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A review by thelarlbookworm
Daughters of Warsaw by Maria Frances
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This beautifully written book broke me... Not many books make me cry, but this one did.
We follow the story of Lizzie who stumbles upon some strange photographs of her Great-Grandmother Zofia dueing World War 2 and with her own Grandmother unwilling to talk about it, set about finding out all she can about Zofia.
Maria splits the book in half so we see the present-day story of Lizzie and also the 1940s story of Zofia.
Lizzie has gone through significant trauma of her own in having multiple miscarriages so it was emotional but lovely to see her healing as she learns more about her family's life in Warsaw during the war.
Zofia... Blimey, what a woman. I can remember learning about resistance fighters who risked everything to help the Jews and who also managed to smuggle children to safety and also hide them in plain sight, so this story was incredible to read.
What is even more incredible is this story is inspired by stories of Irena Sendler and the women of the Polish Żegota so what you read is small taste of the fear and exhilaration these amazing women felt on a day to day basic.
What incredibly selfless and brave women should ultimately save entire future generations.
I'm not going to lie. It is a very tough story to read with the amount of research gone into describing the ghetto conditions and the people evident, which makes for an astounding read.
I highly recommend this book but make sure you have tissues at the ready because you are in for a very emotional and raw read.
We follow the story of Lizzie who stumbles upon some strange photographs of her Great-Grandmother Zofia dueing World War 2 and with her own Grandmother unwilling to talk about it, set about finding out all she can about Zofia.
Maria splits the book in half so we see the present-day story of Lizzie and also the 1940s story of Zofia.
Lizzie has gone through significant trauma of her own in having multiple miscarriages so it was emotional but lovely to see her healing as she learns more about her family's life in Warsaw during the war.
Zofia... Blimey, what a woman. I can remember learning about resistance fighters who risked everything to help the Jews and who also managed to smuggle children to safety and also hide them in plain sight, so this story was incredible to read.
What is even more incredible is this story is inspired by stories of Irena Sendler and the women of the Polish Żegota so what you read is small taste of the fear and exhilaration these amazing women felt on a day to day basic.
What incredibly selfless and brave women should ultimately save entire future generations.
I'm not going to lie. It is a very tough story to read with the amount of research gone into describing the ghetto conditions and the people evident, which makes for an astounding read.
I highly recommend this book but make sure you have tissues at the ready because you are in for a very emotional and raw read.