We meet twin sisters Helena and Antonina in 1939, as Warsaw teeters on the cusp of war, and fall headlong with them into the barbarism wrought on their city. Estranged from each other through misunderstanding, the sisters pursue resistance in their own ways––one is a people smuggler and one is a soldier––and through them we witness some of the most brutal parts of the German occupation. Sieges. Bombings. Doomed uprisings. Mass slaughters. 

Amanda’s skill is taking devastating details from historical accounts, and reweaving them into her narrative so that it feels like a first hand account. (Amanda’s historical notes at the end of the book highlight where and how she has done this.) As time marches steadily away from these events and the eyewitnesses to this history pass away, the importance of a novelist’s skill to recreate them with unflinching detail grows. 

This is not a light story (even the ending is tainted by the knowledge that Poland ultimately swapped a Nazi occupation for a Soviet one) but it pays great honour to the people of Poland. You will be thinking about it long after you have put it down.

Buy from Amazon US, Amazon Australia or find other links at Amanda’s website (where you can also read an excerpt).

Behind the pages: The Warsaw Sisters by Amanda Barratt

Tell us a bit about who you are and how you write?

What is your book about? 

Why this story and why now?

Though the Second World War has been written about extensively, Poland’s wartime history remains relatively unknown, especially in North America. In the midst of one of the most brutal occupation regimes faced by any European country during the war, extraordinary resistance was born. As I researched the women who risked their lives to rescue Jewish children and the women who suffered and sacrificed as soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising, their dauntless courage left me in awe and their stories begged to be explored through a narrative format.

Where did you go to research this story?

Tell us a story you came across in research that didn’t make it into the book.

Is there a WWII book that you would like to peek behind the pages of? It can be fiction or non-fiction. Feel free to send your suggestion to me via the contact page. 

My 2022 Book Reviews

One of my goals for 2022 is to write more reviews of the books I read, both on this blog and on Goodreads. I’ve decided that I’m only going to write reviews of books because a) I want to be supportive of my fellow authors and  b) if a book is bad or I don’t like it, I don’t want to waste my precious minutes writing about the fact. I’d rather move on to the next book. There is so much to read in the world that I will never get around to reading that I don’t want to dwell on the books I don’t like.

You can take all my reviews here as recommendations, but despite my best intentions, I know I wont get around to writing a review for every book I love so if I share that I’ve read something on Instagram or in a monthly reading roundup but a review doesn’t materialise that doesn’t mean I didn’t love like it just that I’m probably having a behind the scenes crises of some sort…

My style of book review

I’m going to stick to reviewing books about WWII. Not everything I read will be strictly speaking from the romance genre, but since I think that a little romance makes EVERY book better, I’m giving every book a romance rating. 

Not every book will be a new release either. So many good books are released each year that I can’t really keep up (I love reading but I’m slow compared to most). I just post about books as I find them, which may not be when everyone else is talking about them!

I love this three things format that I developed last year – because it allows me to focus on the positive aspects of the books I read. Please bewares, sometimes my three things won’t be about the book as such they will be about how the book met me as a reader. I understand this is so subjective, but it also reflects how I feel about reading. It’s a co-creation process!

The three things I loved about this book

2) Understanding a German POV

There was one particular moment in the book that really moved me by taking me deep into the shoes of the character Kirk. Although he was part of this resistance movement, he was also in the Wehrmacht (German Army) as every young German man was conscripted to be. In one scene, he is in Poland witnessing the atrocities of his country first hand as a young Jewish girl dies at the entrance to a ghetto. You are watching the scene from his point of view and as a reader you understand how deeply upset and horrified he is by the moment. But he can’t speak or say anything – partly because he is too shocked, but for other reasons too. To an outsider, it might look like he is complicit, but really his resolve to resist is being sharpened. Something about this scene captured for me the complexity of the situation that many Germans must have faced. And while there were those who agreed with the regime, and those who were complacent, others used their silence to plan their resistance.

3) The audiobook narration

I read this book on Kindle and switched to audio when I needed to drive, walk or do housework. As a former voice and dialect coach, audio narration can make or break a book for me. But I really enjoyed the way this book used male and female voices voices to distinguish the POVs. Perhaps it’s a small touch, but I’m convinced it drew me deeper into the story.

Romance rating

A solid 4/5 hearts. It’s not at the centre of the book, just a side element, but it was sweet, innocent and hopeful which was a counterpoint to the other events in the story.