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)
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.
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
Set in WWII-era Poland, this audiobook tells the parallel stories of two young women, Sadie and Ella. The war has hit each of them hard: Sadie is forced into the sewer to avoid Nazi persecution, and Ella is struggling to adapt to life with her cruel, Nazi-sympathizing stepmother. When their paths cross, Sadie's and Ella's lives change forever. Three narrators—Jennifer Jill Araya, Emily Lawrence, and Nancy Peterson—present the plot reliably; the biggest distraction here is its delivery. The story, flawed in some parts and inconsistent in others, contains all the drama necessary to engage listeners, but the narrators overemote. Their overwrought performances, combined with the other frustrations, do not create a rewarding experience. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Set in WWII-era Poland, this audiobook tells the parallel stories of two young women, Sadie and Ella. The war has hit each of them hard: Sadie is forced into the sewer to avoid Nazi persecution, and Ella is struggling to adapt to life with her cruel, Nazi-sympathizing stepmother. When their paths cross, Sadie's and Ella's lives change forever. Three narrators—Jennifer Jill Araya, Emily Lawrence, and Nancy Peterson—present the plot reliably; the biggest distraction here is its delivery. The story, flawed in some parts and inconsistent in others, contains all the drama necessary to engage listeners, but the narrators overemote. Their overwrought performances, combined with the other frustrations, do not create a rewarding experience. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine