Told in alternating viewpoints, The Woman with the Blue Star tells the story of two women in the wake of WWII. While just 18, Sadie spends her days in hiding. Things get worse when her family must flee during a big roundup. On the other side of town, Ella lives with her stepmother and must cave to her whims. She disagrees with her stepmother’s lavish parties that cater to Nazi officials. But she has nowhere else to go, so she must put up with it. How will these two young women who lead vastly different lives come together?
I get that as an only child, Sadie’s parents are overprotective of her and keep her in hiding. They also probably keep a lot of things from her. But I felt that often, her behavior was unacceptable for that of an 18-year-old and that she was naïve and childish about things. Without the added romance, the story is engaging. Life was hard and would have been more so if Sadie didn’t have Ella. I’m a fan of historical fiction, and overall, this is an enjoyable read. Thank you, Harlequin, Park Row, for sending this along.
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The Woman with the Blue Star is available on Amazon for $11.99.
About the Book:
1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents in the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous tunnels beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.
Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.
Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by incredible true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an unforgettable testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.
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