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Shelly’s 2024 Year in Books

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Shelly Sanders

Goodreads Author

Born

Toronto, Canada

Website

http://www.shellysanders.com/

Twitter

shelly_sanders

Genre

Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Fiction

Member Since

October 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/shellysanders

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THE NIGHT SPARROW April 1 2025/Canada
July 1 2025/UK, Australia, New Zealand

For fans of Kate Quinn and The Nightingale, a gripping story of a young Jewish girl who joins an elite Russian sniper unit and embarks on a mission targeting the highest prize of World War II: Adolph Hitler.

The Night Sparrow is a tense, engrossing tale of WW2. Based on true events, this is an improbably beautiful novel about a brutal episode in history."
— Janie Chang, author of The Phoenix Crown

https://www.harpercollins.com/product...

Daughters of the Occupation, HarperCollins, 2022, is a Canadian Bestseller, and received a Starred Review from Kirkus: “A gripping historical saga that skilfully addresses the trauma of the Holocaust.”

This historical fiction explores THE NIGHT SPARROW April 1 2025/Canada
July 1 2025/UK, Australia, New Zealand

For fans of Kate Quinn and The Nightingale, a gripping story of a young Jewish girl who joins an elite Russian sniper unit and embarks on a mission targeting the highest prize of World War II: Adolph Hitler.

The Night Sparrow is a tense, engrossing tale of WW2. Based on true events, this is an improbably beautiful novel about a brutal episode in history."
— Janie Chang, author of The Phoenix Crown

https://www.harpercollins.com/product...

Daughters of the Occupation, HarperCollins, 2022, is a Canadian Bestseller, and received a Starred Review from Kirkus: “A gripping historical saga that skilfully addresses the trauma of the Holocaust.”

This historical fiction explores intergenerational trauma from the Latvian Holocaust, and was spurred by ancestors, as well as the discovery of my Jewish roots as an adult.

The Washington Post says, “The title of this haunting novel refers not only to the victims of Latvia’s Holocaust but also to their descendants, who carry the trauma of their ancestors.”

“…this is a read that will stay in the minds of those lucky enough to read it.”—New York Journal of Books

Here's a review from New York Times bestselling author Lucy Adlington (The Dressmakers of Auschwitz):
"Daughters of the Occupation is a neatly crafted saga of personal and national trauma, a story of tentative hope in a world of menace, as three generations of women strive to understand who they are, where they came from and how they can feel free."

My first three novels, Rachel’s Secret, Rachel’s Promise, and Rachel’s Hope (Second Story Press) were inspired by my grandmother’s escape from a Russian pogrom and subsequent journey to Shanghai. They received starred reviews, including Booklist and VOYA, and two were named Notable Books by the Sydney Taylor Book Awards announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Before I started weaving my family through historical narratives, I was a journalist, writing about everything from green architecture to Tourette’s Syndrome for the Toronto Star, National Post, Canadian Jewish News, Maclean’s magazine, Canadian Living, and Reader’s Digest. (I did write about family in a few pieces; it was impossible to resist when all three of my children got lice at the same time, or when we hosted a Chernobyl child.) ...more

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Shelly Sanders’s books

Average rating: 4.16 · 3,693 ratings · 520 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Daughters of the Occupation 4.23 avg rating — 3,062 ratings — published 2022 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night Sparrow 3.79 avg rating — 361 ratings — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rachel's Secret (The Rachel Trilogy, #1) 3.77 avg rating — 183 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rachel's Promise (The Rachel Trilogy, #2) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 2013 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rachel's Hope (The Rachel Trilogy, #3) 4.06 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night Sparrow: A Novel liked it 3.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Shelly Sanders's Blog

Natalya Kovshova and Mariya Polivanova: Female Snipers Loyal to the End

My dearest Mama! Please don’t be angry that I didn’t write to you about being wounded. But I didn’t want to worry you for no reason, since nothing serious happened… –letter from Sniper Natasha Kovshova to her mother, July 7, 1942 On a hot, sultry mid-August afternoon, Private Natasha (Natalya) Koshova, a pretty 22-year-old sniper…

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Published on June 30, 2025 05:40

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Series by Shelly Sanders

The Rachel Trilogy (3 books)
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Shelly Sanders (Goodreads Author)

3.85 avg rating — 267 ratings

Shelly is Currently Reading

Shelly Sanders is currently reading

Lucky Boy

by Shanthi Sekaran (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 10, 2025 08:36AM

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The Frozen River

by Ariel Lawhon (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jan 10, 2025 07:33PM

Shelly Sanders is currently reading

The Need for Roots: Prelude to a declaration of duties to human beings

by Simone Weil

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Jan 07, 2025 05:53PM

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Shelly Sanders wrote a new blog post Natalya Kovshova and Mariya Polivanova: Female Snipers Loyal to the End My dearest Mama! Please don’t be angry that I didn’t write to you about being wounded. But I didn’t want to worry you for no reason, since nothing ser Read more of this blog post »
Jul 01, 2025 01:11AM · 1 like · like
Shelly Sanders entered a giveaway The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival by Anne Sebba (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 10, 2025 09:31AM · like · see giveaway · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz by Anne Sebba. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz by Anne Sebba <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders wants to read The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 07, 2025 07:03PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders wants to read Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Shelly Sanders rated a book it was amazing Girl With A Sniper Rifle: An Eastern Front Memoir by Yulia Zhukova	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 30, 2025 01:15PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Girl With A Sniper Rifle by Yulia Zhukova. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Girl With A Sniper Rifle by Yulia Zhukova <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders rated a book it was amazing Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper (Greenhill Sniper Library) by Lyudmila Pavlichenko	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 30, 2025 11:04AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Lady Death by Lyudmila Pavlichenko. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Lady Death by Lyudmila Pavlichenko <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders and 4 other people liked virginia's review of The Night Sparrow: "I have read many books on this horrific era of WWII, the displaced women who fought back when Hitler invaded Russia. I am no stranger to the horrors that those people who lived through this war endured, often losing every family member and friend the" Read more of this review »
Mar 27, 2025 03:25AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders and 4 other people liked Natalie Groom's review of The Night Sparrow: "Thank you @netgalley for the advanced digital copy. Shelly Sanders' forthcoming novel, The Night Sparrow, is a compelling portrayal of resilience and courage. Set against the backdrop of World War II, it follows Elena Bruskina, a Jewish university stu" Read more of this review »
Mar 27, 2025 03:25AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders and 2 other people liked Briann Shear's review of The Night Sparrow: "Based on sound documented research, THE NIGHT SPARROW tells a story I did not not know: The true story of Russian female snipers who fought in World War II. The main character is Elena, a Russian-Jewish young woman fighting a triple battle, not only " Read more of this review »
Mar 27, 2025 03:24AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Night Sparrow by Shelly Sanders <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shelly Sanders is currently reading Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 10, 2025 08:36AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Shelly Sanders (?)

“He said funerals were for the living, not the dead, and that I’d regret it forever if I didn’t say goodbye.”
― Shelly Sanders, Daughters of the Occupation: A Novel of WWII

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“Before delving into my family’s history, I’d never heard about the Rumbula forest massacre, where 26,000 Jews were killed over two nights, a tragedy in the manner and on the scale of Ukraine’s Babi Yar. I knew practically nothing about Latvia, its Soviet and Nazi occupations, and the fact that the execution of 90 percent of its Jews (including twenty-six of my relatives) was organized by a death squad also employed at Babi Yar, SS-Einsatzgruppen.”
― Shelly Sanders, Daughters of the Occupation: A Novel of WWII

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Shelly’s Quotes

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
― Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin

tags: freedom, liberty, privacy, safety, security

3377 likes

“To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.”
― Aaron Copland

tags: music

1291 likes

“Your father, Jo. He never loses patience, never doubts or complains, but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

930 likes

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
― C.S. Lewis

tags: age, fairytales, growing-up

18084 likes

“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2613 likes

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