Thank you to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany is a highly=detailed, excellently-researched historical account about nine women who were resistant fighters and who escaped a labor camp near the end of World War II. The author Gwen Strauss is a descendant of Helene, one of the nine women. The care and attention that the author uses in crafting the narratives for all nine women is evident throughout the book. The book also includes historical photos that illuminate the conditions that the women went through in order to survive and escape Nazi Germany. Here is an excerpt from an opening chapter that illustrates the terror that the band of women went through: (This is not a spoiler, because it is from an opening chapter.)
"In any case, the marchers had passed so many corpses along the way that this heap of women at the bottom of a ditch probably looked just like another pile of dead bodies.
...
They climbed out of the ditch and collapsed in the field. They lay there looking up at the sky, clasping hands and laughing hysterically.
They had done it! They had escaped!
But now they were in the middle of Saxony, facing frightened and hostile German villagers, angry feeling officers of Germany's Schutz-staffel (SS) the Russian army, and Allied bombers overhead. The Americans were somewhere nearby, they hoped. They had to find the Americans or die trying."
After I read that scene, I had to keep reading to find out how the nine women had ended up there, as well as what happened next in their story. Would they reach the Americans safely? Would they get caught by the SS or by other Germans? Would they survive the journey to safety? These are all questions I was furiously thinking about as I continued reading about the women's exciting stories.
Overall, The Nine is a well-researched, exciting work of historical nonfiction set in World War II. It will appeal to readers who want to learn more about resistance fighters during World War II. Although this is a clearly a wonderful book, I took off one star just because I don't typically enjoy nonfiction. This is not the book's fault, of course. I'm just explaining why it wasn't a five-star book for me personally. If you are a fan of historical nonfiction about heroic women, I highly recommend that you check out The Nine when it comes out in May!
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany is a highly=detailed, excellently-researched historical account about nine women who were resistant fighters and who escaped a labor camp near the end of World War II. The author Gwen Strauss is a descendant of Helene, one of the nine women. The care and attention that the author uses in crafting the narratives for all nine women is evident throughout the book. The book also includes historical photos that illuminate the conditions that the women went through in order to survive and escape Nazi Germany. Here is an excerpt from an opening chapter that illustrates the terror that the band of women went through: (This is not a spoiler, because it is from an opening chapter.)
"In any case, the marchers had passed so many corpses along the way that this heap of women at the bottom of a ditch probably looked just like another pile of dead bodies.
...
They climbed out of the ditch and collapsed in the field. They lay there looking up at the sky, clasping hands and laughing hysterically.
They had done it! They had escaped!
But now they were in the middle of Saxony, facing frightened and hostile German villagers, angry feeling officers of Germany's Schutz-staffel (SS) the Russian army, and Allied bombers overhead. The Americans were somewhere nearby, they hoped. They had to find the Americans or die trying."
After I read that scene, I had to keep reading to find out how the nine women had ended up there, as well as what happened next in their story. Would they reach the Americans safely? Would they get caught by the SS or by other Germans? Would they survive the journey to safety? These are all questions I was furiously thinking about as I continued reading about the women's exciting stories.
Overall, The Nine is a well-researched, exciting work of historical nonfiction set in World War II. It will appeal to readers who want to learn more about resistance fighters during World War II. Although this is a clearly a wonderful book, I took off one star just because I don't typically enjoy nonfiction. This is not the book's fault, of course. I'm just explaining why it wasn't a five-star book for me personally. If you are a fan of historical nonfiction about heroic women, I highly recommend that you check out The Nine when it comes out in May!