The Nine by Gwen Strauss
Our Reading Circle has a break over the summer, so this month we introduce two books that we have read and which, although they have not been discussed by our Reading Circle, we would like to recommend to you. Both relate to the Second World War, which is perhaps fitting, as this year is the 80th anniversary of the end of that horrific conflict. The books tell true stories. It is said that truth is stranger than fiction. Well, these two stories are certainly more compelling than any work of fiction.
The Nine, by Gwen Strauss, an award-winning children’s book author and poet, published in 2021, tells the story of how her great-aunt Hélène Podliasky and eight other women escaped from a Death March at the end of the war and, against all the odds, made their way to freedom.
The publisher’s description of the book reads:
The thrilling story of how nine young women, captured by the Nazis for being part of the resistance, launched a breathtakingly bold escape and found their way home.
Reviews:
– A truly extraordinary tale, one that chills and excites, (a) work of rare passion, power and principle. (Philippe Sands)
– ‘The Nine’ is a triumph of the imagination…. Strauss read memoirs and toured Europe in search of relatives to give the women literary immortality. It is an ingeniously constructed book. (‘The Times’)
Our second book this month is Fey’s War, published 2019, by Catherine Bailey.
The publisher’s description of the book reads:
In September 1944 the SS march into a remote Italian castle, arrest a mother and seize her two sons, aged just two and three. If Hitler has his way she will never see them again. For Fey Pirzio-Biroli is the daughter of Ullrich von Hassell, executed after the failed assassination of the Führer.
Reviews
– Demonstrates a truly remarkable ability to intertwine searing family histories with great historical events. (Andrew Roberts, historian.)
– I was gripped. Contained more tension, more plot in fact than any thriller and was written with extraordinary clarity and panache. (Kate Atkinson, novelist.)
Music played
• Lucienne Boyer: Que reste-t-il de nos amours? From 1944
• Schubert: Piano trio in E flat major D929, second movement, Andante con moto, played by the Klavier Trio Amsterdam.
Do join us again next month when we will be introducing ‘Playground’ by Richard Powers, published in 2024, which is all about protecting the environment, with a big focus on the ocean. It follows Evie, a marine scientist, as she endlessly explores the ocean and marvels at its wonders. The Guardian’s review reads:
The wonders of oceanic life shine through in a magical book that is at once Anthropocene novel, disquieting AI thriller, postcolonial allegory and a portrait of friendship.
