The Woman With The Blue Star

I love WWII Historical Fiction - a genre with gripping characters and stories that often educate me about lesser-known aspects of the war. In her latest book, author Pam Jenoff takes her readers deep into the sewers of Krakow, Poland as a group of Jewish citizens suffer horrible living conditions to stay out of the Nazis' reach. Based loosely on real events, this is a haunting story about kindness, family, bravery, friendship and sacrifice in one of the darkest periods of history.

Naturally, the unique sewer setting intrigued me, but I also loved that the story is set in Poland, not England, France or Italy - popular WWII settings. The story is told using dual narration of 18-year-old Sadie who is a Jew and 19-year-old Ella, an upper-class Christian woman living with her Nazi-sympathizing evil stepmother. Through these POVs, Jenoff shows several aspects of Nazi rule -- collaborators and others who risk their lives to help complete strangers. Readers often learn about these aspects (emptying of the Krakow Jewish ghetto, concentration camps ...) as second-hand news which keeps the reader just outside the harsher elements of war.  

This story's strength is in its premise and setting, but I struggled to connect with Sadie, whose extreme naiveté felt distracting and occasional bits of redundant dialogue that slowed things down. I also questioned the plausibility that Sadie and Ella could regularly converse through the sewer grate on popular street during Nazi occupation. But once you get past that idea, this is an interesting story with a unique setting that will appeal to many fans of this popular genre. The Women With The Blue Star touches on aspects of the war but still retains a lighter Historical Fiction feel with its focus on perseverance, friendship and extraordinary bravery. Look for this book in stores May 4, 2021!  

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Park Row Books for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Pam Jenoff

Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Park Row Books

First Published: May 4, 2021

Opening Line: Krakow, Poland June 2016 - The woman I see 

before me is not the one I expected at all.

Book Description from GoodReads:  1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous sewers beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.

Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. Scorned by her friends and longing for her fiancé, who has gone off to war, Ella wanders Kraków restlessly. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.

Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by harrowing true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an emotional testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.