Thank you Netgalley for the free ARC I return for an honest review.

There are many things I appreciated about this book. 1. Whitehouse didn’t have a whole lot of information to go off if. Yet, her determination to find out more about the many who saved her Jewish grandmother’s life as a teen, to get him formal recognition, and just tell grandmother’s story was admirable. 2. I enjoyed both hearing the story of the two sisters, and also the research process Whitehouse used to find out the facts and the context and what is happening currently in some locations in the story, such as the hotel Jews were held in until they were taken to Auschwitz. 3. I was truly invested in learning with Whitehouse her family’s story and I learned things about history I hadn’t before. I didn’t know that Jews had their citizenship taken away in both Germany and France. That was eerie and hit home to me.

Wow - what a truly powerful book. I appreciated learning more about the sisters and their stories. As someone who has visited many Holocaust-related sites in France, I cannot stress enough how important it is that this story is out there for people to read - the impact of the Holocaust on France isn't discussed enough, so this is an extremely valuable book. Highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square & Co for an advance copy of this book.

When young Huguette arrived in the small ski resort of Val d’Isere after escaping dangerous Lyon with her sister Marion, she slipped and broke her leg. When a young doctor saw the break, he wanted her to go to hospital and Marion, heavily involved in the Resistance and terrified of the Gestapo searching for Jews even in the hospitals, punched him! He then offered to take care of her at his place at great risk to himself.

When the author found out about her brave mother-in-law and the courageous doctor, she decided to try and have him registered as Righteous Among Nations, a difficult process. This led to this amazing book, a true story of courage and resistance under incredible conditions. It is also an extremely dark and harrowing story about France under the Occupation, and the Holocaust.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This was a very interesting book. Because I talked about how families or Jewish left Germany at everything behind and went to France this. Do not turn out too well for This family. The father had different women and the mother had to put up with it.The two sisters were totally different. The older sister was very outgoing but the younger sister had to stay behind with the mother. Interesting to see how the relationship of this family changed over time. The mother was very forward thinking and she knew things were going to change drastically not for the good. When paris was taken over by the germans they had to go to southern france. The oldest Sister.
Want to live in l y o n. The mother.
And the younger once behind. They tried to keep the Jewish identity hidden because they had spies. They were running up the Jewish people.. The older sister was working with the French Renaissance.And was trying to help the jews leave france. When the mother was taken away.
Her father was nowhere to be F o u n d. She finally Realize he was in Paris, so she made her way up to him.But he did not want her to stay with him.And so you're gonna send her down to live with the Older sister. Things were very hard for them and when she broke her leg at evening more complicated. So a very kind doctor up in the swiss alps kept her hidden 46 months to help with her leg. Book begins about how they were trying to trace their family in history because they did not talk about it. It was interesting having these 2 parallel stories going on at the same time.

Very interesting and very well researched! A bit of a dry read at times though and feels very long. Amazing detail of all the people involved.

Two Sisters is a harrowing, gut wrenching and poignant true story about the journalist author's Jewish mother-in-law Marion and her two daughters, Edith and Haguette during World War II mainly in the area of Vichy, France. Little did she know these women were heroines!
Meticulously and personally researched, the impact of what the family went through hit my heart. Comfortably off, the girls wanted for nothing growing up. Their father forced them to become as French as they could, from wearing certain clothes to eating a certain way. Little did they know this would serve them well in their futures when Nazis occupied Germany. After their mother was taken to Auschwitz, the two young ladies fled to a French ski resort where Haguette broke her leg. The kindness of Dr. Frédéric Pétri saved their lives...and others. Until her last days, Haguette wondered why a non-Jew would risk his life to save theirs. The author wanted to put her mind to ease in her old age and recognize the doctor's family so did what was necessary through a complex process to get the doctor recognized as Righteous Among Nations, an honour given only to non-Jews who saved Jews. What a beautiful thing to do for his proud family!

Not only does the author describe the necessary subterfuge of Resistance, forgeries and the black market but also French collaborators and betrayal. She described the sisters' roles and Edith's fate. Formal and informal personal family photographs bring the story to life as do lists of those who were rounded up and murdered from the area. Drancy is a seldom-written about camp, one I read so little about. We are reminded that police had the choice whether or not to take the high road, though difficult. Realities after the end of the war set in and were grim as well. But amidst the cruelty and devastation were snippets of hope.

What a fascinating book! I have read countless books on the Holocaust and am always amazed by the resilience, perseverance and determination. Not only that but each story is different in its unique perspectives, locations and backgrounds. Well worth reading.

My sincere thank you to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this powerful book.

Very interesting to learn more about the Resistance in France. Also an important read.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

this was really nicely done. it reminded me of the postcard & east-west street, which are two of my favourite books; however, while i do commend the author for her fieldwork, i do think the writing could do with some editing, as it lagged a bit at times and it detracted some of the impact from the overall experience. i do think it was a very nice read, though, and i believe any ww2 enjoyer would like it.

This was so well-researched and well-written. I couldn't put it down, and was fascinated to learn about the Jewish resistance network in France. The author's MIL was a hero who never claimed a title for herself, but saved as many lives as she could including her own family. The journey began with the MIL's death and the request of Aunt Huguette to find a man who saved her during the Holocaust. She wanted to know why he saved her, and to confer the title Righteous Among Nations on him for his actions. The book also explores other acts of French complicity as well as French resistance, including a whole town that saved thousands of Jewish people, earning the town the title of Righteous Among Nations. I was saddened to learn that there is no title for Jewish people who acted in the resistance, as Marian, the MIL, would surely be considered Righteous as well.

I highly recommend this book for a little-known history of France's involvement in the Holocaust as well as in the resistance.