Couldn’t finish. Just dragged incessantly, but could have improved, so giving 3 stars as a vote of confidence. Summary sounded great, though!

As Lena lies in her deathbed, she remembers her days as a teenager in Poland - the ordinary rhythm of life at her family home and her absolute dream of becoming a doctor. Her dream engulfs her existence as she nurtures her passion by devouring books on medical terms. But destiny has other plans for her, and Lena is forced to postpone her dream in favor of becoming the wife of a military officer and a mother in a loveless marriage. Just when things start to look up for her, Lena is given the means to leave the country along with her daughter, as rumors of an imminent Soviet occupation reach her husband. Lena chooses to stay in Poland at her family home. It is there where the Soviets label them enemies of the state, shipping the family to a Siberian work camp, where life is unbearably hard, and death is part of everyday life. With a non-relenting hope in the direst of circumstances, Lena finds love at the camp, and just like a snow hare does, she takes care of her loved ones. It is in the camp where she makes a choice that will forever echo into her future, leaving a trail of regret throughout her life.

Even though I struggled with the pacing and with connecting with Lena’s character through the first half of the book, I came to admire how Lena used her characteristic resolve to hold on to hope and take care of her people. I also came to admire her growth and willingness to start again and live some of her dreams later in life, at least partially.
One thing I would have enjoyed is an afterword from the author providing further references about the political environment in Poland during WWII, as we are given few clues about the historical backdrop of the story. I would have also enjoyed learning about the inspiration behind the novel.

Overall, an interesting read, full of relevance considering current events. This is a testament to how history repeats itself nowadays, but it is also a testament to hope, forgiveness, and growth.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, with the catastrophic consequences it has made for the nation’s population and its infrastructure, lends contemporary relevance to Paula Lichtarowicz’s World War II novel, “The Snow Hare,’’ with its depiction of the toll of the Soviet incursion into Poland and in particular its impact on the life of young Lena Luiza, whose life has already been upended by a tram accident that has left her a cripple.
A bar to her ever getting married, fears her mother, who is thrilled when a young army officer nevertheless seeks Lena's hand, even though Lena is less than taken with him. Marries him she does, though, shelving for the moment her aspiration to become a doctor, and joining him in life at a military installation, where, with almost Marilyn French-like attention to the daily circumstances of the marriage, author Lichtarowicz depicts Lena's life, including how she fends off Anton's amatory desires night after night until one night he won't be put off any longer and consummates the relationship – the one and only time, it would seem, intercourse occurs.
Sufficient it is, though, to make Lena pregnant, furthering her sense of alienation and culminating in an at-home self-delivery when for a horrifying moment the reader fears she might let the infant die. Maternal instincts triumph, though, and not only does she come to truly love the child but even comes in time to have more affectionate feelings for Anton until her life is upended once again with the Soviet incursion and her deportation to a brutal labor camp – the sort of fate one imagines has greeted the Ukrainians reportedly deported to Putin's Russia.
All too relevant for our own time, in short, Lichtarowicz’s novel, which with its depiction of one nation’s subjugation of another should be required reading for anyone inclined to argue the legitimacy of Putin's cause.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley for review…an ingenious author has woven a tale that could be true to life…war and misery…heartache and love…family and friends…romance…secrets and the enemy…memories abound on this story as one woman remembers…this is a cannot put down…