I love a good WWII historical fiction, and this presented a side of the story I wasn't familiar with before--Poland in 1944 struggling as WWII is ending but it's still caught between Soviets, the Polish Resistance, and Ukrainian nationalists. Thanks to @bookishfirst and @macmillanusa for a copy of this! This came out on April 5th.
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Synopsis: 16-year Maria is trying to get home in Poland after escaping from a German labor camp in 1944. She saves the life of a Kostya held by Soviet soldiers, only to discover he is a member of a Ukrainian nationalist group that killed her parents. The two should-be enemies end up having to pair up to save her brother, a local Resistance leader who has gone missing.
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I think this was a very good YA novel. It had real characters, an exciting storyline, some emotional spots, and a good way to learn more about history. Most of the things I didn't love about it were really because it was intended for a YA audience, so it feels unfair to rate it down for that, but I'll just say that I thought the story ended up being pretty simplistic and predictable.
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I was also disappointed that we didn't learn more about Maria's background and the labor camp. There was one flashback to her on the train heading there, but I would have loved to have seen more of that, and gotten a better sense of who she was.
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It also at times got hard to keep track of the various characters and their loyalties. It all came together at the end, but I had moments where I was really confused about why a certain character would make a particular decision. I get that was indicative of the time, not knowing who you could trust, but it was hard to follow at times.
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I don't want to be too negative, because as a YA I think it was a solid book! Maybe not my favorite, but it was interesting and I'm glad I read it.
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Synopsis: 16-year Maria is trying to get home in Poland after escaping from a German labor camp in 1944. She saves the life of a Kostya held by Soviet soldiers, only to discover he is a member of a Ukrainian nationalist group that killed her parents. The two should-be enemies end up having to pair up to save her brother, a local Resistance leader who has gone missing.
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I think this was a very good YA novel. It had real characters, an exciting storyline, some emotional spots, and a good way to learn more about history. Most of the things I didn't love about it were really because it was intended for a YA audience, so it feels unfair to rate it down for that, but I'll just say that I thought the story ended up being pretty simplistic and predictable.
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I was also disappointed that we didn't learn more about Maria's background and the labor camp. There was one flashback to her on the train heading there, but I would have loved to have seen more of that, and gotten a better sense of who she was.
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It also at times got hard to keep track of the various characters and their loyalties. It all came together at the end, but I had moments where I was really confused about why a certain character would make a particular decision. I get that was indicative of the time, not knowing who you could trust, but it was hard to follow at times.
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I don't want to be too negative, because as a YA I think it was a solid book! Maybe not my favorite, but it was interesting and I'm glad I read it.