This came into the Barnes & Noble where I work as an ARC, it will be published for sale on March 3, and my manger handed it to me. She tends to when Jewish themed stories come in, I'm the only Jewish employee in our store. I can't complain because I got to be the first in our store to read The World The We Knew and now I got the be the first to read this this one.
The Light in Hidden Places is a YA book based on a true story. It is the story of a brave and amazing young woman who in spite of the fear and danger did what she knew was right, she hid 13 Jewish people while Nazis were overrunning her city in Poland. At one point there were two German nurses living right in the house with her. They near about starved, were angry, scared, and in constant danger but she kept them alive. Between her and her equally brave and amazing little sister Fusia defied the rules and chose life and love.
From rats and neighbors turning on neighbors, the Ghetto, deportations to camps, lack of food, the harrows are heartbreaking, more so because it all really happened and feels like it could again. Knowing this isn't just a cautionary tale but the actual events one woman faced gives face to the many Christians who showed grace and mercy to their Jewish friends and neighbors and helped them survive a time that cost 6 million Jews their lives. More stories are out there and I hope we learn of them too.
In the afterward part of the book Sharon Cameron tells us more about Stefania (Fusia) and her sister Helena and what happened to them and to the lives they saved after the war ended and Poland was liberated. I am so glad she did. Sharron had access to Fusia's unpublished memoir and other first hand witnesses to what happened to this group and was able to put into the novel. She also is honest about what she changed (little things like combining some people Fusia met into one character, tweaking of timing for the narrative structure, and a couple of minor facts.
Really well done and important.
(Finished February 9, 2020)
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