From the Publisher
Pulses with pride and rage.” — New York Times Book Review
“Well-researched and riveting.” — Wall Street Journal
“Amazing…both a profoundly moving and breathtaking read.” — Haaretz
"Written with passion…Batalion’s research is prodigious, and her dedication to her story obvious and moving." — Boston Globe
"Gripping, haunting and superbly told...Judy Batalion brings to light half-forgotten tales of astounding courage." — The Economist
“Be not afraid. Judy Batalion brings to life the story of young women who had mindboggling valor. Super heroes. They fought the Nazis. With nerves of steel. You don’t have to fight the Nazis (we hope). But you do have to be courageous and honorable. (Well, most of the time). And you will be. There are inspirational books that change your life. And this is one of them.” — Maira Kalman, author of And the Pursuit of Happiness
“Bold, brave and revelatory, meticulously researched and engagingly written, Batalion transports readers into the harrowing World War II era, where a generation of young, Jewish women banded together to fight an almost unimaginable evil.”
— Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, New York Times bestselling author of Dr. Mutter’s Marvels
"This is a powerful and necessary book. I’m so grateful to Judy Batalion for bringing us these women in all their fierce intelligence and courage. It’s astonishing that their stories haven’t been widely heard until now—but Batalion’s rare combination of skills has brought them to vibrant life. This is history we’ve needed to hear." — Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink
"Judy Batalion has told the largely forgotten stories of the girl couriers, smugglers and fighters who formed the nerve center of Jewish resistance in occupied Poland. A breathtaking, dazzling work of historical resurrection" — Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun (with Marwan Hisham)
“Resounding history of Jewish women who fought the German invaders in World War II. In a vigorous narrative that draws on interviews, diaries, and other sources, Batalion delivers an objective view of past events that are too quickly being forgotten—and a story much in need of telling.”
— Kirkus (Starred Review)
“A remarkable portrait of young Jewish women who fought in the Polish resistance during WWII. . . pays vivid tribute to ‘the breadth and scope of female courage.'" — Publishers Weekly
New York Times
Pulses with pride and rage.”
Wall Street Journal
In her well-researched and riveting chronicle, Judy Batalion brings these unsung heroines to the forefront.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A vigorous narrative that draws on interviews, diaries, and other sources…a story much in need of telling.”
author of Drawing Blood Molly Crabapple
Batalion has told the largely forgotten stories of the girl couriers, smugglers and fighters who formed the nerve center of Jewish resistance in occupied Poland. A breathtaking, dazzling work of historical resurrection.”
Publishers Weekly
Pays vivid tribute to ‘the breadth and scope of female courage.”
The Times Literary Supplement
"The Light of Days rescues a long-neglected aspect of history from oblivion, and puts paid to the idea of Jewish, especially female, passivity during the Holocaust. It is uncompromising, written with passion—and it preserves truly significant knowledge."
Los Angeles Review of Books
Brilliantly researched...a grand celebration of the female spirit."
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Bold, brave and revelatory, meticulously researched and engagingly written, Batalion transports readers into the harrowing World War II era, where a generation of young, Jewish women banded together to fight an almost unimaginable evil.”
New York Times Book Review
Pulses with pride and rage.
Boston Globe
"Written with passion…Batalion’s research is prodigious, and her dedication to her story obvious and moving."
The Jerusalem Post
Hard to put down…The Light of Days is not a story but a multi-layered epic, one that rewrites the Holocaust. Drama abounds and the characters are deeply engaging. Required reading.
Haaretz
Amazing…both a profoundly moving and breathtaking read.”
Christian Science Monitor
"Thrilling, devastating... tells of an underground network of young Jewish women in Poland who resisted the Nazis by engaging in smuggling, sabotage, and even armed defense. Their courageous deeds, largely forgotten until now, are astounding."
The Economist
"Gripping, haunting and superbly told...Judy Batalion brings to light half-forgotten tales of astounding courage."
Wall Street Journal
Well-researched and riveting.
Maira Kalman
Be not afraid. Judy Batalion brings to life the story of young women who had mindboggling valor. Super heroes. They fought the Nazis. With nerves of steel. You don’t have to fight the Nazis (we hope). But you do have to be courageous and honorable. (Well, most of the time). And you will be. There are inspirational books that change your life. And this is one of them.
Rachel Kadish
"This is a powerful and necessary book. I’m so grateful to Judy Batalion for bringing us these women in all their fierce intelligence and courage. It’s astonishing that their stories haven’t been widely heard until now—but Batalion’s rare combination of skills has brought them to vibrant life. This is history we’ve needed to hear."
Molly Crabapple
"Judy Batalion has told the largely forgotten stories of the girl couriers, smugglers and fighters who formed the nerve center of Jewish resistance in occupied Poland. A breathtaking, dazzling work of historical resurrection"
Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Bold, brave and revelatory, meticulously researched and engagingly written, Batalion transports readers into the harrowing World War II era, where a generation of young, Jewish women banded together to fight an almost unimaginable evil.”
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2020-02-24
Resounding history of Jewish women who fought the German invaders in World War II.
The role of women in resisting the genocidal tyranny of the Third Reich has, like so much women’s history, been less well documented than the work of their male counterparts. Batalion, the child of Holocaust survivors, notes that an early role model for her was Hannah Senesh, “one of the few female resisters in World War II not lost to history,” who was captured and executed by the Germans, refusing a blindfold and “staring at the bullet straight on.” Discovering a Yiddish book called Freuen in di Ghettos (Women in the Ghettos) that had been published immediately after the war introduced the author to many other women fighters who contributed to the Allied war effort, whether by sabotaging German supply trains, smuggling weapons, spying for Russian military intelligence, or killing errant German soldiers. A stellar example is “Renia K.,” whose story, in Batalion’s hands, is lifted “from the footnotes to the text.” Eventually captured by the Gestapo, she was asked, “Don’t you feel it’s a waste to die so young?” She responded, “As long as there are people like you in the world, I don’t want to live.” Surprisingly, she survived, although her story and those of many others were reshaped for political purposes. Those women, Batalion convincingly argues, have often been misrepresented for just those reasons. Many were politically active before the war and even militant, espousing “Zionist, socialist, and pioneer values,” and some chroniclers have been reluctant to celebrate their work because doing so might unduly judge those who did not resist, “ultimately blaming the victim.” In a vigorous narrative that draws on interviews, diaries, and other sources, Batalion delivers an objective view of past events that are too quickly being forgotten—and a story much in need of telling.
A welcome addition to the literature of the Shoah and of anti-Nazi resistance. (20 b/w photos)
