I went into reading The Polish Girl by Malka Adler with much curiosity as my ancestry comes from Poland and I was interested in learning more about the history of the country during World War II since this book is a historical fiction about one family’s struggle during and after the holocaust.

The author shared that this was inspired by a true story from a woman she knew, which is heartbreaking that actual living, human beings struggled with the atrocities described in the pages of the book.

There are so many loses, close calls, and twists & turns in this book that make it interesting and engaging; however, the writing style can make it a little difficult to get fully involved in the story. Let me explain:

1. The author tends to repeat certain details, stories, and events, which at first I thought I had re-read a page or two by accident. But upon closer inspection, I didn’t. It was indeed just repeating of the same things.

2. The point of view often changes from the mother to the girl. With what I stated above about the repeating of things, this makes it confusing for readers as to what is going on and the logical flow of the story gets lost.

With the above in mind, you take an interesting story and make it a bit clunky and cluttered to read. It ended up taking me a little longer because I had to re-read and put down the book from getting tired.

Overall, I did enjoy the story but it wasn’t fully engaging and the writing style could have been executed better.

Would I recommend?

Unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend this book because of the writing issues I described above.

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Danusha desperately wanted her mothers love. Her mother, who favored her son, was strict and demanding of her young daughter. Then WWII took over and their Jewish family had to hide in plain sight. Running from room to room and finally hiding under the nose of a Nazi doctor…Anna did what she needed to do to keep her children safe. Following the war, life for Danusha was hard. She struggled to fit in, she only felt safe with her mother nearby. As she grew into womanhood, Danusha found her voice and felt her life to be worth something despite her mother making her feel the opposite.

I struggled to connect with this book. It’s an extremely emotional topic, heartbreaking at times but I just couldn’t make the connection. Having said that…I do recommend this book for those seeking out Holocaust stories. I think it paints a great picture of how people struggled in the aftermath of the war, especially children. So many were robbed of socialization and education during the years they were in hiding. Trying to rebuild again wasn’t easy and I appreciate that there’s a story out there shedding light on that struggle.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and Malka Adler for access to this story. Thank you to Nechama for sharing her story with Malka and allowing her to translate into this book.

This book was difficult to read, not because of the writing style, but the subject matter. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was thought provoking and intelligently written and something I will definitely recommend to other readers who enjoy world war two stories.

This book is written through the eyes of Danusha, a Jewish girl who grows up during World War II. the author contrasts Danusha's wants and desires for her life with those of her mother, Anna. Danusha doesn''t understand her mother's choices, and sees her mother's preference for her brother with jealousy and anxiety.

The story alternates between survival in Poland with Anna recounting the stories of their incredible survival in their living room in Israel. It took me awhile to understand this literary progression. But then it dawned on me that is the same confusion, angst that Danusha went through understanding her mother's choices and love.

As noted, the fllashbacks confused me at first but I came to appreciate the literary style and how it enhanced the plot.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.