I’m a huge historical fiction fan. I’m even more of a WWII Historical Fiction fan. I love reading stories of survival or strength that came from those on the side of good during WWII. I knew I had to read The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff as soon as I read the description.

The story follows Sadie, a jewish girl hiding in the sewers with her family and others as German soldiers take away all the Jews from their homes and burn their part of the city to the ground. Then we have Ella, a polish girl who has some clearance to wander the city thanks to her aunt’s relationship with the German soldiers. But Ella doesn’t feel that way and soon finds herself helping Sadie.

This story is so heartbreaking. While the strength of the characters is beyond comprehension, what they are forced to do and handle is more than most people could do. I absolutely love the characters that Jenoff wrote. They are strong, but also have moments where they just can’t be strong and show this level of vulnerability that makes your heart shatter into a million pieces. Ella is meek at times, but silently fierce at others. She is doing things to help that she doesn’t even realize she is doing. Sadie is my superhero at this point. She survives because it is all she knows to do and knows that she doesn’t have a choice otherwise. I felt so many different things while reading this book. I felt hope, angst, stress, worry, love, and pure and utter sadness. The fact that Jenoff could make me feel so much in 400 pages just shows the kind of writer she is. Absolutely flawless. Not only that, but the story was well thought out and flowed seamlessly, even as we jumped between Ella and Sadie.

The story never had a boring moment. I was intrigued and flipping pages from the very first moment. I wanted to know what was happening and how it would end. I also was not expecting the ending at all. I thought I knew what most historical fiction novels in this time ended like. One of two things happen. Either they survive and we see what happened to them after the war, or they die. That’s it. This one has a bit of a twist I didn’t see coming and I really appreciated. It was a really sad, happy ending, if that makes sense.

Will I read Pam Jenoff again? Absolutely! Without a doubt. The Women with the Blue Star was hauntingly beautiful and soul crushingly sad all wrapped into one. I already have her next book ready to start and I cannot wait to read them off. She is definitely a new favorite of mine.

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Woman with the Blue Star

Author: Pam Jenoff

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Polish main character and Jewish main character and side characters

Recommended For...: historical fiction fans, WWII readers

Publication Date: May 4, 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 18+ (drowning, Nazis, violence, gore, side character romancing SS officers)

Publisher: Park Row

Pages: 336

Synopsis: 1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents amid the horrors of the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous sewers beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.

Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. Scorned by her friends and longing for her fiancé, who has gone off to war, Ella wanders Kraków restlessly. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.

Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by harrowing true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an emotional testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.

Review: I really liked this read. The book was well written and it conveyed the horrors of WWII and it shows the reader the terror of having your ghetto raided as a Jewish family during that time. The horror almost immediately starts, so please be advised of the TWs before you read the book. The book had well done character development and world building. The plot is also well done and will keep you going throughout the read.

The only issue I really had with the book is that the pacing was a bit fast in places. It really feels like running a marathon reading this book in certain places.

Verdict: Highly recommend.

In 1942, Sadie is 18 and living with her parents in the Kraków Ghetto. When the Nazis come to take away everyone from the Ghetto, Sadie and her parents escape through the sewers. Unfortunately the Nazis have their escape route blocked so Sadie's family and the other Jewish family have to live in the sewers to avoid the Nazis.. Ella lives with her stepmother in a wealthy part of town, Her stepmother sends her to the market for cherries and Ella sees Sadie living in the sewer. The 2 become fast friends with Ella promising to bring food to Sadie and the others. As the war continues, things get quite scary of Sadie and the others. Ella and a few of her friends are determined to help Sadie and the other family. This is a heartbreaking story of family, friendship, and enduring the absolute worst conditions war has to offer. This story and its amazing characters will live in my heart forever. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read The Woman With The Blue Star

When Sadie and her family decide to escape the Kraków ghetto , they end up living underneath the city, in the sewers with another family. Sadie forms an unlike relationship with Ella, a Polish girl with ties to the Nazis, so tries to help Sadie and her family.


Overall, this book didn’t like up to my expectations. The underlying story of the families living in the Kraków sewers to survive was not something I was familiar with, and I found that aspect educational and informative. I did not like Sadie’s character - she quite often acted way younger than her years, and behaved more like a petulant child than a young woman ( especially in those times) ... the love stories seemed forced and didn’t really add much to the story, and overall, I wanted to know what happened, but I wasn’t that invested in the story at all.

A heartbreaking and hopeful novel about the struggles of the Jewish population in Poland during the occupation. It is about one girls struggle to survive and another one’s determination to help. In the end it’s about friendship and trusting in strangers.

Wow! When you think you have heard every WWII story, then this book comes along. That is the moment I am living right now! The quick take on this story is that Ella befriends Sadie, a Jewish girl, who is hiding in the sewers of Krakow following the evacuation of the Jewish ghetto. I guess I imagined Jewish families may have sought refuge in the sewers during WWII, I mean, I would have hid anywhere! But to read that it actually happened is shocking. This book, inspired by a true story, is a page turner from the beginning. My mouth was agape and there were several OMG moments. Our main characters are strong and brave women who are either trying to stay alive or risking their lives by helping others. Told from alternating points of view, the story moves along quickly and even when you need to stop reading and go to bed, you just can’t because there is always another crisis or obstacle for the characters to overcome. This is a WWII story that I have never heard. If you are a historical fiction fan who is burned out by WWII stories, DON’T skip this one!

The Woman with the Blue Star
by Pam Jenoff
Publishing Date: May 4, 2021

Excellent book! Pam Jenoff is a prolific writer and I have read most of her books. This one is one of her best. I will recommend it to our readers. Thanks to her publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Don't miss this great book!

5 star

I have been reading a lot of World War II and Holocaust books lately so I felt like this fell right in. I wouldn't say I loved it or that it brought anything too new to the genre but it was worth the read.

Pam Jenoff excels at writing emotional historical fiction, and The Woman with the Blue Star will certainly have readers feeling for the characters. Told from the perspective of two young women- one, Sadie, who is Jewish and narrowly escaped into the sewers under Krakow, and Ella, who is lonely and adrift, living with only her collaborator stepmother. A chance meeting connects the two, and their acts of courage carry the story.

This was a fantastic historical fiction that depicted just how far someone will go to survive and protect the ones they love.

Sadie and her Jewish family were living in the Krakow ghetto when her whole world was turned upside down. Her father had made plans for them to go into hiding when the ghetto was liquidated, but Sadie never imagined having to live in the sewers beneath the city.

Sadie looked up through the sewer grates one day and saw Ella, a young Polish girl who promised to help her. Ella and Sadie knew the risk they were taking could put everyone in more danger, but without Ella’s help, Sadie and the others in the sewer would die.

This was such a different perspective of survival during WWII. I could never in a million years imagine having to live in a sewer, and yet Sadie did what she had to do to protect herself, her mother, and the others. The friendship that grew between Sadie and Ella was truly inspiring and I thought they were the perfect heroines. Highly recommend this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3947468946

I was so excited to be approved for this book! I love historical fiction especially WW2 era. This one did not let me down and I was transported to the ghetto surrounded by Germans and tragedy. I love her story telling and I thought the characters were well developed.

As can be expected, this book is very emotional and just rips at your heartstrings from the very beginning, when Sadie is forced to hide from a German sweep of the ghetto that targets the children left behind in their homes while their parents are at work. It only amps up from there, so make sure you have tissues nearby.

The main characters in this book, Sadie and Ella, were really well done because I think they represented a crucial demographic: young people caught in the crossfire of a war and a political situation that they hadn’t really thought about or considered until it was too late. Ella, for example, is greatly affected by the fact that she feels she didn’t do enough to stand up for her Jewish friend when she was expelled from school, along with the other Jewish students. Sadie, likewise, was looking forward to beginning her studies. Neither was thinking about war.

There were also some very harrowing moments in the book that really make the reader think about morality and what they would do in the characters’ places. The author presents some intense situations where characters have to make life and death decisions and it leads to some intense feelings and thoughts on what the right thing would’ve been.

Overall, this was a really good book that beings the struggles of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances to light. I will definitely be following up reading the book the author recommends for more information on the real-life situation that inspired the book.

(3.5 stars, rounded up)

Trigger warnings: antisemitism, war, murder, loss of a parent, suicide, death

Sadie Gault is a Jewish teenager who lives in the newly constructed Jewish ghetto in Kraków, Poland. When the Germans come to take the Jewish children, she hides and her family decides it's time to escape. She goes on a harrowing journey with her parents and ends up living in a sewer to escape detection.

Well-to-do Ella Stepanek is shunned by her friends because her stepmother is a German collaborator. When she sees a girl her age in the sewer, she's drawn to her. Ella visits Sadie and brings food to her.

At first, Sadie keeps the others she is living with a secret from Ella. As more Jewish citizens with blue-starred armbands are rounded up, Ella worries for her friend.

The war becomes increasingly dire, and there are no Jews left in the city. As the Germans begin to realize that they are losing the war, they become more aggressive toward the Polish people. Both Ella and Sadie will suffer losses, but their strength and friendship will be what keeps them going.

Recommended for World War II fiction lovers and Jenoff's many fans.

Pam Jenoff, in “The Woman With The Blue Star,” explores the inspiring fortitude of two families who escaped a Krakow ghetto during World War Two and the sacrifices of those who risked everything to make sure the families survived. The Woman with the Blue Star is a tale of friendship and survival. It would appeal to readers who enjoy Historical Fiction set in the World War II era.

Sadie's father made arrangements for their family to hide in the sewers below Krakow in advance of the Nazi roundup of Jews from the ghetto. Ella, a Catholic, is living with her collaborating and mean step mother and mooning over the disappearance of Krys, her first love. These two meet by chance when Ella stands below the street next to a grate where Sadie has gone for a rare glimpse of sun. The sewers are beyond awful and to add to it, Sadie's mother is pregnant. They share an alcove with a family of three more religious Jews, including Saul. No spoilers but this isn't an easy story to read in spots. I can't imagine what it was like to live in those sewers under those circumstances but Jenoff brings the conditions to life. Sadie conveys as younger than 18 but she's a good character and a determined one. There are a few twists here that won't be revealed til the end, making it all the norm satisfying. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Fans of Jenoff and of WWII fiction will enjoy this immensely.

This book, The Woman with the Blue Star, is an incredible portrayal of people doing what they had to do, to survive as a Jew in World War II. It is incredibly powerful, and opens your eyes to the harrowing stories that aren't always told about the war, and what people did to make it to the end of the war.

Sadie is a young, Jewish woman, living in Krakow, Poland, with her father and pregnant mother. Her story starts as the war has already begun, and the family has already been relocated by the Nazis from their nice home to the Polish Ghetto. The story quickly picks up to the liquidation of the Ghetto, and the roundups, first of children, then of everyone, living there. Sadie and her family escape to the sewers below Krakow, and although the aim is to use that as a way out, they (and another family group traveling with them) become stuck in the sewers,

This story is alternated between Sadie's point of view, and Ella's a Polish girl who happens upon Sadie in the sewers, and begins to attempt to help her. Ella has her own issues at home-- her father was killed earlier in the war, and she is stuck living in her family home with her essentially "evil" step-mother. Her step-mother is Austrian, and whether she is a Nazi sympathizer, or just trying to make it through the war in her own way, she frequently entertains Nazi officers. Because of this, Ella and her step-mother have been allowed to stay in their relatively grand home.

The story alternates between Sadie and Ella's perspectives, with a prologue told from an unknown point of view (that part is concluded in the epilogue.) The prologue and epilogue are told from the future point of view, where the rest of the in between chapters are told at the time of WWII. Outside of the epilogue/prologue, there is not any time jumping, just the two girls perspectives.

This story was just told in such a way that pulls you in from the beginning and doesn't let up. The horror that Sadie and her family had to live through was unfathomable, and the incredible bravery of this small family is unthinkable. The conditions described are inhospitable, and it is difficult to even think of going down there one time, let alone making a home in the sewers for months at a time. Also, there was a surprise ending that I didn't see coming, which made the end all that more brilliant.

Overall, this is another fabulous offering by Pam Jenoff, and I would highly recommend to anyone who loves historical fiction, or just loves World War II fiction. Also, read the authors notes at the end-- although this is not a true story, the author goes into where the ideas an inspiration for this story came from. Overall, this got a solid 5 of 5 stars from me, and I would definitely recommend this to readers!

Thank you to Pam Jenoff, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this fabulous book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is loosely based on the true story of a group of Jews who lived in hiding for two years in the sewer tunnels in Poland to escape the Nazis. An unlikely friendship occurs.

Jenoff does a wonderful joy of portraying the strength and endurance people can exhibit, even in the most difficult circumstances. I've read numerous books in this genre, but I have never read any about those who hid in the sewers amid unimaginable situations. This is an emotional read, with a lot of loss and sadness. Yet through it all, light and hope shines through.

Pam Jenoff’s latest novel, The Woman with the Blue Star, is a powerful and inspiring story of strength, resilience, love, and friendship set against the dangerous backdrop of Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII. The story follows two young women, one Jewish and the other not, and the unlikely friendship they are able to forge in such a deadly environment.

Sadie Gault is an eighteen year old Jewish girl who has been living with her parents in the Krakow Ghetto. When the Nazis arrive to liquidate the Ghetto, Sadie and her family, along with another family, manage to escape into the sewers beneath the city. Unbeknownst to Sadie, her father had made arrangements with a trusted friend who works in the sewers and this friend has created a shelter for them to seek refuge in until they can safely leave. What they thought would be a few days stretches into weeks and months. My heart just broke for Sadie and for everyone else with her, having to live in such squalid conditions and fearing for your life every minute of every day. I also found them inspiring though because of the inner strength they all clearly possessed and their will to survive. I’m not sure I would have that kind of strength.

In contrast to Sadie, there is also Ella Stepanek. Ella comes from a wealthy Polish family and finds herself living in relative comfort and able to move about with relative ease, in part because of her stepmother who has allied herself with the Nazis who occupy their city. She knows she has it good in comparison to others but doesn’t really know how good until one day while at the market, she sees a pair of eyes staring up at her from a sewer grate. At first Ella cannot believe her own eyes but then realizes it’s a Jewish girl about her own age and that she must be hiding down there. Ella, who has herself been desperate for friendship and is disgusted that her stepmother is collaborating with Nazis, vows to do whatever she can to protect Sadie from being discovered.

I loved the friendship that formed between Sadie and Ella. It was so beautiful to see amidst so much horror and death, and I longed for them both to survive the war so they could continue their sister-like bond in times of peace. I just really loved both girls so much and how they were each exactly what the other needed. I also loved another unlikely friendship that formed in the book between Sadie and Saul, another Jewish boy who was also sheltering in the sewer. His family is much more religious than hers and he shouldn’t really associate with Sadie, but in such close quarters with no one else to talk to, he and Sadie become close and it’s another beautiful relationship to contrast with the ugliness all around them.

I don’t want to go into any specifics about what ultimately happens to all of these characters, but I will say that I flew through this book in less than a day and I cried more than once, especially when I got to the author’s notes at the end and realized that while these specific characters were not real, there are real accounts of Jewish families living in sewers while trying desperately to escape the Nazis. The Woman with the Blue Star really is a powerful and emotional testament to how strong the will to survive is.

I am becoming a fan of historical fiction. The stories of the Jewish hiding from Germans in sewers is new to me. In The Woman with the Blue Star, we see struggles, horrors, and bonds of friendships through the eyes of Sadie, a Jew in hiding, and Ella, a Polish girl who befriends her. You’re given a sense of hope while also acknowledging that everything could go wrong at any time. It’s a dark read, not happy at all, but it was set in one of the darkest times of history. The writing is well done, giving you a feeling of being right there, especially through the eyes of the character Sadie.

Review by Comfy ChairBooks/Lisa Reigel (April 25, 2021)
ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley

The Woman with the Blue Star is the epitome of a page turner. Although some details are hard to believe, and sometimes even missing, and character development is very selective, this book is all about the story, which is nothing short of gripping. Pam Jenoff does what she does best in this novel and once again she’s produced another winner.