3.5*/5
Ok, so. I'm not entirely sure what I think of this book. I desperately wanted to love it but it seems to miss something for me. It took over 100 pages for me to get into it. I found the barn section of the book to be quite repetitive, we get that they are in the barn and have to stay silent and the things that they must do (or not do) in order to survive. It's the same thing each day and night. I would have liked to have seen the story progress a bit faster in that section and then slow down when Shira went to the convent and her musical talent could flourish. I think the Nun's could have had a larger role in her character development. Then there is a huge gap in the timeline - which is necessary to keep the story for becoming 600 pages, but it could have been shorter at the start and filled in the gaps at the end. I would have loved to see how Shira developed her talent, and how she made it through her teenage years into adulthood with all the trauma she endured as a child.

Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend you check it out if you enjoy WWII stories.

I've read a lot of Holocaust material recently. It's not something I did in the past as I felt I wasn't up to the emotional trauma I knew it would cause me. The past few years I've been pushing boundaries and reading far more Holocaust books than I've ever read. This book hit me in the feels quite substantially.

In The Yellow Bird Sings we see a mother and daughter who are on the run from the Nazis. They have holed up in the loft of a barn and doing their best to stay still and quiet. While I was reading this I bore in mind another Holocaust book I read a few years ago, Zachor I Remember Will You, written by a friend. Reading that book made me wonder how people managed, how they kept quiet and how they kept occupied over so many days, weeks or even months. The Yellow Bird Sings partly answers some of these questions. With these answers I shall be forever in awe of anyone, at any time, who has had to stay quiet and still for such a long time.

This book raises more questions in my mind. The mother and daughter are separated. The daughter is sent to a convent, to safety, the mother heads off into the forest. We see how she survives. But the questions it raises for me is how long did people actually survive in the forests, either by themselves or in a group? The book shows that they would have had to dig holes to sleep in at night, in winter for warmth and year round for safety. The Nazis went through the forests checking for subversives and Jews, the author shows us that quite categorically in this book.

One thing I felt Rosner highlights in this book is how it is possible for families to stay connected even when they've been torn apart like this. The connection is rather tenuous but I feel it is there and music is the key in this family. Music that is played and taught seems to reverberate through this book and keeps the connection alive so that in the end there is a happy ending.

There is a little lacking in this book. I would have liked more of how both mother and daughter survived after the war. How they went about building up their lives from nothing. How they managed to have relationships after the trauma and how they somehow managed to get past that structural part of their lives where they hid in the loft, staying silent. One thing that went through my mind while reading is how having to hide like that must change one's psyche. Would Shira, the daughter, manage to talk to people or would she be forever scarred by the experience? Although, including any of this would make the book completely different. It would not be the book it is if these things were included. Maybe a sequel would be best, a sequel showing them starting and building new lives.

I was given this book by the publisher. I receive no monetary gain from this, just the warm fuzzies from having read a book close to the release date without having paid for it. And the warm fuzzies from being able to provide feedback about the formatting issues I experienced reading it on my Kindle app. And because it was released this year I get to include it in my Dymocks Reading Challenge for 2020 under the Book Published This Year category.

Set in Poland during WWII, Róza and her young daughter Shira must hide in a loft in a barn to escape the Nazis. Shira, a music prodigy must stay still and quiet for hours, days, months. To help be quiet and still, she composes music in her head which her imaginary yellow bird sings. Rosa whispers stories to her of her grandparents and father to keep the memories alive and these stories Shira weaves into the tunes she writes in her head. When it becomes too dangerous to stay in the barn, Rosa reluctantly lets the farmers wife take Shira to a safe place, a convent run by the nuns for the orphaned children. Rosa herself heads into the woods to find safety from the relentless German troops. She has the Convents address and it is always her plan to reunite with her daughter.
This is a wonderful read, I read it in one sitting as I didn’t want to stop. Told from both Shira and Rosa’s points of view it’s another brutal look at the horrors of the war and the Nazi regime.
I highly recommend.
#netgalley #yellowbirdsings

Poland 1941

Roza and her six year old daughter Shira take refuge in Henryk and Krystyna's barn during the German occupation of their homeland. Roza sees her parents taken to the camps and her husband sent to work, never to return. Roza and her husband were musicians and creatives. At the start of the book Shira is fie years old. Roza and Shira remain hiding in the barn for over four months during which time they are provided for by Henryk and Krystyna, but it is not without emotional and personal cost. In an environment devoid of stimulation, Roza's sole aim is the welbeing of her daughter. She nurtures, educates and protects her as best she can in the face of the most significant adversity. Shira has an ear for music by virtue of her birthright and Roza begins to foster this talent.

Upon immediate risk of being discovered, Roza makes a decision that is the catalyst for both their futures. Shira is sent to an orphanage with Krystna's sister to escape impending capture and Roza flees into the countryside. Both are at the mercy of unknown dangers.

The Yellow Bird Sings is a book about the enduring bond between mother and child. The symbolism of the yellow bird endures throughout the novel - referring to the freedom and security Roz a and Shira (and perhaps the population of peoples) experienced but was gone. It symbolises the love lost and the moments of glimmering hope for a better future. The alternating points of view reflect Shira's wide-eyed naivety and child's simplicity versus Roza's sheer desperation and determination to survive.

This is an emotional novel with the historical backdrop of World War 2, the atrocities committed against Polish Jews, glimpses of Resistance movements, clandestine operations and anti-German uprisings. The early chapters are descriptive, detailing Roza's and Shira's captivity. They provide the reader with the foundation for the rest of this emotional story. Bare with those early chapters. It's well worth it. If you like historical fiction about this period, then this one is likely for you. I appreciated reading it. .

Rosner also provides a touching note regarding the backstory for penning the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan Australia, Picador and Jennifer Rosner for a free copy of this book to provide an opinion.

The Yellow Bird Sings was released on 25 February 2020.

An abridged review will be posted on my instagram page www.instagram.com/aplace_inthesun.

Poland 1941, Roza and her daughter Shira hide in a hayloft in a neighbor’s barn, they’re desperate, they don’t know what else to do or where else to go? Shira is five, she’s confused, and her dad Natan has disappeared, her grandparents as well and she now she can’t go home?

They stay hiding in the cold dirty barn for over a year, they are given food by the farmer’s wife Krystyna and the owner of the farm Henryk wants much more from Roza so they can stay. How far would you go to save your child, keep them safe and quiet? Roza invents a made up story based around a little yellow bird to keep Shira occupied, it’s has a musical element and Shira's family come from a musical background and she loves the tale.

It gets too dangerous for the mother and daughter to stay in the barn. It’s arranged for Shira to be hidden in a convent, her name is changed to Zosia and her hair is bleached blond to make her look less Jewish.

Roza decides her only option is to hide in the woods, Henryk has explained what mushrooms, roots and berries are safe for her to eat. He also shows her how to hide her foot prints; soon she’s cold, filthy, hungry, gaunt and lonely and misses Shira.
The one thing that keeps Roza going is her plan to be reunited with Shira as soon as she can and the knowledge her daughter is safe and she knows where she is.

Zosia is safe at the convent the nuns are nice to her, she misses her mother desperately, she starts having violin lessons and she’s extremely talented. Of course it’s dangerous times during a war and nothing lasts forever. Between the German soldiers constantly searching the convent for hidden Jewish children and the Russian army arriving in town, the convent is forced to evacuate when the town is bombed.

Roza and Shira are separated by war, but nothing can break the bond between a mother and her daughter. Based around true stories of Jewish children being hidden during WW II, The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner is an inspiring, heart breaking and beautifully written book.
I read it in a day, thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for my copy and five stars from me.