Nine Women: Six French, Two Dutch and one Spaniard.
Together they created their own support system that helped them survive the brutal treatment by the Nazis and their escape.
It shows their life before and during the imprisonment.
It was nice to see that the all for one and one for all attitudes really worked.
Their children’s statements showed how hard it was for them to adjust to a normal life afterwards.
The only reason I didn’t mark it a five star is when we get to the last part and the story is told through interviews with the next generation and their next generation so that the number of people to keep track of increases tremendously, at that point it get a bit confusing.
Still even that part was interesting enough to read the full book. I you like to read a true story and experience the emotions of what’s happening then this is a book for you.

The Nine is an account of the author's great aunt's WWII experiences as a French resistance fighter who ended up in a German concentration camp. She and 8 other women formed a fierce friendship and escaped together toward the end of the war.

It is extremely well researched and the facts are very compelling. The emotional history is equally fierce and brutal.

This was not always an easy book to read, but it feels important to witness these testimonies.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for an advanced e-ARC of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

I really could not read any more than about 30% of this book. It was dry. It was not something that I could get into.

Although I thought the intention of the author was admirable, to bring to light the lives of some of the heroic people less likely to be remembered by history, I felt the execution of the book was flawed. To try to do justice to the lives and wartime experiences of nine different women was just too broad a scope. The first 40% held my interest most of the time, but after that it became work to continue on and I had to force myself to read on.
I can understand to some extent why the author was tempted to include so much detail about all of these women, as their lives were certainly extraordinary, but in my opinion, it would have been better to focus on one or two of them. By halfway through, I had stopped differentiating between the women or frankly caring much. I was just overwhelmed by information overload. Of course the content was also very dark, a reminder of the unspeakable cruelty that people are capable of. This added to the difficulty of pushing through this difficult read.
As much as I would like to see the stories of these unsung heroes told, I can’t recommend this book. There are many other books that chronicle the extraordinary heroism of resistance fighters of World War I that are readable and entertaining as well as informative, and these, in my opinion, deserve attention more than this one.

4.5 stars

4.5 stars

This is an account of the author's great aunt's WWII experiences as a French resistance fighter who ended up in a German concentration camp. She and eight other women formed a fierce friendship and escaped together toward the end of the war, finally making their way back to France.

Exhaustively researched, the historical facts are compelling. But the emotional history is equally fierce and brutal. The stories from the camps are mind-numbingly abhorrent and yet these women survived, mainly due to their strong bond and loyalty.

This was not an easy or pleasant read, but it feels important to witness these testimonies. The author also speaks in one section about rape during wartime. I had not known about the U.S. military statistics on rape committed by U.S. soldiers and the evident overwhelming racial bias there. Almost all of the soldiers executed for rape were Black -- when only 10% of the troops were Black.

Perhaps the most haunting part of the story was the "liberation" and return of these women to France. They were like so many returning warriors -- they didn't fit in any more, and they did not speak of their burdens to others. The author discusses the passing of this psychological trauma through subsequent generations.

An important book, with a sorrowful legacy. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this book. It gave me all the feelings. I'm amazed and devastated, inspired and horrified, heart-warmed and heartbroken all at the same time. The Nine tells the true story of the author's great aunt Helene Podliasky, who led a group 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 to escape from Germany and return to Paris. The women endured horrifying conditions and were working at an armaments factory in HASAG Leipzig as the end of the war approached. To keep prisoners from falling into Allied hands, the camp was evacuated into a death march across Germany. The story opens during the death march when the women realized that there were no guards nearby. They took their chance and fled. From here the story moves among the women who made up The Nine. In each chapter, the focus is on one of the woman and we learn about her background, how she joined the resistance and how she came to be imprisoned by the Germans. I thought this was a very clever and engaging approach to telling their story. This keeps the story fresh and interesting and fills in the context for the situations they encountered. The author also includes herself in the story, how her research unfolded and incorporating her discoveries along this journey. The story itself very moving and powerful. The bravery and ingenuity of these women was amazing. While reading this book, I never stopped being amazed. Amazed by the bravery of these women, what they were willing to risk to be part of the Resistance, what they endured, what they were willing to risk for each other and for their freedom. See my blog, linked in my bio, for my more detailed review and synopsis.



Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Bookish Firsts, Netgalley and Macmilliam Audio for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I experienced this book as a dual read - I switched back and forth between the physical book and the audio book. The physical book is absolutely incredible - Strauss has obtained and included photographs of the women, some of their families, some of the camps, events and locations that were mentioned in the book and a map of the area where they traveled on their escape route. The audiobook was equally amazing. The narrator, Julie Stevens, was very good and I thought her voice was lovely and complimented the story beautifully. There were a few parts that she even sang beautifully. Really lovely audio to complement an incredible and moving story. Look for it on bookshelves near you starting tomorrow, May 4.

The Nine tells the stories of nine women that were part of the Nazi resistance. Gwen Strauss does them a great justice by weaving in their past along with the atrocities they faced while in prison camps and their harrowing journey back to their homes. It is heartbreaking to hear that once women POW's and Jewish survivors were then shunned because society and, sometimes their own families, thought they were soiled goods because they had been raped. Accounts of WWII are so hard to read, but really should be read to make sure society is aware of the horrors that occurred and everything with in our power as the human race to never let them happen again.

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷/5
The Nine by Gwen Strauss

With carefully researched detail and intermittent imaginings, Gwen Strauss introduces us to nine ordinary women who nonetheless lived extraordinary lives. As members of the French Resistance in Nazi occupied France, they served their country and humanity in any way they could. And as political prisoners in concentration camps, they defied the odds, even managing to escape just before the liberation. Strauss chronicles the lives these women, one of whom is her Tante Helénè, with grace and understanding, giving us a glimpse into the lives of those who refused to be marginalized.

I was absolutely riveted by the tale of the women’s escape, but the author also manages to intersperse this slightly fictionalized story with gritty and well-researched explanations of their lives and the world. The way in which the story is presented is both informative and engrossing. Each woman’s personality shines through as Strauss takes you on their journey. Heartbreaking and immersive, it is an important reminder that bravery and tenacity in the face of horror can also mask great trauma. And that the scars of that kind of hardship can be passed on.

Beautifully done. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the free copy. These opinions are my own.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Meticulously researched, this is the true story of nine women resistance fighters who after suffering for years in a Nazi concentration camp, manage to escape while on a death march in Germany. Even as the war was turning, the nine were being sent deeper and deeper into Germany and away from liberation.

The story starts with their daring escape, then flips back and forth between it and what the author was able to learn about the background of each of the woman and how they came to find one another.

The book also touches on a couple of subjects that I hadn’t heard before- 1) the rampant prejudice with in the camps towards other nationalities: Jews, the Roma people, prostitutes and homosexuals. Sadly, these biases run deeper and wider than just with the Nazis. 2) The raping of the women prisoners and German citizens by the “liberating “ Soviet army. Then there were the Americans who believed the propaganda that French women were all sexually free, and the invasion of Normandy and liberation of France earned them the rights to take the women as a prize. This went almost unpunished, other than to blame it all on the few black GIs. While the French men celebrated for their victory, no one wanted to give credit for the female resistance fighters who sacrificed so much for the war effort. Instead, 100,000s of female survivors were shamed by their families for being ‘soiled’.

Caution this book shouldn’t be read before going to bed. No matter what you know, what these women suffered was worse. Their heartbreaking stories of torture, rape, humiliation, sickness, starvation, pointless cruelty take up most of the the book. Though horrific, I think its our duty to “bear witness” to the bravery and suffering of these remarkable women. While all of this was happening, many stood by and just watched- it wasn’t their problem. We must never forget where prejudice and authortism will eventually take us.

More than 75 years after VE day, World War II fiction and non-fiction continue to capture our hearts and minds. _The Nine_ by Gwen Strauss provides us another window into this world. I enjoyed the text because it focuses on a subject of this period, women and the war, that is still just beginning to be explored.

If you are looking for a different exploration of the Nazi camps and the role of women in the war, this is the book for you. Strauss uses her connection to her great-aunt to introduce us to a brave group of female French resistance fighters (Though not all are of French nationality, all work within the French system). She briefly covers their resistance work and their arrests and experiences in various Nazi camps. Most of the book details their escape from their imprisonment and journey back to the Allies.

The text touches on the social/emotional impacts of both first and second-generation trauma. This is an important topic and is especially relevant to women, who so often act as the emotional hearts and caretakers for their families. The Nine does not shy away from the challenges these women face as they move beyond their heroic journey home. Nor does it shy away from the impact those challenges have on the people in the lives of the Nine.

Where I had some difficulty was in managing the chronology of the book as well as the characters. The text often bounced from one character or time period to the next, and this was occasionally difficult to follow. I would have appreciated more clarity in how the text was organized.

My other question is one of how to categorize the text. I’d place it in non-fiction, but there are clearly parts where the author uses some poetic license to fill in the gaps that 75+ years have left. I did very much appreciate that the author was clear when some blanks were filled in with speculation.

I appreciated the closure the author provides in that while there are necessarily unanswered questions, we know what happens to each of the Nine.

I am grateful to Netgalley for providing me a free electronic copy of the book which enabled my review.

Nine young women in their early 20’s escape a forced march and attempt a return to their lives in the Resistance of WWII. Gwen Strauss is the niece of one of the women and tells their stories with remarkable ease and candor; their survival is magnificent, their struggle is horrifying. There is nothing easy about reading this book. Even memory creates incredible pain and terror so many years later. May their memory be a blessing. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Gwen Strauss, author of "The Nine" tells a relevant story from World War II. Her characters, all captives of the German Army, experience extreme hardship and conditions in this book. It is well written and detailed in the events that surround their captivity and escape from harrowing conditions at the end of World War II. I did get bogged down as the reader in trying to keep nine characters separate in my mind as their stories were all intertwined. Thanks to #NetGalley#TheNine for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Near the end of WW2, the SS began marching those remaining prisoners in the Concentration Camps toward central Germany. They weren't going to anywhere in particular, and the only orders the Guards had was to make sure they all died. Why not just shoot them all or gas as many as they could before the war ended? There is no rational explanation.

The camp at Ravensbruck north of Berlin was a woman only camp. It was made up mostly of French resistance, and political prisoners from the Vichy government. Later in the war woman from all over Europe were sent and used to make munitions for the Wehrmacht. In April 1945, the woman were separated into different sections, and each marched off without preparations for food or water. Those that couldn't walk were killed in the camp before the others were marched off.

What makes this such a stunning book is that most of the woman had only been in the camp for under a year (the others had already died off) and knew the Americans and Russians were closing in on Germany. They just had to hold on for a little while and they would be free. For the SS this was 'sport' and they killed randomly and wantonly, so that even the Wehrmacht soldiers were afraid of them. Not too many days after having been marched out of the camp, there were fewer and fewer guards. On a foggy morning, these nine woman (six French, two Dutch and 1 Spaniard) decided to escape.

They hid in a culvert next to the road and acted like they were all dead. The guards never even saw them leave so after a while they realized they were alone. They were in a field of flowers where they were able to fill their stomachs with flower petals, this was not protein but it was the best they had. They determined to walk towards the west hoping to meet American troops. Strauss creates a narrative with the history of each of the woman and how they were captured and then tells the story of their escape and about the rest of their lives.

What makes this 'story' so amazing is how they would use their 'femininity' to find food and shelter but also used their toughness to bluff soldiers and local government workers into helping them. They were adamant that they would never trade "their favors" for any help or to survive.
Though some of them were hailed as heroes, very soon they were pushed into the background. The French only wanted to exploit the male heroes and so create a Resistance 'myth' that would be a counterweight to the 'truth' about the failure of the French Army at the beginning of the war.

I had high hopes for this book about nine women who had been arrested for their work with the resistance in WWII, and later escaped from a German march. But it's poorly organized and full of anecdotes rather than a narrative, and often the anecdotes lead down rabbit holes of unrelated information. I'd love to read it after it's been through a substantial developmental edit to make it more organized and understandable.

This book was heavy and hard to read at times but so worth it. I’ve read a lot of books about the horrors that happened to the Jewish people by the Nazis, but this was the first I read about what happened to those who helped to resist racism and also ended up in camps. The nine women depicted in this book were extraordinary and I’m glad they was being recognized as heroes who suffered for the fight for freedom. I loved that the largest focus of this story was how these 9 women who escaped from a death march and made their way across the front lines to find freedom for themselves. Their bravery, compassion, and resilience was inspiring. I liked that the author not only had her connection to one of the women who was her aunt but she tracked down family for the other women and the reader got to see at least a glimpse of what happened after they achieved their freedom.

The Nine was a really good read. It was inspirational and demonstrated the strength of the human will. Just how much can a person live with? I’ve thought a lot about thst question over the last month. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved reading about WWII and the resistance. These people lived through uncertain hell and survived and were willing to pay with their lives. That’s true courage and strength.
Read this book and get inspired.

This was an amazing story of strength and courage and so much more! Reading about the determination to survive was so moving. This is a heartbreaking story, as are all WWII books, but this one does a wonderful job of showing a new side of the war for us to experience. I want to thank the author for sharing the story of these nine women.

A well-researched and harrowing look at a group of badass women. Like most Holocaust stories, it showcases the best and worst of humanity and, at times, is hard to read. Utterly riveting.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

An amazing story of resilience. Thee nine women- 6 of them French, 2 of them Dutch, and one from Spain- were all arrested for their involvement with the French resistance and sent to Ravensbruck for their "political" crimes. That all of them survived that and then their later force labor in Leipzig was a miracle but an even greater testament to them was their escape and subsequent trek across Germany. This is unique among much of the genre because Strauss looks at what came after- and life wasn't easy for them. They deserved better. One of the women- Helene- was her great aunt and, as one might expect, her sections are the most well rounded. although each woman's life is outlined. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Not an easy read in spots, due to the horrors the women experienced but an important testament to their bravery.

This book gave me chills,, I love the flash backs and different point of views, I cannot imagine what it was like during WW2, I truly believe it is beyond words or description but this book did an amazing job making you feel the struggle fear and love. God bless amazing women like these nine