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A review by lawbooks600
The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Representation: N/A?
Score: Seven points out of ten.
So. It's not clear why I decided to hold this book off for so long, putting delay after delay, but now only a few days ago, I picked it up, cracked it open, and read this. I have a statement though, historical books tend to be a hit or miss, since the last outstanding ones were I Must Betray You and Words on Fire. I read those months ago. But! Afterwards, I read a string of dissatisfying books so I desperately wanted an enjoyable one. This was it. On the plus side, it's based on a true story during World War II. It starts with the main character Stefania Podgórska, or Stefania for short, and she lives in Poland during the war, I wouldn't want to live in that time considering the circumstances, I noticed the book had a unique attribute going for it, it sometimes can jump from time to time, making this book non-linear. Stefania sometimes uses pseudoynms or false names like Fusia but for simplicity's sake, I'll still call her Stefania, now that I said that she is working for another family called the Diamants even though they are Jewish, and she is Catholic. Not many pages afterwards, the Germans arrive and occupy the town of Przemysl leaving Stefania and her sister Helena by themselves, and the way the author wrote this was immersive and compelling, no wonder this got a Western Australian Young Readers' Book Award this year, unfortunately this is the only book from this author my library has so I can't read any more books from her yet, if they do get more books from her, I'd gladly read them. From this point on, Stefania must make some choices for herself, so first she hides a Jew from the Germans inside her attic (because of reasons...) then she hides twelve more, I never felt at ease when reading this since the author wrote this with so much suspense and tension, and Stefania shared my feelings since she was also living uneasily which led up to the climax and I won't spoil it but it's not anticlimactic (I'm looking at you, fizzling out books...) and it's also a high note. Wow.
Score: Seven points out of ten.
So. It's not clear why I decided to hold this book off for so long, putting delay after delay, but now only a few days ago, I picked it up, cracked it open, and read this. I have a statement though, historical books tend to be a hit or miss, since the last outstanding ones were I Must Betray You and Words on Fire. I read those months ago. But! Afterwards, I read a string of dissatisfying books so I desperately wanted an enjoyable one. This was it. On the plus side, it's based on a true story during World War II. It starts with the main character Stefania Podgórska, or Stefania for short, and she lives in Poland during the war, I wouldn't want to live in that time considering the circumstances, I noticed the book had a unique attribute going for it, it sometimes can jump from time to time, making this book non-linear. Stefania sometimes uses pseudoynms or false names like Fusia but for simplicity's sake, I'll still call her Stefania, now that I said that she is working for another family called the Diamants even though they are Jewish, and she is Catholic. Not many pages afterwards, the Germans arrive and occupy the town of Przemysl leaving Stefania and her sister Helena by themselves, and the way the author wrote this was immersive and compelling, no wonder this got a Western Australian Young Readers' Book Award this year, unfortunately this is the only book from this author my library has so I can't read any more books from her yet, if they do get more books from her, I'd gladly read them. From this point on, Stefania must make some choices for herself, so first she hides a Jew from the Germans inside her attic (because of reasons...) then she hides twelve more, I never felt at ease when reading this since the author wrote this with so much suspense and tension, and Stefania shared my feelings since she was also living uneasily which led up to the climax and I won't spoil it but it's not anticlimactic (I'm looking at you, fizzling out books...) and it's also a high note. Wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
Full trigger warnings: War themes, World War Two, fire, blood depiction, antisemitism, gun and military violence