The Woman with The Blue Star- Pam Jenoff

The Woman with The Blue Star was the one. It was THE one that broke me to tears. My mind is still reeling as I write this and my eye is twitching but that is just proof of the profound impact this story has had on my heart, soul, and body.

March 2020. Everything was dark. We lost loved ones. We were isolated. It is in this pit of despair that I reached for my life preserver: books. 90% of the books I read are historical fiction highlighting the unsung heroes of WWII. Thinking myself a bit morbid, I discussed this with my therapist one day. Why did I find comfort in one of the most devastating periods of humanity? We decided it was because with each heartbreaking story, there was interlaced hope. Heroes emerged; the unlikeliest of people helped their fellow man. In spite of everything, the cataclysmal loss, the war did end.

I will always hold this story dear to my heart. I took this book with me when I got my first vaccination. I have severe anxiety and haven’t been in any sort of store since September so the idea of going into a CVS was frightening, to say the least. Ella and Sadie, the two protagonists, had become my friends; it was the strength of their friendship and unwavering bond that buoyed me.

Jenoff has woven together a story of family and despair; of love and loss; of true bravery and resilience. Ella, a well off Polish girl and Sadie, a Jewish girl who has been stripped of all she has known, meet at the most improbable of places: a sewer grate. It is here that the most unlikely of bonds is formed. Though from entirely different backgrounds, each understands one another’s loss and recognizes a bit of themselves in the other. The two are able to find refuge and comfort within one another.

The Woman with The Blue Star is absolutely heart pounding and gripping from the very start. You become instantly invested in the survival of these characters and their friendship.

I have found no two WWII novels to be the same and that is something I cherish about this genre. These incredible authors offer us so many different perspectives of this harrowing time. Jenoff is in a league of her own. I could not for the life of me foresee what would unfold next as I

turned these pages. I was left with questions til the bitter end but to my relief, answers are provided in the most inconceivable and heart-warming of ways.

I don’t say this lightly but this may very well be one of most noteworthy, striking, and memorable WWII novels I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.