Irena's War

Based on the true story of Irena Sendler and her brave determination to feed thousands of Warsaw Jews and deliver their children to freedom from the ghetto and Nazis, Irena’s War is a heartbreaking and gripping look into the reality and horrors of life in Warsaw during the German occupation.

September 1939: The conquering Nazis swarm through Warsaw as social worker Irena Sendler watches in dread from her apartment window. Already, the city's poor go hungry. Irena wonders how she will continue to deliver food and supplies to those who need it most, including the forbidden Jews. The answer comes unexpectedly.

Dragged from her home in the night, Irena is brought before a Gestapo agent, Klaus Rein, who offers her a position running the city's soup kitchens, all to maintain the illusion of order. Though loath to be working under the Germans, Irena learns there are ways to defy her new employer--including forging documents so that Jewish families receive food intended for Aryans. As Irena grows bolder, her interactions with Klaus become more fraught and perilous.

Klaus is unable to prove his suspicions against Irena--yet. But once Warsaw's half-million Jews are confined to the ghetto, awaiting slow starvation or the death camps, Irena realizes that providing food is no longer enough. Recruited by the underground Polish resistance organization Zegota, she carries out an audacious scheme to rescue Jewish children. One by one, they are smuggled out in baskets and garbage carts, or led through dank sewers to safety--every success raising Klaus's ire. Determined to quell the uprising, he draws Irena into a cat-and-mouse game that will test her in every way--and where the slightest misstep could mean not just her own death, but the slaughter of those innocents she is so desperate to save.

I have read more WWII historical fiction books than I can count, and I can honestly say this is like none other. Shipman writes about the stark and harsh realities of war, hopelessness, and those who dare to sacrifice themselves in order to save and help others. This story was not an easy read at times. Sometimes, as I read I would pause to digest the incredible and quite scary incidents Irena had to deal with and overcome in order to save and help as many Jews as she could.

As I read this story I found myself living right there side by side with Irena as she deals with her personal relationships and faults (Shipman will not spare your emotions), struggles with her coworkers and superiors, and the never ending presence of Klaus breathing down her neck. I found myself taking every event and roadblock that came up for Irena as personally as she did.

I’m always thankful for the author’s notes at the end of any history or historical fiction book I read. I could not believe that Irena saved more people than Schindler, and yet her heroic works and life have gone unnoticed or has been completely glossed over. Thank you so much James Shipman for bringing this dynamic woman’s life to the masses.

This story may highlight the harsh and stark realities, but it also showcases hope, friendship, compassion and tenderness. If you are a lover of historical fiction or looking to learn about Warsaw during WWII, then I encourage you to pick this book up.

Thank you so much Kensington Books for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.