The Light in Hidden Places
Based on the true story of war heroine Stefania Podgórska
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4.6 • 13 Ratings
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
DEATH PENALTY FOR ALL WHO GIVE AID TO A JEW.
DEATH TO ALL WHO HARBOUR A JEW.
DEATH TO ALL WHO FEED A JEW.
DEATH TO ALL WHO PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION TO A JEW.
One knock at the door could be the death of them all…
It is 1943, and sixteen-year-old Stefania Podgórska has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemsyl, Poland, for four years. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio - an engagement they must keep secret since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish.
But everything changes when the German army invades Przemsyl. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone in an occupied city, the only one left to care for her six-year-old sister. And then comes the knock at the door. Max Diamant has jumped from the train headed to a death camp. Stefania and Helena make the extraordinary decision to hide Max, and eventually twelve more Jews. Then they must wait, every day, for the next knock at the door, the one that could destroy everything...
A powerful novel from a New York Times Bestselling author, based on the remarkable true story of Stefania Podgórska, a Polish teenager who hid 13 Jews in her attic during World War Two.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cameron's saga of life in wartime Poland under German occupation stretches from 1936, when 11-year-old Fusia first falls in love with city life on a visit to Przemys l, through July 1944. Based on the experiences of then-teenager Stefania "Fusia" Podg rska, who, along with her younger sister Helena, was, in 1979, honored by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center for their heroism in saving Jews during the war, the book traces, in exhaustive detail, what that heroism looked like daily. Catholic Fusia doggedly persists in doing what she believes is right; when the Jewish family she has been living with and working for is sent to the Jewish ghetto, she sneaks food and supplies to them. Eventually she hides her friend, Max, and six (and later 13) other Jews in her and Helena's apartment. Living in fear and under constant suspicion, Fusia holds down a full-time factory job, fends off a Polish officer's advances, and undergoes several extremely close calls with the police, all while fiercely protecting Helena (an especially appealing character, sharp and savvy under her shy demeanor). This story of extraordinary survival is bolstered by an author's note, accompanied by photos, that relates the happy future that followed for Fusia, Helena, and Max. Ages 12 up.
