Publishers Weekly
03/08/2021
Poet and children’s author Strauss (The Hiding Days) delivers a brisk yet uneven group biography of nine women who resisted the Nazis in WWII. They include Hélène Podliasky, the author’s great aunt; Nicole Clarence, a Jewish radio operator; and Yvonne “Mena” Le Guillou, a French liaison with the Dutch resistance. Caught at various points in 1944, the women met (most for the first time) at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Sent to work at a munitions factory outside Leipzig, they sabotaged weapons as they plotted their escape. The chance came in April 1945, when their work camp was evacuated and its 5,000 prisoners were forced to march east. After hiding in a ditch, the women altered their clothing to appear more like refugees and trekked west, eventually encountering U.S. troops outside the village of Colditz. Strauss delves into the complications survivors faced in “returning to life,” and infuses the narrative with harrowing details about Ravensbrück and intriguing asides on her research process, but the nature of how and why close relationships developed between these nine women remains somewhat unclear. Still, fans of women’s and WWII history will be drawn to this deeply researched chronicle. Illust. (May)
From the Publisher
Goodreads list of NEW & ANTICIPATED HISTORIES & BIOGRAPHIES
"Though the dangers the women face are significant, their unorthodox means of travel help contribute to an unexpected feeling of picaresque adventure, as the women lie and scavenge their way toward freedom... The women's bravery and ingenuity as they traverse an almost apocalyptic landscape makes for a thrilling narrative...Gripping." —Shelf Awareness
"An incredible story about the power of friendship and the faith in humanity in one of the darkest times in history." —Lee Woodruff
"[Strauss] gets her facts right... A breathless story of almost superhuman heroism and suffering with a (mostly) happy ending." —Kirkus
"A paean to female bravery and life-saving friendship." —iNews
"Intimate.. chilling... A moving testament to the power of friendship" —Booklist
"The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable women. Banding together in the hellscape of Ravensbruck, the nine resistance fighters turned prisoners make a desperate bid for escape in the chaos of the war's end, embarking across battle-ravaged Germany toward home. Gwen Strauss melds a poet's pen and a decade of research into a tale of friendship, courage, and indomitable will." —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Alice Network
"This haunting account provides yet more evidence not only of the power of female friendship but that the often unrecorded courage and resilience of ordinary women must be honoured and celebrated. It’s a most inspiring read...Utterly gripping." —Anne Sebba, author of Les Parisiennes
“I love this book. It delivers beauty, grace, horror, and suspense—an important work that also happens to be a hell of a read!” —Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead
“Strauss, niece of one of the nine heroines and third-generation 'Witness of the Witnesses', answers questions and challenges with great finesse. In a writing of rare historical accuracy and deep empathy, a woman of today tells the stories of yesterday.” —Agnès Triebel, Secretary General of the International Buchenwald-Dora Committee
“With Gwen Strauss' book and the scope of her research, that whole unknown period came to me as a gift from heaven... The precision of the speech, the delicacy of the style, the joys and misfortunes brought tears that I was happy to shed.” —Marc Spijker, Guigui’s son
“At this moment of worldwide chaos and despair, this is a book that reminds us about what is important, and about finding strength and purpose during the worst of times. Highly recommended.” —Goldie Goldbloom, author of Paperbark Shoe and On Division.
"It’s high time we got our Band of Sisters, and there could be no better author to tell their story than the riveting and rigorous Strauss. Equal parts exhilarating, devastating, and inspiring." —Lauren Sandler, author of This is All I Got
Library Journal
04/09/2021
With this work of nonfiction, poet and author Strauss tells the story of a group of nine French Resistance prisoners, all women, who escaped the Nazis during a death march from a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. The women come from different classes, backgrounds, and nationalities, yet their differences help them overcome the challenges they face in captivity and throughout their escape. Strauss recounts the women's varied experiences: famished, freezing, and facing the daunting tasks of walking through Nazi Germany, crossing active battle lines, and finding friendly Allied troops. The women desperately want to return to France, family, and freedom, and they must use charm, wit, and their few resources to reach safety. Strauss, a great-niece of one of the nine women, weaves together her great-aunt's story with stories of the other eight remarkable young women through research, interviews, and historical first-person accounts. She reflects on the impact of these women's sacrifices on subsequent generations, and on the lack of political recognition given to womenresistance fighters in World War II. Photographs of the women both before and after the war help to add context. VERDICT A fast-paced account that is strongly recommended for lovers of action-oriented narrative nonfiction, and for women's history collections.—Beth Dalton, Littleton, CO
AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile
This well-researched audiobook focuses on nine women resistance fighters who, despite starvation and torture, remained steadfast in their loyalty to each other. Narrator Juliet Stevenson pours her considerable talent into her performance to make the Dutch, French, and German accents of these women sound authentic to her listeners. As the Allies closed in, the Nazis forced Ravensbruck’s prisoners on a death march to kill them before they could be liberated. The nine decided they had to escape—or die trying. Stevenson’s performance captures their despair, fear, and successes as they made a run for it. Their story has never been told before. Stevenson presents a gripping portrait of courage under fire. E.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2021-02-17
A group biography of nine women from the French Resistance who were caught, tortured, and starved—but survived.
Despite the courage of its participants, the French Resistance movement could not withstand the power of the Nazis and their Gestapo, whose surveillance and infiltration made joining the Resistance almost a death sentence until France’s liberation. Nonetheless, Hélène Podliasky, Strauss’ great aunt, led a group of eight other women in their 20s against the invaders. No reader will doubt the Nazis’ utter loathsomeness after the author describes the unspeakable brutality, torture, and inhumane conditions the women endured after their capture. During the war’s final months, the Nazis attempted to destroy evidence of their crimes. As oncoming armies approached, they burned documents, killed prisoners, and “forced the remaining prisoners on death marches, at first often to other death camps further into the interior of Germany, and then by the end with no clear destination.” More died than escaped, but at one point, nine women jumped into a roadside ditch to hide until the soldiers passed. Strauss alternates tales of their early lives, Resistance activities, and arrest with their horrific experiences in concentration camps and factories, escape, and walk across Germany to American lines. A long epilogue reveals that most lived into the current century. For decades they received little recognition and rarely discussed their suffering. Some found peace and contentment, but others were clearly damaged irretrievably. The author interviewed her aunt in 2002 as well as many of her subjects’ descendants, and diligent research turned up articles, letters, photographs, and even unpublished memoirs. As such, there is no shortage of documentation, but Strauss seems to belong to the history-is-boring school, so she assembles the information into a novelistic narrative with invented scenes, dialogue, and insights into her subjects’ thoughts and emotions. She gets her facts right, so most readers will make allowances.
A breathless story of almost superhuman heroism and suffering with a (mostly) happy ending.
