A story of resilience and friendship woven seamlessly into the harrowing history of Polish laborers during Nazi Germany.

Victoria begins as a naive young woman who struggles to navigate her new existence away from her family while being abused by the German family who buys her. But her friendships give her the courage to fight for what she believes in and ultimately survive her hardships.

A very human story about an inhumane period in our history.

Do you enjoy historical fiction? If so, consider this book featuring an previously untold story, set during World War II. If you appreciate meticulous research and strong female characters set in Europe during WWII, you won’t want to miss Victoria’s War from the exceptional Catherine A. Hamilton.

The audiobook has a very robotic tone but the actual story was very gripping. I would it recommend the audiobook but would recommend reading a physical copy or ebook if you are able

"Victoria's War" just wasn't for me.

The character development was almost non-existent and/or erratic: characters changed their mind between sentences and relationships developed out of nowhere (especially the romance subplot was underdeveloped and felt completely superfluous).

The plot was also all over the place: there were abrupt scene changes and some plot points were just glossed over.

While the subject matter was really interesting (I didn't know that the Polish people were forced into labor during WW2), the novel itself was a complete letdown.

An interesting book and great storytelling. The writing was beautiful and I was fully invested in the journey and story throughout. A great take on historical fiction - I recommend. It did lack a little depth for me though, the characters could have been fleshed out more, but otherwise a good read

Well-researched, well-written novel about the impact of Nazi rule in Poland during WWII. Story focuses on what happens to one woman who, instead of going off to college, is taken as forced labor to a German household. The main character, as well as secondary characters around her (fellow Poles forced to Germany and others in her household), appear as well-developed, distinct individuals. What I feel separated this book from other WWII books of historical fiction is how the author authentically depicted the internal thoughts and emotions of the characters. It was especially moving to read how some of the characters dealt with their tragic circumstances. Although the characters were fictional, I felt they were real and represented actual people in a way that honored them & gave them credit for how they lived their lives. I highly recommend this exceptional book. The narrator was excellent.

This was just so sad yet I'm glad I heard the stories of the courageous Polish women. Kidnapped. Sold to the Germans and forever into slave labor. Shocking and heartbreaking the narration was perfection and for well with the book. I loved the beautiful voice. 1.7 million people who suffered the same fate as Victoria. While each story is not the same each is as heartbreaking. I loved how courageous she was and we must never forget. I highly recommend this book and audio.

My review is for the audiobook provided on Netgalley in exchange for my review.
Victoria’s War is an incredible listen.
Both content and narration were appealing. There are a few quirky pronunciations (for example, ‘rations’) but on the whole the narrator was enjoyable to listen to.
I was hooked with the story telling and how Vic and Etta’s lives became entwined. There’s plenty of tragedy, but also friendship, strength and courage against the odds. Both characters suffer tremendously. Particularly shocking was the inclusion in the story of Hitler’s eugenics - the Hadamar Institute and the involuntary sterilization of the deaf, through which we hear of Etta’s own suffering. Most of us know the suffering of the Jews in concentration camps, but how many of us have heard of the Hadamar Institute? So not only does the author write an incredible story but she has done her research too and the reader stands to learn a little more about this terrible period in history.
5/5 Well worth your time.

Format: audiobook
Author: Catherine A. Hamilton ~ Title: Victoria's War ~ Narrator: Emily Behr
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

Victoria's War is a beautiful historical fiction novel about the not-so-beautiful theme: WW2 and the slavery of Polish people. It is well-known that Jews were mistreated, and a lot of them died in WW2. But not only Jews were treated horribly during these years. Victoria's war is a story of Victoria, a young Catholic woman who was sold into slavery, and an artist Etta Tod, a deaf German girl who was badly treated because she was not perfect as German people should be. A lot of books were written on this and similar themes of the horrors of WW2. I read quite a few of them throughout the years, but this was my first one on enslaving Polish Catholic women.

The narration was very good, and I liked the narrator's German accent, which was perfect.

Thanks to the publisher ListenUp Audiobooks for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

Victoria’s Attic is a painful glimpse into the hardships and sufferings endured by a group of Polish women and young girls forced into labor by the Nazis.

The central character is a young woman named Victoria who was purchased at a slave auction to work for a baker and his family. She is abused, starved and lives in their miserable attic. She endures physical pain and the suffering of losing loved ones while being completely helpless.

Victoria is befriended by the family’s deaf mute young daughter. Together they risk everything to help other victims of suffering at the hands of the Nazis. The cruelty of the regime extends to Germans who are considered less than perfect.

While we know the history, we don’t often hear the stories of the real people behind the suffering.

These stories are based on true accounts, and its important that they are told and never forgotten so that this horrendous part of history never repeats itself.

@netgalley @catherinea.hamilton
#plainviewpress
#historicalfiction

Based on a true story, 19 year old Victoria Daraki is excited to be going to The University of Warsaw, but as World War II. Her father is taken by Nazis and Victoria is ordered to work for the Nazi’s in a sewing factory, she and her best friend get in with the resistance but they are captured by human traffickers and Victoria ends to being sold as a slave.

I have no idea about the book because I couldn’t get away with the readers voice, I did not really give this a fair chance . I might go back and try again now I’ve just finished a different book.

Sometimes, you read a book for its cover. Sometimes, you read it despite its cover. This book falls in the second category. I didn't like the cover at all and went for the novel only for the story it promised. And to a great extent, it met my expectations.

You might have read about black slaves being sold in America. Or about Jews being murdered by the Nazis. But have you read about Polish Catholics being kidnapped and trafficked by the Nazis and sold into slavery in Germany during the WWII era? For me, this was an entirely new, hitherto unknown glimpse into the wartime atrocities committed by Hitler's stooges.

Victoria Darski, a 14 year old Polish Catholic girl in 1939, was just getting ready to join college. Instead, her life turns upside down when WWII breaks out. Soon, she loses her family, is kidnapped by the Nazis, and sold into slavery to a German baker's family.

This baker's daughter, Etta, is going through her own struggles. Because of her deafness, she is forced to undergo compulsory sterilisation to eliminate "hereditary deafness". Her mother ill-treats her, thwarting at every step her desire to be an artist. Victoria and Etta form an unlikely friendship, with nothing in common except a hatred for the Nazis. How they use their position to assist those in need, what more atrocities are in store for them, and how life continues for these two war-affected youngsters until the end of the war in 1945 forms the rest of the story.

Victoria's War as a story is breathtakingly painful and inspiring. No matter how much one reads about the Nazis, one is still horrified at the extent of their inhumane behaviour. Many of the barbarisms revealed in this story were new to me and left me horrified. It is not an easy read, and it is not meant to be so.

The writing style is quite stark. This is not a book that you'll remember for its linguistic flourishes. The author doesn't waste time in scenic descriptions or frivolous detailing but keeps her sentences crisp and the pace, quick. The story goes ahead full-steam right from page 1, and though the book is just about 276 pages long, you will feel overwhelmed at the staggering amount of information it unveils. The author has certainly done her homework well and it shows. The second half gets a bit too overpowering, and it felt to me like the author was trying to cram into the story every atrocity she came across while researching for the book. Some of the things appeared unrealistic and exaggerated, but the afterword revealed that every single brutality was based on true records. 😕

The only thing I didn't like in the story was the romance. I don't understand why writers feel the compulsion to insert a romantic arc in every single story. The romance in this book was superfluous and could have safely been skipped.

The audiobook, clocking at 9 hrs 36 minutes, is narrated by Emily Behr. I got the feeling that she wasn't a native English speaker but her accent made the audiobook doing more enthralling.

Thank you to NetGalley and ListenUp Audiobooks for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book particularly interesting because it is based on the author’s aunt chronicles but also because it tells a side of WWII that we seldom talk about … the displacement, enslavement and force labour of people in occupied Poland.
Men and women were uprooted and moved by the Nazis to work in military factories, to sew uniforms, to farm land, to cook and bake, to clean and all around oil the Nazi war machine.

The war is told from the viewpoint of Polish Christian twenty years old Victoria.
The Author does not shy away from the horror of the war and still spotlight the strength of the human spirit.
A lot of lesser known facts ranging from the use of the Guillotine during WWII to the Hadamar mental institutions being use as a small case test project for the nazi before they developed the bigger more efficient killing camps was mind blowing.
This tale is also a look at what being human really signify. In every war some people are simply mean, some are simply good, some are optimist and some are defeated, and all can be found on either side of the war fence.

I listened to the narration of the book. At first I was put off by the flat, unemotional reading, but soon realized that it was in fact perfect for the subject and the horrid descriptions. The narrator is obviously fluent in both Polish and German. I wish she had made an effort to change her intonation for few of the characters as some dialogues were a little confusing.

This book is a gift in a genre that has been hashed and hashed again. I highly recommend it. Not for the faint of heart as most situation were horrific, but definitively a different point of view.
One could ague that the story becomes improbable at times, with love stories being stricken when conditions were so dire , but ultimately love stories did happen and children were born out of illegitimate unions.

Thank You NetGalley and Catherine Hamilton for The Audible book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio copy of Victoria's War by Catherine Hamilton. I thought this was a really good novel but the narrator kind of killed it for me. I was lost at one point during the book. This is a historical fiction novel about a young Jewish woman getting bought into slave labor by a German family.

Victoria’s War follows a Polish girl during World War II who was sold as a force laborer to a German family.

I really enjoyed listening to this novel. The story is emotional and the narrator did a wonderful job. I want to give thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me listen to this audiobook.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Great story! loved the extra info in the authors note too, really makes the story even better!

Most of the books you read dealing with the holocaust describe the plight of the Jewish population.
Less talked about are the people that ended up as slave labor and what Germany did to its own population that did not stand up to the picture of the pure and superior German race.
This book gives us some insight on both situations.
The story of a young Catholic Polish girl ready to start her studies at the University and instead ended up as a slave laborer in a bakery in Germany. Been treaded worse than an animal and no shortage of been misused.
Second interwoven with the slave laborer we have the baker’s daughter Etta. Because of her deafness isn’t considered worthy of belonging to the German race. The treatment by her mother is horrendous and it is not a surprise she ended up in an institution that targeted and ended the lives of disabled people in Nazi Germany.
This is a good reminder that a lot of people were victims of this war. I don’t minimize the treatment of the Jews and hope that one day everybody will accept a person for what they are another person. Not define somebody by race, color or religion but I’m afraid it will not happen in my lifetime.
My father been part of the Belgium armed forces ended up as a prisoner of war in Germany and later on was part of the liberating forces dealing with some of the concentration camps. Many healthy woman and man from the occupied countries were used as slave labor in German factories. There are many more cases and a lot of people did not survive.
Emily Behr's narration of this audiobook was great and she did an excellent job bringing the story to life.

A great book and incredibly well read. Not too long. I was very gripped and felt the narrator really helped me to connect with the characters on an emotional level

A truly incredible novel.

Hamilton gives voice to the millions of Polish slave labourers of the Third Reich with such humanity and truth I was blown away. Victoria Darski is a powerful protagonist who highlights the horrors of her and her friends experiences through the lense of her own vulnerabilities, strengths and ultimately incredible courage.

The descriptions of events in this book do not shy-away from the horrific truths of human trafficking and slave labour experiences; so much so that I feel a warning to readers is due. But it is this presentation of the truth that makes 'Victoria's War' such an important read - one that I want to press into the hands of everybody I meet. So many wartime experiences are still as yet relatively unknown, but 'Victoria's War' shines a light into another dark corner. This, coupled with Hamilton's incredible use of language, plot development and three-dimensional characters, meant I could not put it down.

The stories of Victoria, Sylvia, Etta and all those that they meet, will stay with you forever.

Emily Behr was a fantastic reader - perfectly capturing the atmosphere, accents and tension of the unfolding narrative. It was also great to hear all the names of both people and places pronounced correctly. This was especially so with the regular use of both Polish and German - I found the audio really helped me to keep up with the story.

I cannot recommend enough. Such an important book.