The Woman With the Blue Star

Pam Jenoff

Published: May 4, 2021 by Park Row

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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.

My Thoughts:

This is a heartbreakingly beautiful story. The Jewish population in Nazi occupied Poland was forced to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David on their right arm. While not as well known as the yellow stars, these identifiers were strictly enforced and those caught not wearing one would face severe punishment. Jenoff based this novel on stories of Jewish families who utilized the sewers to escape persecution during WWII. While the families in the book are not true representations of any specific people, Jenoff weaves a remarkable tale full of complex characters and harrowing experiences. The character Sadie struggles throughout the book to come to terms with the losses in her life and to have the strength to carry on. Ella struggles to figure out where she fits in amidst the chaos around her. The friendship the two forge brings them each hope and a sense of purpose. While stories of WWII have saturated the market, each new book brings another perspective. This book highlights the grit and determination to survive and persist by both the Jewish and Polish populations. It acknowledges the strength of friendship and love and the need we all have to have each in our lives. A truly mesmerizing tale of love, hope, and survival.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.