Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my copy of The Nine
The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
by Gwen Strauss
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson in exchange for an honest review. It published May 4, 2021.
What an important, powerful book! It is so necessary to keep these stories of bravery and survival alive. Not only to honor those who endured, but to try to prevent history from repeating itself.
Well-written and narration was done very well.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

I know people love WWII historical fiction, but I wish more people would read books like The Nine by Gwen Strauss. With the members of the greatest generation passing on, capturing these stories of resistance is so important.

The narration was captivating.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts were my own.

I don’t normally read books in the genre labeled “history” however I really wanted to give this one a go. Oh my goodness, this audiobook was just amazing and special in so many levels. I loved this and I definitely would recommend!

Was unable to listen to this audiobook. Damaged my phone and had to get a new one. When I opened my netgalley app, I was unable to listen.

"Remembering is a moral imperative."

Equal parts devastating and inspiring, and doesn't shy away from the reality faced by women in the war. We need to hear more stories about the women who went through WWII.

I don't know how else to talk about it, just that if you're interested in women's history, this should be on your list.

The audiobook narrator was Juliet Stevenson and she was perfect.

I received a copy of this audiobook for free from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

I need to remember these women every time I want to whine about something. I love war stories, and this honest, traumatic, amazing true story of these women and their will to live and persevere is one that will stay with me.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a fantastic job!
Every time I read about survivors of the concentration camps, I am in awe that anyone would make it through alive, with any semblance of sanity. Not only does this book detail the nine women's journey, it follows up on what their lives were like after their "freedom" - a freedom that haunted many of the survivors.
It's a must-read, and a book that will stay with me. The author did extensive research and brought these women to life for the reader. Excellent book!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this story. And to the narrator for doing such an amazing job.

I received an audio copy of The Nine by Gwen Strauss from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.
Set during the waning days of WWII. In Europe, a group of women resistant fighters escape during a prison death March. The women bond together to survive and make their way to Alled occupied territory.
The book was excellent especially the first part. Each chapter relates the story of one of the women.
I’ve read many books dealing with the holocaust but this one focuses on the true stories of captured resistant fighters.

I don’t know what I expected of the Nine by Gwen Strauss, but this book definitely blew me away. Covering the courageous escape of nine women from Nazi imprisonments, the author slowly guides the reader through a deeper understanding of each individual but also the reality of women in WWII.
It took me a little while to get used to the flow of the story, which weaves in and out of the escape while layering in more about each woman and building on the broader history of events. It comes together in a powerful way that often made me gasp out loud. These stories need to be shared. The bravery of women that was minimized for too long needs to be honored. This book does that. There are a lot of events in here that could be triggering for some readers and are difficult to hear about, but are also so powerful and need to be remembered to help this never happen again.

The narrator does an excellent job with changing her voice to help delineate between characters, and is easy to listen to.
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Thank you to NetGalley, author Gwen Strauss, narrator Juliet Strauss, and Macmillan audio for this enlightening nonfiction audiobook.

THE NINE by Gwen Strauss is a solid book. it offers important stories to tell of nine women who escaped the Holocaust together. this story includes: the women's plight and all of the pain that they suffered in the process of escaping the Nazis; how the women sought out new lives yet continued to struggle in the postwar world; and the author's reflections on how she started the project, how she felt about relaying these women's stories, and how she thinks about Holocaust memory more broadly. unfortunately, the audiobook narrator was abysmal. But I feel like Gwen Strauss wrote a thoughtful, well-researched story, and readers should be thankful to her that this book exists. one of the nine woman is the author’s direct relative. author Gwen Strauss is a poet not a historian, but I am a historian, and I think that she did an excellent job crafting history!

This book is phenomenal. I love books that show a side of history that wasn't gone over in history books. I was ignorant to the idea that there was resistance fighters. It was a good read that didn't mute the horrors that the 9 women went through. Having said that is does not draw away from describing the horrific situations, but does not cross the line over into tactless. Everything was stated in a matter of fact, no opinion was given because it wasn't needed. Those women went though Hell and survived.
I like how the book had a kind of introduction of the women as their escape story was unfolding.
In addition to reading the book I also listened to the audiobook version. The narrator was exceptionally good. She had the perfect tone, and her French wasn't forced but natural. I'm glad I also got to listen to the audio version it had voice recordings from the author and others.
This book was well written, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested is personal accounts from WWII.

Standing ovation all the way to heaven for these amazing women!

The nine is the true story of a resistant group of friends it was written by the great-granddaughter of one of the nine, everything they did to survive during WW2. This is the story of how these wonderful, gorgeous, women were able to survive the worst nightmares that anyone can go through, showing us that women have as much strength and conviction then men and that we can deliver when we set our mind to help, contribute and even lift others to survive.

This is the case of the nine, they were going through many atrocities but they were able to help and give others no matter what, I feel like this was one of the huge keys for them to be able to be stronger and survive because they were able to put themselves in others people shoes making them way more empathic.

Some of the things the writer wrote were so heartbreaking, I cried so much with the evil and atrocities the SS and the Gestapo were capable of, they really were so evil, and the ones who still alive I believe they still are evil no matter what. There was not an ounce of humanity in these"men", and let's not forget about The Red Army, I don't care all the lies the Russians have ever told or written, I don't care how much their government still hides from the whole world to know. The Red Army DID many atrocities and they hide them from the public to know, they put all the blame over the Nazi's head when we all know they were raping everyone like there was no tomorrow.. They even felt offended if you question them lol yea right The evilness was there, always!!!!

The Red Army raped every woman who crossed their path no matter how old they were, or if she was just a teenager, or married or pregnant, The Russian raped everything that moves... some of them were raped 10 times over a night this was just so disgusting, and this is why I'm writing this because I'll never stay silent, I'll never put a blind eye to what the Russians did.. I'll keep reading and writing about this soulless men because we can't call them humans.. a lot of this rapist still alive and still walking our streets like nothing ever happened ...

for me, the Red Army is not better than the SS or the Gestapo they were ignorant and evil the same.
I wish they let us say bad words in our reviews because this is not what I would have written... and I feel even worst because they supposedly were there to help others and save them but in the end, they were raping everyone on their path even young kids so The Red Army I will never in my entire life recognize you as a savior you were worst than the devil himself, I hope each one of you that still alive, remembers the atrocities you did over and over again on an interminable loop.

What really broke me was to learn how the Nazis killed many newborns and they did that in front of their mothers, can you comprehend the psychological trauma of this? the war ended but the trauma of these people was over and over in their mind and body, I still can belive many of these men still alive in Argentina, Columbia, and many South American countries who opened their doors to these evil men like they were heroes..

The Nine show us Once again the terrible behavior of many of the french people when the war was over treating the women and the child's the same way as the Nazis, shaving them, and beating them in the middle of the streets for everyone to see and meanwhile the french men who did worst things during the war were walking on the streets with impunity. to the French who still alive and who participated in the hunting of many women and kids, you're just as evil as the Nazis and the Red Army you are not better than them...

Also the family of the Nine some of them were terrible when they finally got back to their home, shutting them up, not wanting to hear their stories, not even understanding them, some even had the freaking audacity to asked if they were still pure?????? really?

How can you ask about that, how can you care more about that, than the life of your own DAUGHTER???? how can you not hold her and console her for all the sadness trauma, and loss she saw and survive???? so many things that I learned were just so sad is like the war was over but it wasn't over for many of the NIne and the survivors because some of them returned to find an empty house, some of them their entire family was already dead, and some were even rejected.

I can't understand how humans can be like that, where is the empathy, where is the love for your daughter how is more important your reputation than the life of your own flesh and blood??

Thank you to the author for writing this story, for giving voice to many of the stories we need to hear and we have to recognize, in this world, the faces of heroes are mostly men, because the world can't comprehend women can also be heroes, women can also help and fight, women are here to stay and survive.

The narrations/the reading by Juliet Stevenson was great I really love her work and the way she gave so much depth to the story and to each woman, my only suggestion is when she was breathing and swallowing we could hear that on the recording, it made it a little unpleasant but her work was greater than that parts so other than that I love her work.

Great book!!!!!

Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. The Nine, totally sucked me in. It’s amazing all of what these women did to resist the Nazis in the first place and their escape from them was even more incredible! I wish that I had had a better idea on who the narrator was speaking for when she read in first person. But I listened to this book fairly nonstop after I received it and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this type of history.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing" - Edmund Burke

Have you captured stories of relatives for your family history?
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The Nine by Gwen Strauss, published May 4, is the true story of the author's great aunt Helene Podliasky who led a group of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a Nazi labor camp and survived a nine-day journey across the front lines from Germany to Paris. These young women were "nine who didn't want to die, and who fought together to return to life." Diverse in many ways (6 were French, 2 Dutch, and 1 Spanish), they were united in their will to defeat the Nazis, help others, and survive.

The Nine is primarily focused on their capture, imprisonment, and harrowing journey to freedom, which is far from over once they reach French soil. It also includes information about the women's lives before and after WWII as well as the author's 10 years of research to identify and learn about other members of The Nine.

I appreciated having a print copy of this book to view the photos it includes, and Juliet Stevenson's narration of the audiobook, especially her fluid pronunciation of many French and German words and phrases, was excellent. The audio production wasn't as polished as some I've enjoyed but that helped me stay in the non-fiction mindset.

Reading books like this always cause me to wonder if I would have the bravery to put my life at risk by joining an underground resistance movement. I can't answer truthfully until I'm actually in that intense situation.

Thank you Gwen Strauss for sharing the experiences of your great aunt Helene and her dear friends and to St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the review copies. All opinions are my own.

Nine women—Hélène, Zaza, Nicole, Lon, Guigui, Zinka, Josée, Jacky, and Mena- resistance fighters that survived the camps. Their story would have been lost, with only fragments buried in archives, had it not been for author Gwen Strauss and her tireless effort to piece it all together. The story (in part) of her great aunt is a harrowing tale of survival, strength and determination.

In interviews, Strauss discusses the difficulties in assembling this book and trying to (carefully) fill in the blanks. Her own story of the journey is fascinating in itself. I think her difficulties are evident here. It's not a 'perfect history', and it doesn't need to be. The recollections and recorded evidence speak for themselves. People need to hear this story. People need to know. We cannot forget what horrible things were done, and could happen again.

As Strauss pointed out, much of the history that is told of the resistance fighters, is that of the men. So little is known/told of the women. Here is a part of that story. Also, how those events affected, and continues to affect the families going forward. Life changing.

I read many accounts from the Holocaust. The details in each, add another puzzle piece to the larger story or not just the horrors, but also the goodness and humanity that won out in the end.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator Juliet Stevenson was very good. She made the story real with great intonation. It must have been a hard story to narrate. I would definitely look for other books narrated by her.

The tenacity of the nine women who banded together and escaped to freedom is a powerful story. They had followed their heart and worked for the resistance and helped save many lives. The Gestapo tortured, beat and raped these women to within a thread of their lives. It’s a powerful story and the WWII atrocities must never be forgotten.

I can’t say that I enjoyed the book but it was a solid five star for me. There were parts of the book that were very hard to read and imagine that these women had to endure these trials at that young an age.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

"We are only a group of women, meaning no harm...We don't understand war. It's not our business. We are just lost. Just women."

Helene uses these words to trick the police after her and the others escape from their death march. In the non fiction The Nine by Gwen Strauss we read first hand accounts of how these brave, resilient and fierce nine young women, all in their 20s, join the resistance in WWII against Hitler, smuggle arms, hide wanted resistant leaders, find safe routes to escape the Gestapo, hide Jewish children and even when are prisoners find ways to sabotage a munition factory.

The author is the grand niece of Helene and was able to do intense exhaustive interviews and gather the truth of these women's heroism, the lives they saved and, unfortunately, the vicious torture and abuse they suffered at the hands of their captors.

We also learn the aftermath of this war on Helene, Nicole, Jacky, Zaza, Lon, Guigui, Zinka, Mena and Josee. The PTSD of being a survivor of the Holocaust and how it effects the generations of these survivors is something that needs to be understood by everyone.

I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson. Hearing her speak the words of these remarkable women was one of the most awe inspiring book experiences of my life.

The Nine reads like an historical fiction novel which is a testament to the author. There is a great deal to cover about The Nine and it was overwhelming and disjointed at times but nonetheless an achievement in WWII history. This is the one book I wholeheartedly recommend to all WWII history buffs whether you read fiction or non fiction.

I received a free copy of this book and audiobook from the publishers for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, this book. It gave me all the feelings. I’m amazed and devastated, inspired and horrified, heart-warmed and heartbroken all at the same time. The Nine tells the true story of the author’s great aunt Helene Podliasky, who led a group of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten day journey across the front lines of WWII to escape from Germany and return to Paris. The women endured horrifying conditions and were working at an armaments factory in HASAG Leipzig as the end of the war approached. To keep prisoners from falling into Allied hands, the camp was evacuated into a death march across Germany. The story opens during the death march when the women realized that there were no guards nearby. They took their chance and fled. From here the story moves among the women who made up The Nine. In each chapter, the focus is on one of the woman and we learn about her background, how she joined the resistance and how she came to be imprisoned by the Germans. I thought this was a very clever and engaging approach to telling their story. This keeps the story fresh and interesting and fills in the context for the situations they encountered. The author also includes herself in the story, how her research unfolded and incorporating her discoveries along this journey. The story itself very moving and powerful. The bravery and ingenuity of these women was amazing. While reading this book, I never stopped being amazed. Amazed by the bravery of these women, what they were willing to risk to be part of the Resistance, what they endured, what they were willing to risk for each other and for their freedom.

The author, Gwen Strauss, noted that her family was aware that her great-aunt Hele was highly decorated for her service in the war, but, like many families, her service was just something they never talked about. It felt taboo. On a lunch date with Gwen in 2002, Helene mentioned that she had escaped the Nazis with eight other women. Astounded, Gwen asked to record an interview to get the full story. Helene didn’t see the point of sharing her story but agreed to do so regardless. Gwen assumed that there would be more conversations in the future to fill in the details, but the follow up visits never occurred. Later, when she began to write the Helene’s story, she began to discover other books, interviews, articles and documentaries that were by or about some of the other women who made up The Nine, or about other women who were in the same camps. Gwen drew upon and compiled all of this research, collaborating with other researchers where possible, visiting archives to dig deeper, and traveling throughout Germany and Europe to walk some of the same ground as the Nine. I found the result to be amazing, that so much of their story could be tracked and recreated. It’s really a feat of tenacious and tireless research to have identified the women and found their histories so long after the fact. Strauss is trained and educated as a poet – not as a writer of non-fiction or a historical researcher. She undertook this project outside of her comfort zone and I think she hit a home run. Her passion for unearthing and sharing the stories of these brave women shines through the pages. This is despite forces in history working to hide and obscure the facts. And those facts are sometimes difficult to read. These are important stories for us to tell, for us to hear, and for us to remember.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Bookish Firsts, Netgalley and Macmilliam Audio for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I experienced this book as a dual read – I switched back and forth between the physical book and the audio book. The physical book is absolutely incredible – Strauss has obtained and included photographs of the women, some of their families, some of the camps, events and locations that were mentioned in the book and a map of the area where they traveled on their escape route. The audiobook was equally amazing. The narrator, Julie Stevens, was very good and I thought her voice was lovely and complimented the story beautifully. There were a few parts that she even sang beautifully. Really lovely audio to complement an incredible and moving story.

The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Strauss
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson
Publication Date: May 4, 2021
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Description from NetGalley...
“The nine women were all under thirty when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo. They were subjected to a series of French prisons and deported to Germany.

The group formed along the way, meeting at different points, in prison, in transit, and at Ravensbrück. By the time they were enslaved at the labor camp in Leipzig, they were a close-knit group of friends. During the final days of the war, forced onto a death march, the nine chose their moment and made a daring escape.”
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Thank you to @netgalley @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress for the ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
Read this book! It’s a history book, but the way it was laid out it felt like you were listening to a historical fiction. Which made it easier to listen to. The narrator was great and the book was unbelievable in every sense of the word. The book followed the story of Gwen Strauss’ (author) great aunt Hélène Podliasky. Hélène led a band of nine women resistance fighters as they escaped a labour camp. Not only do we hear the stories of The Nine, but how Strauss researched and played detective to actually bring us their stories. Strauss was not graphic, but there was enough here about the interrogation and torture the women suffered. This was powerful, hard to listen at times, heartbreaking, heart-palpitation read that will open your eyes to the strength of humanity.

I don't typically read very many history books but I am so fascinated about the resistance in WWII Germany. It was so amazing to read about the bravery and persistence of these nine women during the war. This read like a novel the majority of the time. I think that people who don't normally read history will love this!