The Woman with the Blue Star

by Pam Jenoff

Overview

"An emotional novel that you will never forget." —Lisa Scottoline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eternal

From the author of The Lost Girls of Paris comes a riveting tale of courage and unlikely friendship during World War II — Now a New York Times bestsller!

1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents in 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 tunnels 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. 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 incredible true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an unforgettable testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.

Highly recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, CNN, BookTrib, Goodreads, Betches, AARP, Frolic, SheReads, and more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780778389385
Publisher:	Park Row Books
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	12,440
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction, including the NYT bestseller The Orphan's Tale. She holds a degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her JD from UPenn. Her novels are inspired by her experiences working at the Pentagon and as a diplomat for the State Department handling Holocaust issues in Poland. She lives with her husband and 3 children near Philadelphia, where she teaches law.

Editorial Reviews

03/22/2021

Jenoff’s spellbinding latest (after The Lost Girls of Paris) follows a Jewish family hiding from the Nazis in Kraków, Poland. Famished 18-year-old Sadie Gault’s parents insist she hide in a crawl space of their ghetto apartment in 1942, to spare her from grueling forced labor. A year later, facing intensifying raids, the family escapes into the sewer system with help from a worker who explains the tunnels and brings them food. Sadie bonds over books with the 20-something son of another family hiding with them, and their friendship blossoms into romance. Meanwhile, in a parallel narrative, a young Catholic woman named Ella Stepanek dreams of marrying her boyfriend and yearns to flee from her cruel Nazi collaborator stepmother. While running an errand at the market, Ella happens to glance down at a sewer grate in the street and sees Sadie looking up at her. Thus begins a lifesaving friendship in which both young women discover great inner resources neither one knew she possessed. Jenoff drew on a true story for this harrowing narrative, and shapes it with precise details of the subterranean world and of the city’s churches, markets, and cafes. This moving tale of young women’s will to survive on their own terms will appeal to readers of all ages. Agent: Susan Ginsberg, Writers House. (May)

Publishers Weekly

2021-02-10
In Nazi-occupied Kraków, a friendship between two young women, one Jewish and one Polish, alters the destinies of both.

The present-day prologue introduces an unidentified 70-something woman who is visiting Poland, trying to work up the nerve to make contact with a 90-ish Kraków resident. The novel proper alternates the first-person narratives of Sadie Gault and Ella Stepanek, both 19. A mass deportation of Kraków’s Jews in 1943 drives Sadie’s father to take desperate measures to avoid the camps. With the help of Pawel, a Polish sewer worker, Sadie and her parents escape into Kraków’s sewer tunnels, but Sadie's father drowns along the way. To avoid capture, Sadie and her mother—who's pregnant—must hide in a small chamber inside the sewer system along with the Rosenbergs, a more devout family. Meanwhile, Ella’s father died defending Poland, and her stepmother, Ana, is now welcoming German officers to Ella’s family home (where she lives at Ana’s sufferance). Then one day, walking through a market, Ella spots Sadie through a grate, and they make eye contact. She returns the next day, and gradually the acquaintance between the young women warms into friendship. Sewer living gets even more challenging when Pawel, sole source of food and supplies, is arrested. Ella, aided by her resistance fighter boyfriend, smuggles food to the refugees. Sadie and young Saul Rosenberg overcome their religious differences and fall in love. After Sadie’s mother gives birth, the infant’s wails force the fugitives to make a terrible choice. All these well-drawn characters have too few options, which they debate endlessly and repetitiously. The description of how the sewer dwellers exist for months in a small, bare, filthy space is sketchy. The book's timeline can feel vague—the main action is happening in 1943, but the historical circumstances suggest 1944. There are continuity glitches. At the beginning of the book, Ella notes that her father left no will, but much later, the will turns up with no comment. Contemporary parlance creeps in: “we can do this,” “a few months tops.” Still, there are gripping scenes, particularly toward the end, and a poignant epilogue.

Powerful but in need of a polish.

Kirkus Reviews

A page-turner.” —Washington Post

“Mesmerizing and meticulous… Jenoff creates a rich historical drama from her compelling characters’ connection, growth, and perseverance.” —Booklist

"This is a heartfelt, emotional tale about human connection, hope, survival, and struggle during one of humanity’s darkest moments." —Library Journal

“Pam Jenoff’s meticulously researched account of an unlikely and dangerous friendship during WWII is a timely and compelling account of the lengths we go to for the family we are born with, and the family we make for ourselves. It will leave you gasping at the end.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways and A Spark of Light

“Heartfelt and beautifully written… This emotional novel is filled with twists, turns, and displays of bravery and love that you will never forget, culminating in an ending that manages to be both surprising and uplifting at the same time. This is singular historical fiction that you will not be able to put down.” —Lisa Scottoline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eternal

"As I read this searing story of the Holocaust, I was transported, heart and soul, to a moment in history that still defies comprehension. In Pam Jenoff’s sure and sensitive hands, however, this is a story of friendship, love, and hope – hope that transcends even the darkest days of our past. The Woman with the Blue Star is a profoundly moving novel from a writer who is, deservedly, both admired and beloved for the truth, power, and beauty of her work." —Jennifer Robson, New York Times bestselling author of The Gown

“The Woman with the Blue Star is a beautifully written and extraordinarily well-researched story. Pam Jenoff captures the trials and the triumphs of the human spirit during the WW2 era like no one else. This book is a must-read for all historical fiction fans.” —Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say

“The Woman with the Blue Star crackles with suspense as this haunting, harrowing tale of love, loss and survival takes us deeper and deeper into the lives of two courageous young women. This is the historic fiction novel Pam Jenoff was born to write, and she does so with passion and authenticity. Readers who loved The Nightingale and The Alice Network will happily follow The Woman with the Blue Star into this new intriguing Eastern European-set landscape.” —Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Summer and Sunset Beach

“Once again, Pam Jenoff displays her mastery at illuminating little-known yet remarkably important nuggets of WWII history. I was immediately mesmerized by The Woman with the Blue Star, a haunting tale of enduring bonds, impossible sacrifice, and an inspiring fortitude to survive the darkness—in every sense. Book clubs will assuredly devour this compulsively readable novel that both wrenches and warms the heart.” —Kristina McMorris, New York Times bestselling author of Sold on a Monday

From the Publisher