Irena's Gift

An epic World War II memoir of sisters, secrets and survival

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Aug 31 2023 | Archive Date Sep 01 2023

Talking about this book? Use #IrenasGift #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

'A family story as unique as a fingerprint. Enchanting.' Thomas Keneally, author of Booker Prize-winning 'Schindler’s List'

-

If we seal off the past, how will we ever know the truth?

In 1942, in Nazi-occupied Poland, a Jewish child was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That child was Karen Kirsten’s mother, but she knew nothing about this extraordinary event until one day a letter arrived from a stranger.

After Karen eventually discovered the grandparents she loved dearly were in fact not her biological grandparents, she travelled the globe to uncover her family’s past and to find the answers to baffling questions: why did her adoptive grandmother treat Karen’s mother so unkindly? Why did she hide the truth that she was her mother’s aunt? And why, if she appeared to dislike Karen’s mother, did she risk her life to save her and bring her to Australia?

Irena’s Gift weaves together a mystery, history and memoir to tell the story of a family torn apart by war. From the glittering concert halls of interbellum Warsaw to the vermin-infested prison where a Jewish woman negotiates with an SS officer to save her sister’s child, Irena’s Gift is about the lies we tell to survive and what happens when those lies unravel. It is about the extraordinary resilience of three generations of women, and the sacrifices made for love.

'A family story as unique as a fingerprint. Enchanting.' Thomas Keneally, author of Booker Prize-winning 'Schindler’s List'

-

If we seal off the past, how will we ever know the truth?

In 1942, in...


Advance Praise

Early praise for Irena's Gift:

'Deeply moving and beautifully written, Irena's Gift is a powerful unravelling of mysteries and memory.

The journey of reconstruction and reconnection brilliantly evokes a lost era full of pain and love, as well as laying out the intricacies of intergenerational trauma.

In addition to its value as Holocaust history, Irena's Gift deserves to become a classic of the memoir genre.'

― Lucy Adlington, author of 'The Dressmakers of Auschwitz - the True Story of the Women who Sewed to Survive'


'Karen Kirsten’s debut is a harrowing family drama that spans the globe ― from Jewish ghettos patrolled by Nazis to Melbourne suburbs of poodles, kookaburras, and refugees.

Kirsten goes on a quest to piece together her family’s secrets and finds much more than a tale of survival from history’s nightmare. She tells a story of disillusionment and faith. She reminds us that sometimes heroes can be repulsive, and sometimes lies keep families together.

Irena's Gift is beautifully written, deeply researched and deeply felt.'

― Kevin Birmingham, NYT Bestselling author of 'The Sinner and the Saint' and 'The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses'


'With extremism and fascism again threatening democracies, 'Irena's Gift' is a must-read for our times. Stunningly researched, it explores themes of identity, secrets, grief and forgiveness. The author addresses the importance of naming our history and wrestles with the complexity of human nature - why a Nazi officer saved her mother.'

― Michelle Bowdler, author of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020: 'Is Rape A Crime?'


'As Karen Kirsten sets out to solve the mystery of her mother’s past she takes us on a very personal journey of discovery. Skilfully, she unearths a thrilling story of war and survival against all odds. A keen researcher and sleuth, Karen uncovers a truth both astonishing and heartbreaking. 

Irena’s Gift is a beautiful, insightful, heartfelt and nuanced book. Masterfully crafted, it is both history and a memoir, but also so much more. Essential reading for anyone interested in WWII, trauma or family histories, this is one of the best second generation holocaust books ever published. I loved it and couldn’t put it down.' 

― Ariana Neumann, author of When Time Stopped. Winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, US National Jewish Book Award for Best Memoir.


'An epic story and an epic search for the truth that is beautifully written and meticulously weaved together, in a page-turning read I couldn’t put down.

Karen Kirsten has captured her remarkable odyssey to place the final pieces of her family jigsaw in place, with moving and at times gut-wrenching detail.  

Alicja’s poignant words, "you think someone will want to know all of this?" will ring in your ears with every twist and turn that Kirsten’s journey takes to find the truth of who her family really are and how they were saved.

Compulsive enough to read in a single-sitting, this is ultimately a story of love, healing, hope and humanity that will tug at your heartstrings. Irena’s Gift offers a prescient reminder, as Alicja says, that "we should never forget what happened".'

― Sue Smethurst, author of The Freedom Circus


'An extraordinary story of how secrets and lies can tear a family apart.'

― Maya Lee, author of The Nazis Knew My Name


‘Since I first learned about my Opa escaping the Nazis in occupied Holland, I have been taken with the heroic stories of everyday people during WWII. With author and refugee advocate Karen Kirsten, I find a kindred spirit. In Irena’s Gift, Kirsten brings to life the true and remarkable story of her family, including her mother and her grandmother, who like my Opa, sabotaged munitions at an armaments factory. This is a story of extraordinary women, survival and sacrifice. A must read.’

― Tara Moss, human rights and disability advocate, and author of The War Widow and The Ghosts of Paris

Early praise for Irena's Gift:

'Deeply moving and beautifully written, Irena's Gift is a powerful unravelling of mysteries and memory.

The journey of reconstruction and reconnection brilliantly evokes...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781837700448
PRICE £9.99 (GBP)
PAGES 240

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)
Download (EPUB)

Average rating from 4 members


Featured Reviews

An extremely interesting, emotional and fascinating journey backwards to the roots of Karen's family. A memoir which reads as a novel in two timelines which works perfectly in this novel. Indeed, Karen's personality has been taking shape two generations before she was even conceived! The trauma experienced by her grandparents, parents in Poland as Jewish people interned at Auschwitz could only impact on her own life. How, one might ask, when she knew next to nothing about their pasts (one did not talk about that, lied even)? Will this research into Karen's genealogical tree answer all questions regarding her family's behaviour? A harsh journey, very emotional, sometimes angering as well which Karen deemed necessary not only for herself but for her family as well. I found it fascinating particularly on a psychological level. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This is a very personal story, but also a story of family, of love, of survival and of incredible courage and bravery.
Kirsten's Holocaust story tells of her search in Poland to find answers for her mother. She ends up finding so much more and learning about sacrifices made. At times, some of the atrocities described are harrowing and her descriptions so vivid. A moving, important story. These stories need to be told the world over and never forgotten.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: