Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read The Snow Hare. This book is a beautifully written but brutal story of survival and love. This is not an easy book. The author writes a brilliant novel based on her own Grandmother's experiences. This book will stay with the reader and is not to be missed.

The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz is a quick read and one I couldn't put down. I just loved Lena who tells her story of survival, courage, hope, and love in a very tumultuous time. This one also touches upon gratitude and living in the present moment. I found this to be somewhat of a spiritual read and thought it was just a beautiful story although it does take place during war. This one gave me vibes of Between Shades of Grey.

Truly a story and a main character that will stay with me for quite some time!

The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz has touched me to my core. What a heartbreakingly beautiful story about one girl’s hopes and dreams that are shattered after a tragic accident. To be honest, I needed a few days to process The Snow Hare after finishing it before I could write my review. It was so emotionally heavy but moving and inspiring at the same time.

I found the beginning of the story a bit confusing and a bit slow. But I’m so glad I persevered and read on. As once I established what was going on, it all made sense. The Snow Hare while fiction was based on the life of the authors grandmother during pre and post World War II in Poland, Siberia, Wales and England.

The Snow Hare is told from the point of view of Magdalena (Lena). While Lena lays on her death bed in England, she relives memories of her childhood and young adulthood in Poland. Lena had always wanted to be a doctor from the time she was little. She had even been guaranteed a spot at the University in Warsaw but all her hopes and dreams came crashing down when she suffered a terrible accident. What happens next is an unwanted and loveless marriage, the birth of a daughter and then being sent by the Russians to a labor camp in Siberia. Lena’s life is incredibly sad. She experiences heart break upon heart break. She looses her loved ones due to disease and malnutrition and terrible living conditions in the camps. It honestly is so inspiring how Lena continues on. Only the love for her baby daughter and her fierce desire to protect her and keep her alive keeps her going.

Such a beautiful yet tragic story. Although sad, the Snow Hare is interspersed with moments of pure love and snippets of genuine happiness. I will continue thinking about this story for years to come. Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for my advance audio copy and to Little, Brown and Company for my eGalley of The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz. She is a brilliant story teller.

The Snow Hare is a beautifully written story of a Polish woman at the end of her life as she remembers her past and the love she experienced during her lifetime.

It was a bit disorienting in the beginning, but once I knew what was happening, I became engrossed in her story. Living in Poland when the Soviets invaded, her life was turned upside down when her family was sent to a Siberian camp.

As she recounts her years, readers will meet a young woman with dreams of becoming a doctor, a reluctant bride and later a young mother with a fierce love for her child. As she ages, her heart softens and it seems she has a bigger capacity for love. The proof of this is how her life has settled as she lays dying. The loved ones by her side are her reward for a life well lived—one of heartache, love and forgiveness.

This was a wonderful story for the snowy, rainy days we have been having and has a calming, yet sober tone overall.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review and recommend this book to readers.

Transported to Poland in the throws of war and plight under Russian rule, this is an illuminating historical fiction novel of one woman's life from childhood to her deathbed as she survives the war. Through many hardships, and heartbreaking circumstances Lena's story is told.

I did find the beginning of the story slow to get into, but then my heart ached for Lena and her family and I was invested in their outcome. Another aspect may be the language difference for me,but this was definitely a slower read, but a beautiful story over all.

I wrote about this on StoryGraph and GoodReads and sent links to Twitter and Mastodon. Also posted thoughts to Edelweiss+ Will likely also add to my Instagram stories, which will be saved to a highlight reel. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5303385528

I love novels about complex, fully realized women and how love and life drive their stories. This novel is exactly one of those.

Evocative and moody, this historical fiction novel is framed through the thoughts, dreams, and memories of an ailing woman on her death bed. Magdalena (Lena), is a strong-willed, smart Polish girl who's passionate about becoming a doctor. After she's hit by a streetcar, she's forced to abandon her dreams of becoming a doctor and marry an older military man named Anton who loves her with a passion that teeters between adoration and obsession. When Anton sends her and their child away from the base due to the rise of WWII, she goes to her family home in northern Poland. She and her family are sent to a Siberian labor camp by the Russians who consider their middle-class family enemies of the state. Here she meets a prisoner-turned-guard, who turns out to be the love of her life.

The way Lichtarowicz moves seamlessly between what a dying Lena is experiencing and what she is remembering is a true feat of storytelling. As a reader I went right along with the changes and loved it all. Lena is my favorite type of female character. Strong-willed (especially for the time in which she lived), smart, complicated, and even frustrating at times. She's a great character through which to drive this story.

I both read and listened to this book. The audio is a wonderful example of how special effects can enhance the storytelling! When Lena is in that space between immortality and mortality, talking to those who have gone before, the narration is done so that it sounds like the voice is in a cage with echoes. It helps the listener know what is a dream or not as an ailing Lena's realities and memories flood the narrative. I loved it. Major props to Rose Ackroyd for the terrific narration.

Much thanks to both @netgalley and @hachetteaudio for the gifted copies in exchange for a review. I LOVED this historical fiction and its strong female protagonist. Highly recommend!

I just couldn’t get into this one. There was nothing particularly bad about it. I just couldn’t get with the pacing and the storyline. It felt very dreary and I struggled. It was a chore to get into it and I fear that was a me problem, and not a fault on the author in any way.

This strange and beautiful book. It's a coming of age tale. A story about war and love and loss and grief. It's a World War II novel that's different from any other I've read. It's just gorgeous.

The novel weaves so perfectly between times, revealing the full story as it goes. I never felt teased. It never felt like a device. It is simply the way the story needed to be told. This book will stay with me.

Between a 2 and a 3. Still conflicted with my rating.

The first few chapters made me think I could give this 4 stars. Until the introduction of a certain character and the twisted things he said and did. I know without those there wouldn’t be a story but honestly speaking I was really triggered to the point of considering not pushing through with the book. Fortunately, he wasn’t around for long and rarely mentioned.

Aside from that, characters fell a bit flat for me and I found the writing dry. It’s a poignant story - and based on a true one at that - but maybe these kinds of narration style aren’t for me. I like to see things play out, not just told; it wouldn’t have the same effect and makes me feel held at arm’s length.

On the other hand, I did like the way I had to piece things together myself to understand the history of the older Lena. I thought the transitions between the past and the present smooth as well. I appreciated the story the author wanted known, the injustices really made me want to chuck the book out. All things considered, the themes of the book hit MY mark.

Brilliantly conceived and written, The Snow Hare, brings us a story based upon the life of the author’s grandmother. It is historical fiction at its best, as it takes a neglected piece of history, the invasion of Poland by the Russians, and brings the reader back to that time. . With the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces the significance of this book becomes compelling.

At the outset, Lena is an old woman living in Wales whose memories spin in her head, as she lies in bed dying. It is the story of her growing up with the hardships of war and oppression, while never giving up her hope, survival instinct, and focus on love for her family.

Magdalena, Lena, is a young girl growing up in Poland. Her dream is to be a doctor and she endlessly reads technical books. . But the war comes. And the Nazis invade. Her mother would like nothing better than to see Lena married to a Polish officer, whom she believes can take care of Lena. Ultimately the Russians overtake Poland as they allegedly liberate the war torn country from Nazi occupation. The Russians deem Lena’s family as subversives and banish them to Siberia. The parallel to Nazis’ relocation of undesirables is apparent and extremely poignant. .

This book is deeply disturbing as unfathomable hardships are described in detail so painstakingly, that I felt I was actually there together with Lena. It takes great skill as a writer to take a reader to another place. Ms Lichtarowicz is adept at her craft.

I did have a bit of difficulty connecting the first part of the story with the young girl in Poland, but once I did, I couldn’t put this book down. Many thanks to #Netgalley and publisher, #Little,Brown and Company for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Spoilers Ahead

Paula Lichtarowicz's The Snow Hare spans the lifetime of our main character Lena's life. The author grounds the story in Lena's reminiscences on her death bed. I liked parts of this book, loved the family dynamic that Lichtarowicz created and I really enjoyed the love story, but there were a few elements I had issues with.

The author plays with the idea of whether your life is controlled by destiny or whether you decide what happens to you. At the beginning of the book, Lena and her sister have their fortunes told by Roma that are camped near her village. She is given a piece of amber and told that her life will not unfold as she hopes. The one thing Lena dreams of is to become a doctor. This fortune is something that the author comes back to several times throughout the novel. Although it seems to be an important motif, we never hear from the Roma again. With no other mention, then this, the Roma characters seem like window dressing. Personally, I think Lichtarowicz could have explored this theme without having to rely on this stereotype of the Roma people.

Despite this, I did enjoy the world building that Lichtarowicz used, I found it very easy to imagine the settings. I did find the pacing to be a bit strange. Certain parts of Lena's life were but blips in the story (like her time in Wales) and others dragged. I appreciated the section of Lena's married life but it felt longer than the love story that the book is set around.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for giving me early access to read this book.

Thank you net galley.
I finally finished 'The Snow Hare'.
This story takes place in Poland.
Lena is determined to become a doctor, but things don't turn out how she hoped they would.
Lena has a bad brake on her leg and her parents are concerned that no one would want to marry her. She is quickly married to Anton who loves her, but she dosen't live him. Lena and Anton eventually have a daughter Agata.
Lena is deemed an enemy of the state due to her marriage to Anton. Lena and her family are sent to a gulag.
Lena doesn't hear from Anton during her years in the gulag. She becomes involved with Grigori and finds that she loves him.

What a journey! This book was excellent, a heart wrenching story well told. The writing, while omissive in parts (some things won't become clear until later on), really brought Lena's story to life in a way that felt real, not forced. It was impossible not to hope and grief along with our characters. An added bonus was that I got the chance to learn about how some of the gruelling effects World War II had in Poland - something I knew absolutely nothing about. I do wish I hadn't read the blurb before I started reading though - I don't think it accurately reflects the book. Even so, I highly recommend this book.

2 stars. I'm afraid this just wasn't the book for me as I struggled far too much to get into it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early peek at the novel. My views are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Snow Hare has hints of reflective stories that cover the course of a lifetime (think Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and John Williams's Stoner). And, it has hints of character-driven historical fiction (like Sue Monk Kidd's The Book of Longings and Markus Zusak's The Book Thief). The common thread in all of these books: They wrecked me. They're devastating. And beautiful. The Snow Hare follows in their footsteps,

Lichtarowics explores the intersections of survival, salvation, and hope through the eyes of Lena, spanning from her ambition as a teen to her isolation in marriage to her transformation in motherhood. This exploration grounded by the complexity and fullness of Lena's character. From the beginning, Lena is different than many of her peers, but Lichtarowics doesn't rely on "not-like-other-girls" tropes to endear Lena (on the contrary, Lena's practical way of thinking is sometimes taken to such extremes that she alienates everyone--including the reader). It's Lena's resolve, and the way she she allows herself to be shaped by love in hostile and isolating environments, that make her so compelling and make her story quietly inspiring.

The Snow Hare is filled with characters that bring warmth to the backdrop of a literal frozen wasteland and a brutal war. These characters make the book both more readable and more heartbreaking. And, while there's a sentimental filter over the story that softens the sharp edges of life in a Siberian camp, Lichtarowicz's prose is never overly flowery, and the plot never turns soppy.

The novel is a tragic and gorgeous reminder of the many untold stories--especially those of women and children--of life in wartime.

Snow hare
It’s an interesting story how the fate brings you to unexpected adventures. Not the one you ever wanted or thought of.
A girl from a small unknown village all her life from age 10 just wanted to be a doctor.
And everyone and everything in that world was against that. She lived not the life she desired but the one into which she was thrown. But from everything bad that happened to her, she always ended with some happiness. Unhappy marriage, but the daughter she loved, the camp in taiga in Siberia, but the man she loved…
It is sad, but a very good story.
At the beginning, it was kind of difficult for me to get in. I was not hooked, it was boring at some places; I was not connected with Lena’s character and didn’t like these sick relationships between Lena and Anton. But from the other 60% of the book - I liked it so much.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a free digital copy of the novel.

Thank yiu Netgalley for this ARC of The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz. This review is brief because I could not get in to the story. I was kind of lost at the very beginning and really wasn't interested in investing more time in it. Sorry! The premise sounded really good.

I enjoyed getting to know Lena, she had a interesting life in this book. It was a beautifully done story that deals with trauma, love and life itself. Paula Lichtarowicz has a great writing style and I enjoyed going on this journey with her characters. The characters were what I wanted when reading the description. I look forward to more from Ms. Lichtarowicz.

"He shakes his head. His eyes are glassed with tears. ‘What a speeding business this life is, Magdalena Luiza. When I think of the time I’ve wasted staring at reports or newspapers, or even with my eyes shut up in sleep; all the hours I’ve spent not looking at my children. From now on I shall do nothing but watch you all. Every day and late into the night. How does that sound?’"

Have been unable to review due to illness. Review coming soon! This novel looks fantastic and I can't wait to read this one!