We Were the Lucky Ones

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter 416 pages

 

In another review (for The Sunflower House), I mentioned that I was always surprised by the stories still left to be of World War II---and we’re still 20 years this side of the end of the war. While the former was about the baby factories, this one is the tale of a Jewish family’s struggle to survive, and to reunite.

 

I’m glad that author Georgia Hunter put a family tree at the beginning. I had to refer to it several times because of all the family members, the spouses, and the grandchild. Sol and Nechuma had five children, ranging from 31-year-old Genek to 21-year-old Halina. Without going back to look, each of the children has a chapter or more to tell their part of the story.

 

The Kruc family was a happy one, living their lives in the Jewish traditions of 1938 Poland. They were well aware of the rhetoric spewing from Germany and the possibilities of another war. This time with Adoplh Hitler leading the charge.

 

One thing that really sets this novel apart from the others is that it focuses on one family, and the piece de resistance (no pun intended) of the provided timeline. Between each chapter, Huner provides historical facts about major news events. These factoids are no more than a page in length, most no more than half a page.

 

Given what each individual experiences, the stories, which flow well and in a chronological manner, can be intense, so it is nice to have that small break.

 

As the family breaks apart, they scatter to various other countries like France, Siberia, Persia, Argentina to escape the Nazis and find a safe place to live until the war was over. Still each and every one of the characters has two goals: to survive Hitler and to reunite. Is that too much to ask? Sometimes, it seems so, and almost impossible to achieve.

 

I understand that this novel has already been made into a series on a streaming channel, but I don’t have that so I’ll probably never see it.  I’m sure the book is better anyway. We Were the Lucky Ones receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

Code Name Sapphire

Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff 368 pages

 

No one writes about World War II quite like Pam Jenoff. She manages to find the forgotten stories of how important women were to conquering Hitler and the Nazis.

 

In this novel, Jenoff tells the story of three Belgian women from three different viewpoints. First there is Micheline, the elusive leader of the Sapphire network. Their mission: to spirit downed British pilots back to England so that they may live to fight another day. Micheline is tough, but she must be to do her job. It’s a credit to Jenoff that the pilots’ stories are not included.

 

Next is Hannah, a Jew, who has joined Sapphire in the hopes of escaping to America. She manages to secure a place on a ship headed for America, but upon arrival, the ship and its human cargo are turned away (for those that don’t know, this is a true story. To read more, try “Refuge Denied,” by Sarah A. Ogilvie).  Upon Hannah’s return, she turns to her wealthy cousin, Lilly, to protect her.

 

One night, a horrible mistake occurs, and Lilly, her husband and her son, are arrested, split up, and placed on trains bound for a camp. Lilly arrives first and has grown accustomed (if that is possible), to life in the camp. Her husband and son soon joined her. (I found that bit unrealistic that the family was housed together, as all other books I’ve read about the camps, men, women and children were separated.)

 

Then, Lilly and her family are once again, placed on a train and headed further east to another camp. Hannah enlists Micheline to help her stop the train and rescue the Jews bound for Auschwitz. Now comes the time when I must shut up or risk spoilers. It’s a harrowing escape story that will keep readers up until they reach the end of this novel.

 

Code Name Sapphire receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cilka's Journey

Cilka’s Journey  by Heather Morris   352 pages

Cecelia “Cilka” Klein in only sixteen years old when she is is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for being of Czech Jewish origin.  Celia is a real person and mentioned several times in author Morris’s previous nivel, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.”

At Auschwitz, Cilka did what she had to do in Auschwitz to stay alive. It was more survival instinct than having someone to live for, as all her family had been murdered by the Nazis. She had been chosen by two SS officers for sex. She endured the repeated rapes, yet was able to use her position to get extra food to her her fellow inmates.

As this story opens, it is late January 1945. The Allies have arrived, freeing all the captives, but not Cilka. No one believed that she did not collaborate willingly with the Germans. She was tried and sentenced to fifteen years on a Russian gulag in Siberia.

The winters are unbearable, the brief summers equally horrendous. She lives in a dorm filled with other women who are there for one reason.  For the officers’ sexual pleasures. Cilka uses her survival skills to help her fellow inmates, earning more and more trust among the guards.

Cilka gets to know some of the women in the “Canada” dorm, the area where jewels and money are gathered from the incoming inmates. She learns how to steal gems and money. She uses them to buy bits of food from two independent contractors.

Cilka’s nursing skills soon have her working in the hospital as a nurse-in-training.  She doesn’t care what she has to do; she’s indoors and not trying to empty the coal buckets brought up from deep beneath the snow-covered earth wil frozen fingers.

The protagonist of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” Lale Sokolov, called Cilka the bravest person he had ever met. And after reading  “Cilka’s Journey,” I agree. Therefore, “Cilka’s Journey”

receives  6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cilka’s Journey  by Heather Morris   352 pages

Cecelia “Cilka” Klein in only sixteen years old when she is is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for being of Czech Jewish origin.  Celia is a real person and mentioned several times in author Morris’s previous nivel, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.”

At Auschwitz, Cilka did what she had to do in Auschwitz to stay alive. It was more survival instinct than having someone to live for, as all her family had been murdered by the Nazis. She had been chosen by two SS officers for sex. She endured the repeated rapes, yet was able to use her position to get extra food to her her fellow inmates.

As this story opens, it is late January 1945. The Allies have arrived, freeing all the captives, but not Cilka. No one believed that she did not collaborate willingly with the Germans. She was tried and sentenced to fifteen years on a Russian gulag in Siberia.

The winters are unbearable, the brief summers equally horrendous. She lives in a dorm filled with other women who are there for one reason.  For the officers’ sexual pleasures. Cilka uses her survival skills to help her fellow inmates, earning more and more trust among the guards.

Cilka gets to know some of the women in the “Canada” dorm, the area where jewels and money are gathered from the incoming inmates. She learns how to steal gems and money. She uses them to buy bits of food from two independent contractors.

Cilka’s nursing skills soon have her working in the hospital as a nurse-in-training.  She doesn’t care what she has to do; she’s indoors and not trying to empty the coal buckets brought up from deep beneath the snow-covered earth wil frozen fingers.

The protagonist of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” Lale Sokolov, called Cilka the bravest person he had ever met. And after reading  “Cilka’s Journey,” I agree. Therefore, “Cilka’s Journey”

receives  6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cilka’s Journey  by Heather Morris   352 pages

Cecelia “Cilka” Klein in only sixteen years old when she is is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for being of Czech Jewish origin.  Celia is a real person and mentioned several times in author Morris’s previous nivel, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.”

At Auschwitz, Cilka did what she had to do in Auschwitz to stay alive. It was more survival instinct than having someone to live for, as all her family had been murdered by the Nazis. She had been chosen by two SS officers for sex. She endured the repeated rapes, yet was able to use her position to get extra food to her her fellow inmates.

As this story opens, it is late January 1945. The Allies have arrived, freeing all the captives, but not Cilka. No one believed that she did not collaborate willingly with the Germans. She was tried and sentenced to fifteen years on a Russian gulag in Siberia.

The winters are unbearable, the brief summers equally horrendous. She lives in a dorm filled with other women who are there for one reason.  For the officers’ sexual pleasures. Cilka uses her survival skills to help her fellow inmates, earning more and more trust among the guards.

Cilka gets to know some of the women in the “Canada” dorm, the area where jewels and money are gathered from the incoming inmates. She learns how to steal gems and money. She uses them to buy bits of food from two independent contractors.

Cilka’s nursing skills soon have her working in the hospital as a nurse-in-training.  She doesn’t care what she has to do; she’s indoors and not trying to empty the coal buckets brought up from deep beneath the snow-covered earth wil frozen fingers.

The protagonist of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” Lale Sokolov, called Cilka the bravest person he had ever met. And after reading  “Cilka’s Journey,” I agree. Therefore, “Cilka’s Journey”

receives  6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cilka’s Journey  by Heather Morris   352 pages

Cecelia “Cilka” Klein in only sixteen years old when she is is sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for being of Czech Jewish origin.  Celia is a real person and mentioned several times in author Morris’s previous nivel, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.”

At Auschwitz, Cilka did what she had to do in Auschwitz to stay alive. It was more survival instinct than having someone to live for, as all her family had been murdered by the Nazis. She had been chosen by two SS officers for sex. She endured the repeated rapes, yet was able to use her position to get extra food to her her fellow inmates.

As this story opens, it is late January 1945. The Allies have arrived, freeing all the captives, but not Cilka. No one believed that she did not collaborate willingly with the Germans. She was tried and sentenced to fifteen years on a Russian gulag in Siberia.

The winters are unbearable, the brief summers equally horrendous. She lives in a dorm filled with other women who are there for one reason.  For the officers’ sexual pleasures. Cilka uses her survival skills to help her fellow inmates, earning more and more trust among the guards.

Cilka gets to know some of the women in the “Canada” dorm, the area where jewels and money are gathered from the incoming inmates. She learns how to steal gems and money. She uses them to buy bits of food from two independent contractors.

Cilka’s nursing skills soon have her working in the hospital as a nurse-in-training.  She doesn’t care what she has to do; she’s indoors and not trying to empty the coal buckets brought up from deep beneath the snow-covered earth wil frozen fingers.

The protagonist of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” Lale Sokolov, called Cilka the bravest person he had ever met. And after reading  “Cilka’s Journey,” I agree. Therefore, “Cilka’s Journey”

receives  6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

An Unorthodox Match

An Unorthodx Match by Naomi Ragen   336 pages

 I admit that I’m not well educated in the different sects of Judaism. I depend on great authors like Naomi Ragen to help me understand that extremely complex world. Usually, she does a great job.

Lola is looking for a sense of purpose and roots. She has known the world and all it’s twenty-first century trappings and tragedies. Yet she longs for a simpler life. That is why she has decided to join a Jewish Orthodox community in Brooklyn, New York. She has even changed her name to Leah.

Yaakov has recently lost his wife. He is struggling to raise his five children and continue his studies of the Torah. He has gotten a lot of support from family and friensds, but he know she needs more; he needs a wife.

As Leah and Yaakov navigate the idea of an arranged marriage, the attraction the feel for each other creates problem after problem.

 I had an extremelu difficult time with this book. At times, as in the first 40 pages, there was too much information on the various forms of Judiasm, which I had to read at least three times. I was never clear if some of the words were Yiddish or Hebrew. And if it was explained, I missed it.  I’m sure that this is why I didn’t care about the characters for the rest of the story.

The story seems well-written, the plot seems strong. But this just wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s the reader, not the writer in this instance. I feel bad about my ranking, but it’s an honest opinion.  “An Unorthodx Match” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.