My advice. Just read this book. I loved it so much I had to purchase a hardback as well. Courageous doesn’t do the author’s aunt and the other 8 enough justice. I honestly have no more words. Just read it!!

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

The Nine is the historical account of a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced march and made a ten-day journey across the front lines to safety. Written by the great niece of one of the women, Hélène Podliasky, the author documents her journey to find out more information about the women who traveled with her loved one.

The strong and courageous women used all of the abilities at their disposal to make it through horrendous conditions, whether it be abuse, torture, starvation, harsh elements, or a myriad of other issues. The biggest issue that I had with the telling of the women's collective stories was that the book itself was not well organized. The book is more of an investigative search for the truth than the telling of the stories of the survivors. The women were remarkable, not only for their abilities but for their perseverance and strength despite unimaginable conditions. Hélène's personality mainly comes through, though the rest of the women are not as fully described. Not having enough information for a book about her great aunt, the author tried to include the stories of the other eight women. Although an admirable attempt, there is just not enough information given to make the book balanced. The reasons why the women were taken forcibly was never fully realized, as the author basically glossed over the details about the women's work in the resistance themselves. The heroic actions of the women should have been part of the telling of their story. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend The Nine to other readers.

Disclaimer: I won a physical copy of The Nine from Bookish First and was additionally given an Advanced Reader's Copy via NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to review this historical account was entirely my own.

I give this book 5 stars for the simple reason that the story is amazing.
Nine women , young and idealistic, from different backgrounds participate in the resistance movement against Hitler. Ultimately they are caught and placed in camps for prisoners that include Jewish people, Polish people, enemies of the state. Yes, those camps that you have read about. The ones wherein German soldiers killed people cruelly, treated them cruelly. Took everything they owned and starved them while working them literally to death.
On the death march...yes, the Germans intended to walk them to death....these nine escape and eventually make it to the front where the American soldiers are and as time goes by they all make a new life.
It is simply amazing to read the sheer will to survive that these ladies possessed. Imagine, if you can...walking in below zero weather in a pajama like shirt/pants and nothing else???? Or walking miles and miles barefoot in the fields/ roads/pastures. Or sharing a slice of bread between nine people?
II is a bleak and horrible subject and an awful part of history, but these ladies show such human spirit ...it leaves you feeling that anyone can overcome anything if they have too.
highly recommend this book.

Harrowing stories from World War II are saturating the historical fiction market at the moment, and with each novel there is a clearer understanding of the horrors that abounded during this tumultuous time. How can one human have that amount of hatred for another to inflict such pain and torture is a question that will forever bombard my mind, and loomed again while I was reading The Nine.

Captivated from the first sentence, I am so thankful that Gwen Strauss brought this astounding story of her great aunt, and her fellow resistance fighters, to light. This was a story that needed to be told, and should be heard by future generations! It is incredible that they survived these horrific conditions and unimaginable situations, and lived to tell the tale! Even more than 75 years later stories like these hit you right in the gut, transporting you to a time and place that no one would ever want to go, giving flesh and life to these heroines, exposing more of the truth of this dark stain on our world history.

Reading The Nine has made a lasting imprint on my mind and heart, and I am gratified to Ms. Strauss and all of her compassion and dedication to this novel. It is clear that this was a passion project, with meticulous detail, and masterfully written, I cannot recommend this book enough! Yes, there are moments that are difficult to read, as is true with most stories from this dark time, but trust me when I say it is well worth it to fight through the tough, as you will be encouraged beyond measure. The Nine is a reading experience I will never forget, and my heart goes out to those who had to endure such torture. Truly unimaginable...

This is a fantastic historical nonfiction read about an event during World War 2 that I knew nothing about. It is so unbelievable that it almost sounds like fiction - but it’s not! I appreciated the detailed descriptions of the lives and experiences of the nine women features in this book. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Nine, by Gwen Strauss, is the awe-inspiring story of nine female resistance workers who were captured by the Nazi army and imprisoned in the worst concentration camps. Although some knew each other through their resistance efforts, they solidified as a group at the camp and helped each other survive inhumane conditions. During a forced march designed to eliminate any survivors, they managed to escape as a group. This book provides an account of their lives before and during the war, the escape, the flight toward freedom, and their lives post-war.

The author was inspired by her great-aunt, one of the Nine, to write this account. Strauss successfully conveys the immeasurable courage, resilience, and loyalty of these women who were willing to risk their lives to do what was right. She also provides just the right amount of social and political context both before their capture and post-escape so that we can more fully understand what happened.

Despite the overwhelming power of this story, a few minor issues detracted a bit. The breadth of this story is vast, and it was sometimes challenging to keep each woman’s experiences straight. Also, occasionally the author attempts to recount conversations and feelings. This would be expected in a novel, but was unsettling in a nonfiction account.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book. It was inspiring in many ways.

(4.5 Stars

Absolute must-read, right off the bat. I could not put this one down.

The Nine is a book about doing what is right, no matter the cost; about resilience and survival and the bonds of friendship. I would like to think we could all be this brave, but I also hope we never have to find out.

Here the author tells the story of her great aunt Helene's life during World War II and her fellow resistance fighters who would escape the clutches of the Nazis and make an incredibly painful and miraculous journey across Germany and finally return home to Paris.

Prior to their individual captures by the Gestapo, the women did not know one another. All were Resistance fighters who did what needed to be done, because they knew what was happening to the Jewish people was not right. These women did it all - hiding Jewish children, smuggling weapons, sheltering Ally agents who parachuted in behind enemy lines, and more. Anything and everything they could do to fight the Nazis, they did. As they were rounded up and interrogated, tortured, nearly killed, still they did not do anything to endanger the lives of fellow fighters.

After the Gestapo was through with them, the women were sent to various prisons in France where they began to find one another and forge friendships that would ensure their survival - even when things were at their bleakest. The women came to know one another in prison, or in transit from one to another, then in RavensbrÜck, and finally in Leipzig (a sub-camp of Buchenwald). As the war came to an end and the Nazis were determined to hide their crimes, they marched their prisoners farther into German territory. It would be during that death march that Helene and her friends made their escape.

I could not put this book down. I was captivated from start to finish by this incredible story and the beauty of powerful friendships that came from horrifying events. To not only survive themselves, but to hold one another up at various points when one or another was ready to give up, is astounding. These young women, ranging in ages from 20-29, were determined to make it home and did so due to quick-thinking, courage bordering on insanity at times, and a bit of luck.

Oh, and it was on foot the entire time.

The author does not shy away from accounts of the torture the women were subjected to and I admit to skimming those parts. However, I don't feel they were gratuitous - I am just a baby with a weak stomach/gag reflex. Yet even within these scenes, the author is careful, treating the subjects with the utmost respect. I think this is important. The farther we get away from The Holocaust, the easier it is for many to put away the images of the horrors that were inflicted on so many.

An aspect of the story from after the war that sparked my interest relates to the idea of the trauma that afflicted the next generation - the children of those who survived. So many survivors remained silent about what they had seen and heard. The author discusses transmission studies done in the 70s on these second-generation survivors and how intergenerational trauma came to be, and how it impacted the children of survivors.. I will definitely be seeking out more information on that topic.

Books like this are so important. There are so many women who took huge risks to do what they knew was right, and we will never know all of their names and faces. While I would love to know more details about their work, that is already all but lost to history. Women especially need to be recognized for all that they did to impact the outcome of the war.

Upon returning to their homes, the women find that France has already moved on. By the time they do make it back across the front, Paris has been liberated for nearly a year. These women become the reminder of something terrible that everyone else would rather forget.

Helene
Zaza
Nicole
Lon
Guigui
Zinka
Josee
Jacky
Mena

We will never forget you.

Highly, highly recommended.

After escaping from a German labor camp, Helene a group of nine female resistance fighters across the front lines. This book tells the story of each of the nine women, their involvement in the resistance, and their lives during WWII. I thought this was a well research and engaging story. The resistance work and escape was fascinating. My biggest criticism is that I did not want to read about the author's research, I just wanted to hear the story. Because of this criticism, 3 out of 5 stars.

The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris.

I’m sure that this book was a major undertaking to write. The amount of time tracking down nine women, meeting with families, and researching their lives after the war was just astronomical to me. It is obvious that the author’s heart and soul went into this project. I learned many new things from reading this. The first half (approximately) was really interesting. The second part was not so much for me. While I did want to know what eventually happened to all the nine women the amount of detail given and how the information was obtained was just too much and seemed to drag on and on.

Paragraphs went from one woman to the next without a break between leaving me confused about who I was reading about. I often found myself rereading whole pages just to be able to separate one woman from the next. I found it very confusing at times. By the end of the book I just wanted it to be over. There was just an overwhelming amount of useless information at the end (my opinion only).

“Nine who didn’t want to die, and who fought together to return to life.”

This book chronicles the almost unbelievable escape of nine women, all members of the Résistance, from a Nazi death march in the last days of WWII. Strauss weaves together their backstories and their journey to the front.

The great-niece of Hélène Podliasky, one of the titular nine, the author’s dedication to the subjects and the research is evident on every single page. The story of each woman was clearly painstakingly researched. At the end of the book, Strauss describes her journey to retrace their escape route, which gave me chills.

“Seeing Hélène’s name on the Nazi list had an overwhelming effect on me. Here was the formal bureaucracy of unthinkable crimes.”

Although this book is centred on these nine women, who all led lives interesting enough to fill entire books in themselves, it is also an exploration of the intersection between conflict and gender. Once escaped, the women journeyed for over a week across the countryside, which they described amongst themselves as a “camping trip.” They were doubly vulnerable as escaped criminals and as women. The size of their group provided relative safety from sexual assault, but at the same time called attention to them.

“The men can tell their war stories but the women ‘will have to keep politely mum; each one of us will have to act as if she was in particular spared. Otherwise no man is going to want to touch us anymore.’”

I am so glad that I read this book. I was clearly very excited to read it, as after getting it on Netgalley I also purchased a physical copy, forgetting I already had it!

For anyone who knows me even a little bit, you will know that this book was right up my alley. I recognized many of the names and events mentioned in the book already. For anyone interested in female espionage and involvement in WWII, this is a must. It speaks to the erasure of the female contribution to the war effort.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nine female members of the French Resistance were captured by Nazis and transferred to prison/death camps. This book tells the story of these nine women. They banded together and each used their gifts, talents and abilities to survive.
The women's resilience, courage and strength inspired me. When one was weak, the others lifted her up, and I appreciated their story of friendship.
I appreciated the extensive notes. Sometimes, the book was difficult to read, though, as the author skips between characters and past/present.
For a well-researched book about nine unique women, this book is a winner.

This is a really compelling account of 9 female political prisoners that escaped from one of the Nazi death marches.

The weird thing about this book is that there are parts with dialogue. Which has to be fiction. I think this would have worked better as a fictionalized account. The story is exciting. It's when the author gets bogged down with random details that I felt my attention wavering. In a fiction version, she could have stuck with the interesting parts and left out all of the other stuff.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Nine follows the story of 9 women who were a part of the French Resistance during World War II, how they all individually became political prisoners, ended up at a concentration camp, then a labor camp, and how they escaped and made their way home.

This is an incredibly moving story. Just reading a history about what it was like for women in concentration camps, during the war, and just after the war, was really refreshing. I do not think I have read this story from a women's lense yet, Strauss did an excellent job of making sure you understood the context of the times.

The structure is kind of set up in different stories. Story A) We get the background of all of these women and how they came to the camp. Story B) They are all together and how they escape and make their way to freedom. Story C) The author looking for all the historical facts and interviewing surviving family members.

This book was very engaging and full of historical details. And the author does not spare details. So if you are triggered by interrogation torture (all of these women were political prisoners) then you have been warned.

The Nine tells the true story of nine heroic women, banded together toward the end of World War II. This is a non-fiction book, telling the true stories of these nine women's bravery. They were all at the Ravensbruck concentration camp, and lived through the horrors there. At the end of the war, the Nazis took the camp survivors that could walk, and led them on a brutal march further into the German territory. The intention was with the Allies coming, they were going to move these prisoners to other camps further away from the front lines and the Allies coming to liberate the camps. These women banded together, and planned to attempt to escape. They saw their opportunity during the forced march, and took it. All nine ran away from the group, and though starving, sick and disoriented, found their way to freedom. 

This book details the nine women that escaped and made it out alive by banding together and supporting the group. Once they escaped from the death march, they still had many obstacles in their way, including no food, little water, injuries and sickness and avoiding Nazis and others that may do them harm. Each chapter is devoted to telling the back story of each woman, most of whom were not Jewish. Most of the women were political prisoners, engaged in activities for the French Resistance at the time of their detention. This highlights the bravery and sacrifice that each woman went through, and how their completely unselfish actions led to their capture. Each chapter also moves the escape story forward as well, interspersed with the women's history before the war. The last chapters detail the time after their return to safety, and their story/lives after the war. You truly get the whole picture of the lives of these women.

This story is not a light one… We all know the horrors that happened at the concentration camps, but this book does not mince words. There were times that I had to put it down and walk away, due to the horrific content and the things that these women had to endure. However, I think it is a necessary book, because people lived through this, and witnessed it first hand. It is my duty as another human being to witness the horrors these women went through, and realize their heroic acts, first with being part of the Resistance, and then with the atrocities that occurred during their captivity. It is a book that I didn't always want to read, but felt that I HAD to read. And I am SO glad I did.

Thank you to the Author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is phenomenal. I love books that show a side of history that wasn't gone over in history books. I was ignorant to the idea that there was resistance fighters. It was a good read that didn't mute the horrors that the 9 women went through. Having said that is does not draw away from describing the horrific situations, but does not cross the line over into tactless. Everything was stated in a matter of fact, no opinion was given because it wasn't needed. Those women went though Hell and survived.
I like how the book had a kind of introduction of the women as their escape story was unfolding.
In addition to reading the book I also listened to the audiobook version. The narrator was exceptionally good. She had the perfect tone, and her French wasn't forced but natural. I'm glad I also got to listen to the audio version it had voice recordings from the author and others.
This book was well written, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested is personal accounts from WWII.

The Nine is a non-fiction book telling the story of nine women who endured Nazi prison camps including Ravensbruck. Their friendship is part of what helped them survive. This book is tough at times, but it tells of real events, overall it is inspiring and well worth your time. These women were in their 20s and their quick wit, intelligence and determination to not only survive, but help each other survive draws you into this story and you will cry with them as well as celebrate with them. Thank you #NetGalley for allowing me to give my honest opinion on #TheNine.

What a group of badass women! Nine women of the Resistance that survived so many astrocities.
Imagine it's WWII, the world is turning upside down and in your 20's you join the French Resistance, risking your life to save others.

This book is nonfiction and looks at these 9 women that should be considered heroes. Except, back in 1945 when the war ended they were not talked about at all. They didn't share their store with their children, it just wasn't discussed.

They were Resistance workers, captured by the SS, tortured for information, sent to concentration camps and on a death march. Eventually they escaped and miraculously made it to the front where American soldiers ran into them and brought them the American base.

I enjoyed this book, as I never knew about these women. It wasn't taught in history class when I was in school. I especially liked the last chapter that lets you know how their lives ended.

If you are interested in WWII, you should read this book and learn of these nine badass women. It hit bookshelves on May 4.

Thanks Netgalley for the Kindle Version of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was so well written. Gwen Strauss did a wonderful job with the facts, and stories she was told in order to write this book. I highly recommend this non-fiction book, you won't want put it down book; about some of the most courageous women I have ever read about. This should be in every library and should also be required reading for high school students. War is hell and this book really tells it. I have requested it for our library and in large print also.

This book chronicles the lives of nine women from their work in the Resistance in France during WW II through their imprisonment by Germany, through their remarkable escape. They came from different backgrounds but found themselves bound by their desire to survive and help fight and win over the German invasion and cruelty. Most books are from the viewpoint of those who were ordinary citizens who were interned and survived the concentration camps of World War II. This book allows us to learn and experience what some of the resistance fighters endured. Each woman's story is told and then told again within the group of nine trying to survive.
A great read from a different point of view.

A fascinating story about nine incredible women who have more bravery and fortitude that I could imagine. Their incredible true story featured in this book is an important one to share, so that we never forget.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.