessfully trying to catch fish with his bare hands.  She discovers the men are part of a larger group of Jews who fled into the forest when Jews in their Polish town were being killed by the Nazis.  Yona joins their group and teaches them how to live in the forest and survive during the harsh winters.  After a romantic interest betrays her, Yona decides to leave.

 

Yona enters a German-occupied town and becomes friendly with a group of nuns, who have been quietly helping Jews escape from the country.  However, after she reconnects with a relative from her past, which leads to another betrayal, she goes back into the forest.  She realizes that everything that Jerusza had been teaching her was so she could help the Jews survive until World War II was over.

 

Kristin Harmel, who also wrote The Book of Lost Names, has written another mesmerizing World War II tale of courage and survival.  She has based her novel on true stories—that of the nuns, the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek, and of the thousands of Jews who actually lived in forests during World War II.  She has peppered her novel with information about survival techniques, medicinal herbs, and shelter construction, all of which she researched extensively.  She even interviewed Aron Bielski, a 93-year-old World War II survivor, who survived the war by living in the forests.

 

The characters are well fleshed-out and developed.  Both Yona and Jerusza are strong, capable women, although rather untrusting of others.  Yona, having not grown up with her parents, feels she has missed out on family and deeply yearns to have one of her own.  Even though Jerusza lived to be very old, she was one tough cookie!  Both she and Yona have the ability to sense things, especially danger.

 

The Forest of Vanishing Stars is an extraordinary story, a tale of survival and hope.  It can be enjoyed by both adults and teens.  Give it to readers who read historical fiction and those who like reading about World War II.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of The Woman With the Blue Star

Jenoff, Pam.  The Woman With the Blue Star.  Park Row Books, 2021.

 

Nineteen-year-old Sadie Gault is living with her parents in the Jewish quarter in Krakow, Poland in 1942.  When the Germans come to round up the Jews, the Gaults and another family, the Rosenburgs, escape down into the sewers under the city.  While they are being led through the tunnels, Sadie and her pregnant mother, Danuta, watch in horror as Mr. Gault falls into the water and gets carried away in the current.  The living arrangements in the sewer chamber for Sadie, her mother, and the Rosenbergs are only supposed to be temporary.  However, the two families end up living there for months after Pawel, the sewer worker who led them there, is arrested by the Polish police.  After Pawel’s arrest, the two families have to figure out how they will get food and supplies without his help.  In the meantime, Sadie and Saul Rosenberg, the Rosenbergs’ son, begin a relationship when they start reading books together.

 

While Gaults and Rosenbergs are trying to survive underneath Krakow, nineteen-year-old Ella Stepanek is stuck living with her Austrian stepmother, Anna, in another part of the city.  Her father has died fighting in the Polish army and has left everything to Anna.  Much to Ella’s dismay, Anna is entertaining and consorting with Nazi soldiers right in their home.  One day, Anna sends Ella to the market, and Ella notices Sadie looking up at her through a sewer vent.  Ella and Sadie become friends, and Ella, with the help of her boyfriend, Krys, who is part of the Resistance, try to provide food for the sewer families.

 

More complications for the Gaults and Rosenbergs begin after Danuta gives birth to her daughter.  Afraid that the baby’s cries will give away the families’ location, Danuta leaves the sewer to take the baby to a hospital and never returns.  The two families continue to have to make decisions that will affect their survival during the war.

 

The Woman with the Blue Star takes place in Krakow, Poland, both above and below ground.  It is told in alternating chapters in first-person by Sadie and Ella.  Other parts of the story are filled in by Pawel and Lucy, Sadie’s sister, when they finally meet years later.

 

Pam Jenoff is a masterful world-builder.  Her descriptions of life in the sewers are horrifying and based on events that actually happened.  Readers will feel they are smelling the foul, stagnant water and hearing the nasty rats scurrying in the dark.  In addition, the depiction of life in Krakow during the war shows how the city was affected and how Jews were treated during this time.

 

The book shows both the good and bad of the human race during World War II.  Although they are from different walks of life, Sadie and Ella make a real connection and quickly become good friends.  Both girls have to reach down deep and find their inner strength to help others.  This fervent story is one of hope, survival, struggles, friendship, loss, and family.

 

Hand this book to readers who enjoy reading fiction stories about World War II and those who like tales of survival and adversity.  Although it is written for adults, it would be a good young adult crossover novel, as teens would also enjoy it.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it four out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to NetGalley, Park Row Books, and Harlequin for allowing me to read and review this novel.

Review of Once by Morris Gleitzman

Once by Morris Gleitzman; Henry Holt, 2010, c2005.

Felix, the son of Jewish bookstore owners, is dropped off at a Polish Catholic orphanage when he is six-years-old. They explain to Felix that he must stay at the orphanage while they expand their book business. Nearly four years later, he is still waiting for his parents to return, and World War II is in full swing. One day, Felix sees strange, ominous men burning books in the courtyard of the orphanage and is afraid that these strangers are looking for his parents in order to burn their books. Determined to warn his parents, he escapes from the safety of the orphanage where he has been sheltered from the war and the Holocaust. On his journey, Felix is shot at by Nazis, finds out new owners have moved into his family home, and is called names and chased out of town. When he reaches the ghetto, where he thinks his parents have gone, he saves a young girl and experiences more Nazi cruelty. Shortly thereafter, he is befriended by Barney, a dentist, who takes Felix and some other children into hiding. Ultimately, the group is discovered and forced onto a train bound for the death camps.

What a riveting story! Told through the eyes of Felix, who happens to be a fabulous writer and teller of his own stories, readers see how being sheltered in an orphanage has led to Felix’s naiveté and ignorance about the war, the Holocaust, and the Nazi movement. He has been led to believe, even by the priest, that Adolf Hitler is a kind man. The way that Felix describes the unfolding events has a humorous side, even though they deal with a depressing subject. He is shocked when he sees Nazis killing innocent people “over books”! Every chapter begins with “Once”…as Felix describes something that has happened to him. The title of the book actually comes from a line that Barney utters: “Everyone deserves to have something good in their life at least once.” The author indicates in endnotes that Barney is a veiled reference to Janus Korczak, who actually helped run an orphanage for Jewish children for many years.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Most accounts of the Holocaust are written through the eyes of an adult. It is refreshing to see the same events through the eyes of a child. I highly recommend this book for middle school, high school, and public libraries! Note* Once was previously published in 2005 in Australia. The cover art is stunning!