Gwen Strauss has done an amazing job of telling a story of friendship, bravery, and sacrifice during one of history's darkest times. The Nine is the story of nine women who became friends, banded together, and survived and escaped Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Strauss manages to capture each woman's personality and vitality through her words and the story is easy to be drawn in to. These women demonstrated exceptional courage and love for each other in their fight for survival during their time in the camps and during their escapes, and the author describes these events so clearly that it felt as though I was living them right alongside the nine women. The treatment of the Jewish people and others during the time the Nazis were in power is absolutely abhorrent, but the friendship these women forged greatly helped them survive.