Brilliant and harrowing, 10 out of 10 no notes. What could I say that could even come close to capturing how well done this book is and how underrated I feel it is?

Excellent historical nonfiction about a story less told - the women who supported efforts from their homes and not I. The typical “victory garden and weapons manufacturing” story. Really well researched.

This brilliantly written history of Jewish women who were resistance fighters during World War 2 was a perfect read for me during nonfiction November. Do you ever marvel at the amount of research that goes in to the writing of a book? As I listened to this, I felt that way over and over. The women and their stories of life as Jewish women and all they had to do not only to survive themselves, but to help others during unimaginable circumstances was so inspiring. It was a story of bravery, friendship, courage, and perseverance that I won’t forget.
I know so many of you who enjoy WWII historical fiction would appreciate this book and it’s raw and emotional real life accounts.

The book is honestly terrific, in both senses. It’s great, yes, but it’s also a terrifying accounting of what very young women managed to do against impossible odds. It’s somehow terribly tragic, yet maintains a spirit of resilience. As someone who had read a lot of books about women in the Holocaust, I was grateful to see that someone so carefully wrote this under referenced and remarkable story.

The untold story of a group of Jewish women in Poland who became Resistance Fighters during World War II. In the Jewish ghettos, the Jewish women transformed their youth groups into the ultimate freedom fighters - bribing the Gestapo, flirting with soldiers, and bombing train depots.

Judy Batalion's well-researched work does an excellent job showing the complicated nature of life in the Jewish ghettos during the war. However, her research is also her downfall. The book is extremely informative but Batalion fails to give you a compelling narrative to draw you in. A quarter of the way through, I found myself dreading picking it up, and with over 400 pages to go, I finally just threw in the towel. I think I'll enjoy it more once the story is narrowed down for Steven Spielberg's upcoming film adaptation.

World War II fascinates me and when I come across a book that highlights a part that I never explored, or even heard about, I know it will be a book I have to get my hands on. The Light of Days chronicles the extraordinary accomplishments of Jewish women who fought behind enemy lines to resist the Nazi regime. They bore witness to the regime's horrific crimes, but still, they persisted no matter what the cost to their own lives.

This book was obviously thoroughly researched, you can tell that the author cared about the subject deeply. Although I enjoyed learning about these amazing women it was difficult for me to follow their stories at certain points, mostly because I think there were maybe too many women that the author was trying to cover. That in turn made the book hard to connect to at times. That's the reason why I only gave it four stars instead of 5.

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The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Judy Batalion shines light on the mostly forgotten, and not often told, women resistance fighters in Poland. Ms. Batalion is a Canadian writer; this is her second book.

As long as I’ll live, I’ll never understand the inhumanity humans can inflict on one another. The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Judy Batalion does not mince words about the bravery, and suffering at the hands of the Nazis and Poles as well. This is important to mention since the Polish government is legislating a rewriting of history casting themselves as victims. Not just in the interrogation rooms, but cruelty for sake of sadistic amusement as well.

The experiences of the women in this book are amazing, as well as astounding. The courage was unbelievable, to clarify, it was downright suicidal at many points. I never realized that they moved in and out of the ghettos and to Będzin, Krakow, Warsaw and other cities.

This is an extremely well researched book. The author writes that it took her 12 years to compile the narrative, searching through books, diaries, as well as testimonies in several languages. Ms. Batalion also interviewed the descendants of these women.

The book has a lot of information in it, and it’s very difficult to keep track of who’s who. Even for me, who is familiar with some of the identities and events it was a chore (to my amazement, I discovered at the end that I knew one of the women’s husbands). The result is that the reader follows these women around, but never has a personal stake (as funny as it might sound) in their journey. On the other hand, I have read several books about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the author is absolutely correct in her assertions that these brave women were almost all erased from history.

The author, however, did justice to the women, whose courage, strength, and compassion is something most of us could only hope for. This is not an easy book to read, it does not mince words about torture techniques, plain brutality, and the difficult lives many lived during, and after World War II.

History is more than a collection of names and dates.

The best history books connect the reader to the past in a meaningful way.


My favorite history books focus on a person or a few people. (First and/or third person perspectives). Narratives offer the human element of the past. Their feelings. Their inner thoughts.

This book successfully integrated historical facts with third person narratives (the transitions were seamless). The author decided to focus on the female ghetto fighters from the youth groups in Poland. WOW! These women were fearless and selfless.

My only critique is the length of the book. Some parts were repetitive. I might have focused on just a few women, because It is easier to follow fewer narratives.

The more that I read of WW2 the more I can't understand the level of madness and craziness of these people?????

The Light of Days is the true story of the Jewish women in Poland who were a HUGE key in WW2 but as always being a woman our stories always get forgotten or they really don't matter to the world.. this is exactly the case of all these magnificent women who fought so hard to help and did many courageous things to help but they were never recognized or even known about. Friendship, loyalty, and faith even strength is what permeates the whole book.

they lived so many terrible things, some of them were only teenagers and had to grow in a matter of hours, they saw many cruel things, evil things that will stay forever with them, hunting them like a horror movie on repeat..

The Jewish Women In Poland, their stories were shadowed by many political agendas, they were hidden or erase, Judy really did an amazing job not only bringing the stories to life but recognizing the true value of these magnificent women, women that should be recognized in museums and history books but with time man has erased or even not talked about.

I cried so much with every story, I really didn't know many of the things in The Light of the Days, I heard so many atrocities but the ones in these stories are just too much, I still in shock with the evilness, how they really didn't have a piece of heart in them, what they did to the babies, that was too much way too much, I literally spend the whole book crying and screaming and swearing to every Nazi, I still can't believe some of them still alive how could they live with themselves?

I'm so glad Karma is so real I bet these guys will have to reincarnate like 1000000 times and not even with that many lifetimes they will pay for what they did.

This is a great book, if you're looking to get inspired by true courageous women, women who will give everything to survive and help their families and loves ones even friends to survive this is a great book.

I was going to write a very different review as I was so angry reading the madness of those people but I'm glad I waited as I wanted to focus all my love on these women rather than expressing my anger and hate toward the evilness.

to the author Judy Batalion, thank you for writing this book, for letting us know the stories of these wonderful women who deserve so much more, thank you for giving them a voice.

The Light of Days is an exceptionally well-researched non-fiction book about Jewish women in Poland and their innumerable contributions to the Nazi resistance movement during WWII. It is a heavy read in every way; there are lots of facts and details, and because of the subject matter, this book takes an emotional toll on the reader. Neither of those comments is negative, but if you're looking for a light historical-fiction read, this isn't it!

This is the first book about WWII of the many I have read to pay homage to these strong and unbelievably brave women. I am glad we finally get to read their stories! They risked everything they had, putting themselves in mortal danger and fear of discovery constantly to stand up and fight the enemy. What courage, what strength, what self-sacrifice! It is amazing and inspirational to see the difference that can be made by "ordinary" people rising up to meet the circumstances of their times.

This is a book that should to be read so that we never forget the evil that ran rampant in that era and the horrors that it created. May it never be repeated!

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Read if you: Want a extraordinary World War II story that deserves to be better known.

As the publisher notes, this is indeed an inspiring and powerful story. The author spares no details in retelling the grusome and atrocious events of that time, including rape and forced bestiality, so steel yourself for those scenes (they are brief).

A truly unforgettable and unique account of young brave women.

Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.