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Loading... Victoria's War: A Novelby Catherine A. Hamilton
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. It's been a while since I finished reading this book and, to be completely honest, I no longer know what I originally wanted to say about it. But I clearly remember feeling so sad and scared for Victoria and other characters I love. The book truly dug deep into the hardship of war and it doesn't shy away from showing you the horrible truth. It sliced my heart a lot while reading and though I love it; I don't think I'll be able to reread the book and go through the pain again. Still, I recommend anyone who want to try or enjoy reading WWII stories. ( ) The story focuses on a group of fictional Polish women, based on true stories, who were transported by the Germans to be slave labor in factories and homes during WWII. The main character, Victoria Darski, ends up working for a family who owns a bakery. She is able to befriend the family's deaf daughter but is also routinely beaten by the father and son, the later loaning her out to a brothel. Still, Victoria finds a way to resist, small acts to help others who did not land in a situation as decent as hers. So a WWII book with my name in the title.. yes, I put it my cart without even processing a second thought about it. Highly readable, only took two or three small sessions to finish it off. Sometimes a word or phase pushed me out of the story. One character tells Victoria that if things go 'sideways', she'll look out for her. That's quite a modern expression. Also, it was quite jarring how the father and brother could be so loving with the deaf child, who was less than the Aryan ideal but also be so brutal to Victoria, because she was less than the Aryan ideal. I know, people's actions did not make much sense during that time but it still it didn't quite mesh. I still enjoyed it. no reviews | add a review
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In VICTORIA'S WAR, Hamilton gives voice to the courageous Polish Catholic women who were kidnapped into the real-life Nazi slave labor operation during WWII. Inspired by true stories, this lost chapter of history won't soon be forgotten. POLAND, 1939: Nineteen-year-old Victoria Darski is eager to move away to college: her bags are packed and her train ticket is in hand. But instead of boarding a train to the University of Warsaw, she finds her world turned upside down when World War II breaks out. Victoria's father is sent to a raging battlefront, and the Darski women face the cruelty of the invaders alone. After the unthinkable happens, Victoria is ordered to work in a Nazi sewing factory. When she decides to go to a resistance meeting with her best friend, Sylvia, they are captured by human traffickers targeting Polish teenagers. Sylvia is singled out and sent to work in the brothels, and Victoria is transported in a cattle car to Berlin, where she is auctioned off as a slave. GERMANY, 1941: Twenty-year-old Etta Tod is at Mercy Hospital, where she's about to undergo involuntary sterilization because of the Fuhrer's mandate to eliminate hereditary deafness. Etta, an artist, silently critiques the propaganda poster on the waiting room wall while her mother tries to convince her she should be glad to get rid of her monthlies. Etta is the daughter of the German shopkeepers who buy Victoria at auction in Berlin. The stories of Victoria and Etta intertwine in the bakery's attic where Victoria is held-the same place where Etta has hidden her anti-Nazi paintings. The two women form a quick and enduring bond. But when they're caught stealing bread from the bakery and smuggling it to a nearby work camp, everything changes. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyRatingAverage:
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