So many of the WWII heroes you read about are men. I love hearing the little known stories of the women who also joined in the resistance and helped to save those around them, to bring destruction to the German progress, and fight against the atrocities.

I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook of The Light of Days. The narration was smooth and clear. I enjoyed the voice. This book was packed full of new information, but the clarity of voice allowed for my to be able to take it all in.

The writing was very heavy and because of that was a long read. I had to put it down because of information overload. The stories in it are amazing but I wish was more on the stories than a history lesson. It was heart-wrenching and a hard book to listen to. It was well researched and was very interesting. Not a book someone can pick up to quickly read - must be a intentional read. I wish this read more as a historical fiction novel instead of a non fiction novel.

Judy Batalion's The Light of Days delves into history of the “rise” of Jewish, female, resistance fighters in Poland.

These “girls” wore many different hats 🧢, from mail couriers to actual soldiers, fighting the Nazis (often face to face). If caught alive, they were literally, tortured.

During the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the “girls” were trapped in sewers, that the Nazis then flooded with poison gas, and then, with water up to their necks. That some of them survived, is mind boggling. Their mission, though, was not ultimately "survival", but rather, to to die with honor, to show the world that they did not accept death without a fight.

Some of these girls kept notes, however they could, as everything happened. Others wrote their stories after the war. Many of these stories have been lost for a lot of different reasons that Judy explains, at the end of the book. One of the explanations for hiding their stories is survivor’s guilt, particularly, in female survivors. Another is the desire to protect later generations from the horror they experienced. The book ends with what happens to the survivors after the war. The author even interviews survivor’s children and grandchildren.

The book is being released to coincide with International Holocaust Memorial Day, this week, (April 7th), no better time to honor these brave warriors.

I am grateful to @harperaudio and #netgalley for my complimentary copy of the audiobook, in return for my honest review (BTW, I have preordered a hard cover). Please read Judy Batalion's masterpiece, #thelightofdays. You will not be sorry. #5stars

When I received The Light of Days, I was extremely excited. A book about female resistance fighters going up against the Nazis’ ghettos? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel like this book lived up to expectations for me. You can tell the book was very well researched, however this made the content come off as very dry. This book read almost like a textbook in some places. In addition, I felt like the book was just too long. Some content was unnecessary to the overall quality of the book, which made the book drag by the end. And this was not helped by the dryness mentioned above. I did not have a problem with the narrator, and was actually one of the reasons I was able to finish the book. I feel bad giving this rating to The Light of Days because of the amount of research the author put in and the content, but due to my lack of enjoyment, I just can’t give this book more than 3 stars.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley and Harper Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This non-fiction honors the lives of the brave Polish Jewish women who fought in the resistance against the Nazis. It is a heart wrenching story that does not shy away from the soul crushing atrocities of the Holocaust. Judy Batalion has carefully researched and rendered the lives of incredible women forgotten by history.

I particularly appreciated the discussion of sexual violence and the complicated partner relationships women had to engage in for their safety. It is something that is not often discussed in books covering the Holocaust, but a significant part of women's experiences. Judy Batalion discusses this issue well, noting the imbalance of power in these relationships, and the impact of class, featurism, and circumstances.

I have to admit I am partial to historical fiction, and I found myself craving a bit more of that style while reading this book. I think it would have made the story more digestible. As it is, it was a heavy and slow read due to both the content and writing style. Still, this important title is a must read for anyone interested in WWII and the Holocaust.

Mozhan Marno's audiobook narration of The Light of Days was fantastic!

I'm not sure if it was just me, but I had a hard time with this book. The author had done a lot of research on these heroic women, but there was too much in the book for me to really connect to the various stories. I found this book to be a bit of an information dump. I listened to the audiobook, which I think made it even harder. I had to go back and re-listen to some parts, which meant I had a tough time getting into the rhythm of the book.

Individually, each of the character's stories was gripping and I learned a lot. These were strong and heroic women who took many chances and put their lives on the line to help others. It begins with the women sneaking in and out to help the Jewish residents that were forced into the ghettos. They eventually crossed borders into Lithuania to support the Jews in ghettos there. Eventually they ended up working with armed resistance. They were lucky to be able to pass as non-Jewish Polish residents which enabled them more freedom, but they still risked death, torture, and imprisonment if caught. These women have been forgotten in a lot of the history of WWII, but it is good to see their stories being told. The audiobook was read by Mozhan Marnò. This is a non-fiction book, so it was narrated with a strong voice, adding interest to the information. I received a copy of this book from the publisher upon request. The rating and opinions shared are my own.

horror, resistance-efforts, bravery, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, history, Poland, criminal-acts, Jewish, Jewish-law, murder, gestapo, women, World War 2, biography, memoir, forgery, nonfiction*****

Even Stephen King cannot duplicate the horror of reality. This is a book filled with horror and hope, not to mention man's inhumanity toward other humans.
Each woman portrayed is real and the research was as intricate as any forensic study and the brief creative forays (conversations and such) make it somewhat less nauseating.
In an afterward, the author explains that she took 12 years to write the book, most of it spent researching diaries, memoirs, testimonies, books, and writings in a variety of languages, including English, Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Polish and Russian. She also traveled around the world to meet the descendants of the featured women, sifted through photographs and letters, and learned how the ladies lived during the post-war phase of their lives. Many of the women suffered from survivor's guilt and/or mental illness, and some committed suicide.
I don't know how Mozhan Marno was able to narrate this so well. She is truly a voice actor.
I requested and received a free temporary audio copy from Harper Audio via NetGalley. Thank you!

The light of Days is about young Jewish Women in Poland and what they accomplished during the Holocaust. Fighting for the resistance.

The strength that these woman had day after day while facing evil horrors is absolutely inspiring. Such a powerful and inspiring book. Definitely shows how in history woman , especially young ones. Were overlooked in their intelligence and power.
I have found that a lot of WWll books can often over look the strength of all the victims, and only showcase the horrors. But this book didn’t only do that. It showed how powerful they were. How much hope they had. It was so inspiring to read.

I cannot wait to see it as a movie. I also saw there is a young readers version. which is great, as it’s hard to find books based on true events for children’s history. I will be getting a young readers copy for my children.

I recommend this book to everyone. History needs to be told or it repeats itself.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for giving me a advanced reader copy.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.***.

The people and their experiences are certainly worth reading about, but I was disappointed in how this was written and laid out. It felt a bit random and piecemeal, so it was hard to get into and stay in the stories. Hopefully another author will use this book as research fodder for more books about these remarkable women.

This was a hard book to listen to and to rate, for obvious reasons. This is a dark, true account of different Jewish women who were resistance fighters in Poland during WWII. You can tell that a lot of effort/research was put into discovering and retelling these women's stories. The book itself felt like it was switching from a history book to a novel; some passages were explained very matter-of-factly, while others felt more lyrical, as if the author were telling us a story that she made up. My heart broke for all of the women whose stories we followed. While I enjoyed the book, I felt that the narrator was a little off. Her narration felt very monotone and flat, and it became harder to want to listen to the audiobook because of it. Overall I definitely recommend this book if you are interested in other lesser known WWII stories.

* Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the advance audiobook copy for my honest review.

These are the stories of Jewish women resistance fighters during WWII who organized uprisings and fought against the Nazis, bombed trains, and so much more. I kept expecting this to end, thinking things like, "these women have already been through so much," and, "there's no way they can pull this off," but I was wrong. I found myself continually surprised, shocked, devastated, and in awe of their chutzpah, even *after* the war had ended. I can think of no better read than this during Women's History Month. Judy Batalion's research and writing are incredible. This is a long one and it will break your heart, but it is so worth your time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the Advanced Listeners Copy of the audiobook. My review is my own.

I missed that this is a non-fiction book when I requested it, but I’m glad I received it. The narrator does an excellent job with the book. This could have been a dry recitation of data, but when the stories of these brave women are told, it reads more like a narrative non-fiction. The book tells the stories of several young, Jewish women in Poland who fought against the oppression of the Nazis and the atrocities of the Holocaust. Make sure you read both the forward and the Author’s notes as they provide the author’s journey to write the book and how important it was to her to tell these women’s stories with both accuracy and respect.

The author tells the stories of several women, many of whom chose to stay in poverty, oppression, and almost constant danger to help others, when they could have chosen personal freedom. Their stores reflect true heroism. You don’t come across many stories about the Jewish women who fought in the resistance, and the author explains the reasons, both personal and political, for that. This book has sections that are difficult to read much less imagine. Triggers: brutal killings, abuse, torture, starvation, rape. Yet, Judy Batalion has finally given these women a voice. Their stories are intense, compelling, and powerful. Their stories will stay with me for a lifetime, and The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos is a book I will recommend to anyone with an interest in history.

Release date is April 6, 2021 by William Morrow and Harper Audio

Judy Batalion's The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos was a fascinating view into the world of "courier girls", the young women who fought in the resistance by smuggling goods, weapons, and information. Much of the book is about Renia Kukielka who was from an educated, middle-class family, but the book also touches on so many others. The sheer volume of information and people who are named as contributors to the resistance got to be overwhelming at times, and I think part of that was due to listening to the audio version instead of reading it. Ultimately, the story always comes back to Renia and that is where I was most invested, as was the author. This was an impressive account of brave women who went through hell and should not be forgotten to history.

I totally enjoyed this book and loved that it is a woman's perspective of Polish/Jews rebellion during the war. I found it a lot of information and maybe too much for me to take in at times. I enjoyed the narration as much as the writing, but I felt at times I would zone out due to the abundance or information and names. I kind of lost track of who was who and what they were doing. Maybe the stories could have been told separately or in a different fashion so the reader was able to stay better connected? Perhaps it was me and the fact I was listening and not reading. I listen when I drive and can usually stay engaged in what I am hearing, but this time I was not able to do so continually. Perhaps this is a book I should have read not listened to? I am giving it a 3.5 star rounded to4. The details are highly research and the stories are so important, I just was a bit overwhelmed.

The Light of Days chronicles the lives (and often, the tragic and courageous deaths) of the brave young Jewish women who tirelessly worked in secret to resist and fight back against the Nazis in World War II. I was fascinated to dive into this book because this is not a perspective I had ever read about before. The lives of women in history, in general, are not written about enough, and I’m always happy to see a new history book that sheds light on the lives and exploits of remarkable women.

This book closely follows the stories of a particular handful of Jewish women, and takes quotes and anecdotes directly from their own memoirs written after World War II. (Some of them, anyway – sadly, not all of the women whose lives we follow in the book lived to see the end of the war.) I listened to the audiobook, and while the topic is an interesting one, I had a little bit of a hard time concentrating on the book if anything else was going on. I don’t usually have that problem with audiobooks. Unfortunately the narrator is slightly too monotone to keep my attention well – or it may have also been because the writing was somewhat dry. Granted, it’s not a happy or fun topic, but it definitely reads more like a textbook than a work of narrative nonfiction.

It was difficult to keep track of which character was which. This might be due to the writing, but it is also just generally hard to keep track of which character is which in audio format sometimes, especially in nonfiction. The book provides a “cast of characters” at the beginning of the book, to help readers keep the characters straight, but that’s of limited use in an audiobook where you can’t flip back and forth to refer to it.

Overall, this is an impressively well-researched book on an interesting, important, and little-explored topic, but the writing is less engaging than I’d prefer, and the audiobook experience is somewhat lacking. Some nonfiction works well in audio, some doesn’t. For some reason, this is one of the ones that doesn’t. Personally, I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it and enjoyed it more if I’d read it instead of listening to it. Skip the audio, and read this one in ebook or in print.

What a moving story. Judy Batalion brings us this book about many Jewish women in Poland during World War II. In the story, Renia Kukielka and other women are brought to life the women’s stories of survival while fighting to carry out their missions in the resistance. It tells of some of the missions and other work the women completed, the many different identities these women had to hold in order for their work to be completed, and how they, the women, were the reason for so many successes during this horrific time.

I listened to this book as an audio and at times had to go back to listen to make sure I heard the story right. Sometimes I had to pause and walk away because the details were heavy, and I needed to process them. I did learn more about the lives of Jewish people that lived in Poland during World War II. The different viewpoints of each helped me learn the many different roles and how the dramatic events played on each one.

I only rated it 4 stars because as audio it was more difficult, at least for me, to follow at times with the so many moving parts and many characters other than Renia.

The Light of Days is a well researched book about the women hero’s during WWII. While I enjoyed leaning about this brave women I felt the book was dry. It felt like I was reading a history book. I was hoping for more of a story. Otherwise the book had a lot of interesting information. Thank you to Netgalley for an Copy in exchange for my honest review. 2.5 stars

Great story and well researched. It's not often we read enough about women and what they ensured during the Nazi regime.
I love audiobooks and was excited for this on audio but think I would of preferred to read this. The audio just didn't give enough emotion it was read more like statistics. Sometimes it changed and hot better but then it would go flat again.
Overall great book.

At times, The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos reads more like a fiction story than a historical text. Judy Batalion, partly motivated by her own motivation to uncover her cultural history, uses testimony and historical documents to bring new life into otherwise unknown but important figures in the Holocaust: young Jewish women who fought against an oppressive regime.

As an American reader, the Holocaust and Allied involvement has long been hammered into the public educational system. In many ways, Americans first exposure to the Holocaust and Nazi Germany paint the Jewish people as helpless. Anne Frank is seen as a forever innocent and hopeful child who sees the good in man. Ellie Wiesel shows students that when people are placed in horrific circumstances, every man fights for himself. Batalion shows us a new and true perspective from the era. The Women Resistance Fighters were intense, loyal, and brave. Through unbelievable perseverance and determination, the Women Resistance Fighters were able to fight against the Nazi Regime. I found a great appreciation for this history book's focus on a group that has gone far too long without recognition, especially as it was written by someone of Jewish heritage. In a way, it felt as though the "helpless Jewish" narrative was finally challenged, and the strength that people had to have to endure Hitler's rule was highlighted instead.

Batalion writes that she tried to maintain a true representation of the facts and details throughout this book, but creative liberties are taken. Dialogue is made more lively for the sake of making the book read more like a narrative, and imagery is also added for the same reason. In many places, it would be easy to confuse this with a fictional story with a large cast of characters, rather than a true story of real Jewish women. This does not necessarily come as a detriment to the story. Many readers will love the creative nonfiction approach to this history book, but I found myself liking the spots which were entirely focused on the history rather than dialogue or relationships.

As this is a story about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust's atrocities, please be aware that there are some major content warnings. Not only for the obvious police brutality, genocide, and violence, but for beastilality, rape, and disturbing body images.

The Light of Days presents an important and compelling history of Jewish women fighting in the resistance in Poland during WWII. As the author points out, these crucial and frankly amazing acts of resistance are not highlighted enough in cultural memory when we talk about what happened during this period.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, I will be looking to add a physical copy of this book to my collection. It was a really interesting part of history I feel I didn't learn enough about in school and it's an important piece to the puzzle people should know about.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.