First published 2021
Renia Kukielka faces an impossible choice when the Nazis begin destroying Jewish communities across Poland. At eighteen, she could try to hide and survive. Instead, she becomes a weapons smuggler and messenger, traveling through war-torn territory where discovery means death. Renia joins a network of Jewish women and teenage girls who transform youth groups into resistance cells. These fighters construct underground bunkers, bribe Gestapo officials, and plant bombs on German train lines. They work as spies, saboteurs, and armed combatants, knowing each mission could be their last. The women face arrests and internment while fighting an enemy that seems unstoppable. Their story spans from the darkest days of World War II through the late twentieth century, following the survivors who lived to tell their tales. This young readers' edition reveals how ordinary Jewish women became extraordinary resistance fighters, risking everything to fight back against Nazi oppression.
Genres: holocaust, historical-fiction, 20th-century, young-adult, world-war-ii, 21st-century, activism, jewish
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, ordinary-people-in-extraordinary-circumstances
Setting: Poland
Period: World War II
288 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins
Content warnings: death, violence, war