Julie's Review: The Woman with the Blue Star

Author: Pam Jenoff
Series: None
Publication Date:  May 4, 2021
Publisher: Park Row 
Pages: 336
Obtained: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Friendships can save lives
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Summary: 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.

Review: I really never get sick of reading WWII novels and The Woman with the Blue Star is no exception to that. Sadie is living in the Ghetto in Krakow when they have to get out without being put on a train. Her dad secures them passage through the tunnels of Krakow. To add onto it, her mother is pregnant with her sibling and they are unsure of how long they will have to remain in hiding. 

Ella is a well to do young lady but she lives with her step mom who survives by entertaining the local Nazi officers. Ella's house that she grew up in has become the place she doesn't want to spend her time. So she often wanders the streets during the day trying to blend in. Until one day she she spots Sadie in the tunnel grates and has a sudden urge to help. Ella wants to do something to feel like she's helping someone other than herself. 

As Ella and Sadie develop a bond, they take risks that jeopardize both of their lives and the lives of those that Sadie is in hiding with. It is also what will end up saving them both in different ways.

What I love about Ms. Jenoff's books is there is always some element of surprise in them, just when you think you've figured it out. Her books are always impeccably researched and immediately pull you in. This book was about survival, love, hope and most of all friendship. How friendship can save you even in the darkest of times. 

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