The Resistance Painter
A Novel
by Kath Jonathan
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Pub Date Mar 25 2025 | Archive Date Mar 25 2025
Simon & Schuster Canada | Simon & Schuster
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Description
Warsaw 1939. Irena Marianowska’s dreams of attending art school in Paris are crushed when the Nazis invade Poland. Instead, she joins the Home Army and, together with her resistance cell, risks her life guiding people to safety through the sewers of Warsaw. In 1942, after a harrowing mission, she returns home to learn that her sister, Lotka, has been abducted by the Gestapo. In her search for Lotka, Irena encounters a host of characters who lead her into greater danger.
Toronto 2010. Jo Blum lives in Toronto with her beloved grandmother, a lauded painter of WWII and a decorated war hero. Jo has a budding career creating sculptures for grave sites based on the life stories of her dying clients. Her recorded interviews with Stefan, her new Polish client, unveil an heroic wartime past eerily similar to her grandmother’s. But Jo’s quest to uncover the truth about Stefan and her grandmother opens an explosive Pandora’s box whose shockwaves threaten everything she’s known about her family.
The Resistance Painter will resonate with fans of The Berlin Apartment, The Secret History of Audrey James, Woman with the Blue Star, The Book of Lost Names, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The German Girl, and The Dutch Wife, confronting questions about the stories we tell about our lives and whether buried secrets should stay buried.
Advance Praise
“The story of the Hitler’s invasion of Poland has been neglected by historical novelists. Kath Johnson has leapt into the breach with great success. The Resistance Painter is an inspiring tale of suffering, courage, fortitude, and sisterly love.” -Roberta Rich, bestselling author of The Jazz Club Spy
“An elegant, riveting, dual-timeline novel about betrayals that haunt generations, and the redemptive power of art.” -Genevieve Graham, #1 bestselling author of The Secret Keeper
“This dramatic story pays tribute to the youthful resistance fighters who risked their lives hundreds of times in the underground sewers of Warsaw, saving their fellow citizens from certain death. At times I had to lay down the book, unable to read for my tears of rage and sorrow. The Resistance Painter illuminates a forgotten chapter of Polish history, one that deserves to be floodlit for all eternity.” -Elinor Florence, bestselling author Finding Flora
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781668013618 |
| PRICE | CA$24.99 (CAD) |
| PAGES | 448 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Norma F, Reviewer
Kudos to this new-to-me author for engaging me with unique characters (and careers) and crafting a plot (1) full of secrets to be uncovered and (2) one that left me with lots to think about!
I was as interested in the contemporary timeline as I was in the Warsaw 1939 timeline; the fact that Canada was used as a setting appealed to me. Despite reading a variety of books on the resistance to Nazi occupation, many set in Poland, I still learned more about this eye-opening slice of history. Pam Jenoff’s book alerted me to the experiences many faced in the sewers, but Kath Jonathan made it visceral.
✔️Josephine Blum’s ‘artistry’ had me reaching for Google to see if it was a ‘real’ job!
✔️The differing reactions Irena and Lotka had to living under Nazi occupation not only gave me a focus while reading but also equally pulled at my emotions.
✔️The questions raised, especially that of capitulation being the only alternative to fighting, had me thinking about this book long after finishing.
✔️The inspiration and the journey to publication was interesting
✔️I had to Google ‘Varsovians’...love it when I learn as I read! Thank you for not spoon-feeding your readers.
I was gifted this copy by Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
