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worldsunlikeourown 's review for:
The Warsaw Orphan
by Kelly Rimmer
Find this review and more on my blog at Worlds Unlike Our Own.
Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The year is 1942 and Elzbieta leads a relatively comfortable life in her family’s Warsaw apartment. While she is aware of the rising tension on the streets, she has never thought much about what the conditions are like for the people in the Jewish ghetto just a short distance away. When she accidentally finds out that her neighbour Sara, a nurse, is part of an underground movement that rescues children from inside the ghetto and finds them new homes, she insists on helping, seeing this as a way she can help. For the Gorka family behind the walls, despite the horrific conditions they have to endure, their sole consolation is that their family is still together. With food and resources running out quickly though, they face the impossible decision of giving away their newborn daughter Eleonora or watch her starve to death. With disturbing rumours of mass deportations in the air, time is quickly running out for them to decide. Roman Gorka’s anger mounts by the day, seeking to fight back against the many injustices perpetrated upon them, and this is the final straw that pushes him to join the rebellion that is building. But Elzbieta and her family have secrets of their own and if Roman’s recklessness draws attention to them and Sara’s operation, everyone will be at risk.
WWII novels have become one of my favourite historical fiction eras to read over the past year or two. Despite the ubiquity of novels in this genre, each one somehow manages to add a new perspective and this book was no exception. In fact, the stories narrated through this book were all entirely new to me, from the children being smuggled out to safety to the uprising inside the Warsaw ghetto. The writing is wonderful and the detail with which these events are described shows the level of research that must have gone into this book.
This was a completely heartbreaking story and a darker read than most I’ve come across, but it had its warmer moments too. The characters in this book were so realistic – complicated and flawed as they struggle to find the strength to overcome some truly terrible circumstances. It was easy at times, to forget they were only 16 and 13, as they felt so much older on page – especially Roman, forced by the war to grow up too soon. Elzbieta, though she hates the Germans, is quite naive as to the true situation for the Jews and has her eyes opened on her first trip behind the walls, and draws upon courage she never knew she had to help the resistance. It was good that the POVs alternated between Elzbieta and Roman, as it allowed the reader to follow both characters as they embarked upon different, but equally dangerous endeavours.
This was my first time reading a book by this author, and I was very impressed with it. Kelly Rimmer has excellently portrayed the struggles of the people in occupied Poland on both sides of the wall. This was quite an emotional and admittedly depressing read at times, but it was nice that it had a semi-happy ending which is something of a rarity in this genre! I’m really looking forward to checking out her other books, particularly The Things We Cannot Say. I would highly recommend this book for fans of WWII novels.
Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The year is 1942 and Elzbieta leads a relatively comfortable life in her family’s Warsaw apartment. While she is aware of the rising tension on the streets, she has never thought much about what the conditions are like for the people in the Jewish ghetto just a short distance away. When she accidentally finds out that her neighbour Sara, a nurse, is part of an underground movement that rescues children from inside the ghetto and finds them new homes, she insists on helping, seeing this as a way she can help. For the Gorka family behind the walls, despite the horrific conditions they have to endure, their sole consolation is that their family is still together. With food and resources running out quickly though, they face the impossible decision of giving away their newborn daughter Eleonora or watch her starve to death. With disturbing rumours of mass deportations in the air, time is quickly running out for them to decide. Roman Gorka’s anger mounts by the day, seeking to fight back against the many injustices perpetrated upon them, and this is the final straw that pushes him to join the rebellion that is building. But Elzbieta and her family have secrets of their own and if Roman’s recklessness draws attention to them and Sara’s operation, everyone will be at risk.
WWII novels have become one of my favourite historical fiction eras to read over the past year or two. Despite the ubiquity of novels in this genre, each one somehow manages to add a new perspective and this book was no exception. In fact, the stories narrated through this book were all entirely new to me, from the children being smuggled out to safety to the uprising inside the Warsaw ghetto. The writing is wonderful and the detail with which these events are described shows the level of research that must have gone into this book.
This was a completely heartbreaking story and a darker read than most I’ve come across, but it had its warmer moments too. The characters in this book were so realistic – complicated and flawed as they struggle to find the strength to overcome some truly terrible circumstances. It was easy at times, to forget they were only 16 and 13, as they felt so much older on page – especially Roman, forced by the war to grow up too soon. Elzbieta, though she hates the Germans, is quite naive as to the true situation for the Jews and has her eyes opened on her first trip behind the walls, and draws upon courage she never knew she had to help the resistance. It was good that the POVs alternated between Elzbieta and Roman, as it allowed the reader to follow both characters as they embarked upon different, but equally dangerous endeavours.
This was my first time reading a book by this author, and I was very impressed with it. Kelly Rimmer has excellently portrayed the struggles of the people in occupied Poland on both sides of the wall. This was quite an emotional and admittedly depressing read at times, but it was nice that it had a semi-happy ending which is something of a rarity in this genre! I’m really looking forward to checking out her other books, particularly The Things We Cannot Say. I would highly recommend this book for fans of WWII novels.