Irena's Gift: An epic World War II memoir of sisters, secrets and survival

by Karen Kirsten

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 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.

PRAISE FOR IRENA'S

‘Deeply moving and beautifully written . . . Irena’s Gift deserves to become a classic of the memoir genre.’ Lucy Adlington, author of The Dressmakers of The true story of the women who sewed to survive

‘In Irena’s Gift , Karen Kirsten proves yet again that family stories and densities of human affection, when they ran up against that calamity we call the Holocaust, are as individual as fingerprints. News withheld, and what is passed on in doubt and affections, is always dramatic if it can be creatively depicted, and Karen Kirsten more than fulfils that task of narration and enchantment here.’ Tom Keneally

‘An extraordinary story of how secrets and lies can tear a family apart.’ Maya Lee, author of The Nazis Knew My Name

‘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

‘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

‘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.’ Sue Smethurst, author of The Freedom Circus

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Holocaust, World War II, Biography, War

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2023

About the author

Karen Kirsten is the author of Irena's Gift, a 2025 National Jewish Book Award finalist, winner of Zibby Awards for Best Family Drama & Best Story of Overcoming, an Australian Jewish Book Award finalist, and described by Pulitzer prize winning author Geraldine Brooks as, “a disturbing investigation into the power of secrets to harm and to haunt.”

Karen is an Australian-American writer and Holocaust educator who who speaks around the world on the power of empathy to bridge divides and save lives. Karen’s essay “Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother’s Life” was selected by Narratively as one of their Best Ever stories and nominated for The Best American Essays. Karen’s writing has also appeared in Salon, The Week, The Huffington Post, The Jerusalem Post, Boston’s NPR, The Christian Post, The Sydney Morning Herald and more.

Reviews

[Christy fictional_traits · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The thing about secrets is they are like a loose thread in a jumper; if you pull hard enough, the whole garment falls apart'.

Growing up in a Melbourne suburb, life seemed pretty ordinary for Karen. Other than gathering with the 'Polish Circus' of friends and extended family, her life was light years away from WW2 Poland: violence, starvation, ghettos, and concentration camps. However, as she became older, some things didn't reconcile: her Nana's tattoo wasn't a phone number, there was a lack of older family photos, and the relationship between Karen's mother, Joanna and her mother Alicja was oddly fraught. As pieces of a puzzle slowly appear, Karen decides to try and uncover the real picture of her family's history. Using, memoirs, taped conversations, visits to libraries, archives and Poland itself, the pain that has been so deeply buried, so carefully ignored, is unearthed, 'I have learned that stories we tell aren't always truthful. Truth, if we find it, can be ugly'.

'Irena's Gift' takes the reader on an astonishing journey of survival and incredible luck. As the story pivots between different timelines, what becomes apparent is the deeply rooted inter-generational trauma and sorrow, 'I will realise my family's traumas live inside of me, that my search for answers is in part to understand how the war, and orders to exterminate has impacted me'. Further, as Joanna chose to raise Karen as evangelical, the journey is not only about uncovering her family's history, but also a search for identity, 'What does it mean to be Jewish when your mother's raised you evangelical? Why does religion, ethnicity or ancestry even matter?'

There are many memoirs from Holocaust survivors. What I enjoyed about this one was trying to better understand the harm that continued to be caused in future generations. It's easy to believe the war stopped when the Allies won, liberating prisoners. It's easy to believe that those who chose to immigrate from their war-torn land, found a new chance at life. It's easy to read the facts of this horrible part of history, reciting numbers and dates; believing we remember. But, we will never comprehend the 'tragedy that ripples through the lives of survivors and transfers the scars to their children'.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

*https://www.instagram.com/mrsb_book_r...

🕎Concealing the past, family bonds, survival, heritage, identity and resilience defines Irena’s Gift by Karen Kirsten. A family-based memoir filled with history, research, memories, heartbreak and hope, this is a powerful look at the secrets kept by the Holocaust.

🕎A miraculous story that begs belief of a small child smuggled out in a crippling Warsaw Ghetto in just a small backpack, Irena’s Gift is a non fiction discovery tale of uncovering the past. A family roots adventure tale, but also a lesson in the ails of prejudice, Irena’s Gift teaches us a great deal about family sacrifice. We are taken on a quest with the author of Irena’s Gift as she searches for the real truth behind her mother’s daring escape as a child from Nazi dominated Poland. What Karen Kirsten uncovers is shocking, heartbreaking, devastating and surprising all the same.

🕎Drawing on a variety of sources, a breadth of research, first hand accounts and a travel monologue to key places of interest, Irena’s Gift is a remarkable family biography tale. There are moments of sheer despair, cruelty, unjust behaviour and hatred that will haunt you. However, what rises from the ashes of this absolutely terrible time in our modern history books is the opportunity to heal, rectify mistakes and learn from the past. I am grateful that we continue to hear from families such as the author of this book so that we can better educate ourselves and generations to come of this extremely turbulent era, which continues in the form of intergenerational trauma, as well as clear displacement.

🕎May we embrace Irena’s Gift and other essential stories that are drawn from this atrocious time period.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4 stars

🙏Thank you to @penguinbooksaus for the complimentary copy.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena's Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival by Karen Kirsten is one of those reads that is difficult to get through quickly. It needs attention, processing and space between reading sessions due to the subject matter, the horror and the realities it uncomfortably puts in a reader's personal bubble - that one we protect so fiercely every minute of our lives - we only want truths we know and trust within its tightly held boundaries. Most of what this author puts before us is not comfortable and is very true. There's the rub.

There have been beautiful, persuasive reviews posted throughout the readerly world about Karen Kirsten's complex and well-presented story of her quest to find the truths hidden in her family's lore of their recent past generations. Their words are worth reading for more specifics of the journey. For the context of my response to this read, suffice it to say there was some mixing and reshuffling without disclosure to descendants, and barriers to further information when it was wanted were created that just a few years of silence seemingly made permanent. Then along came Karen with her relentless curiosity winning the day. While the truths she presents most closely benefit her families' members going forward, we are the collateral benefactors of that effort. . .we have the opportunity to read of her wide-ranging efforts to gather both eager and reluctant threads of her truths facing resistance on many levels. Time, bureaucracies, shame and ignorance, to name a few.

All the stars for telling the stories, for stating the truths she uncovered, laying bare naked courage, vulnerable hopes, and fierce dreams.

*A sincere thank you to Karen Kirsten, Kensington Publishing | Citadel, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #IrenasGift #NetGalley 25|52:32f

[Enone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, beautifully written, this memoir explores the past and present and the remarkable resilience of survivors of Nazi occupied Poland.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, detailed and well researched, this one will stay with me for a long time.

[Michael Hays · Rating 3 out of 5]

The older I get and the more I study, history as well as current events, the more I am absolutely blown away by the human race’s ability to destroy itself.

I don’t claim to be a historian, but I have read numerous books about WWII in general and the Holocaust specifically, including Schindler’s List, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Until We Meet Again and several others. All of these books, while teaching me other things, have served to clarify to me the seemingly unimaginable atrocities that one group of humans have inflicted upon another. While this in and of itself is a lesson worth learning, Irena’s Gift by Karen Kirsten has taken this lesson to the next level in my opinion. This book delves extensively into the lasting effects that these types of atrocities have on the future and how it influences the lives, behaviors and relationships of multiple generations to follow. While I did struggle somewhat with the jumping around between characters, places and time frames, I found this book to be a fascinating, dramatic and very emotional reading experience. I would definitely recommend Irena’s Gift as an excellent addition to the shelf of any historian or humanitarian!

Last but not least, I want to thank Goodreads along with anyone else that was involved with the giveaway where I obtained my copy. I am always grateful to win a prize, but this one in particular was very exciting!

[Lynne Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written story of love and survival, extremely moving.

[Caren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen Kirsten – writer, refugee advocate, genocide educator – takes the reader on a journey back to the Holocaust to reveal the secrets that had been buried in her own family’s history. Kirsten’s exploration is personal, motivated by the silence of her mother and grandmother and by the troubled relationship between them. Her search takes us back to Poland, to the ghettos, hiding places, and camps where her grandparents and mother survived the horrendous years of the murder of six million Jews of Europe. Their story is an intriguing one that finally leads the author to more questions and soul-searching discussions with her beloved grandmother, Alicja, and mother, Joasia, as well as with a Canadian “stranger” who prompted Kirsten’s journey.

The biography/memoir is written with multiple strands of narratives, in the past and present, sometimes confusing me and pushing me to reread certain sections for clarity. Over time, Kirsten discovers what her grandmother had kept secret. There are also the hazy memories of her mother, who was a very young child during this time and who carries the psychological scars that seem to have been inherited. Joasia's biological identity is the source of much of this questioning.

Their Holocaust story ultimately moves the author to search for her own identity, a search that uncovers the impact of the intergenerational trauma that characterises so many families of Holocaust survivors. The author illustrated this syndrome most effectively - in my opinion, the strength of the text.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A conspiracy of silence to protect the children from the family suffering of the past.
There was so much that Karen's mother did not understand about her own childhood and especially her mother's attitudes. Later she came to understand some of it, including that everyone in their neighborhood knew about their past by voluntarily kept that information hidden from the children.
This is the first book I have read that spends a good amount of time relating what life in Poland was like before the Storm Troopers took over. All of that is enclosed within the author's (born and raised in Australia) search for answers to personal questions about her mother and grandparents that seem so enigmatic. There is also a lot of specific information regarding the history of Poland in the past, during WW2, and forward to the present. It details a very personal journey, but one whose contemporaries are vanishing.
The scars of war are not all visible, and some go on to the next generations.
There are illustrations/photos not visible in e-book format
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Kensington Publishing | Citadel via NetGalley.

[Rebecca Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen’s memoir speaks truth to power, bringing to light how the lives of her forebears, once ensconced in the normalcy of pre-war Poland, were swept up in the pogroms and torn apart irrevocably as Nazi Germany extended and held a vice-like grip over the nation.

The depth and thoroughness of her research is to be emulated; her insights are piercing and insightful. Karen’s journey back through time to discover the events that led to her family’s migration to Australia highlights how history must be pieced together through disparate sources of information, like trying to make a quilt, but not always able to do so. And yet she is able to adeptly put together a compelling and powerful story which explores the consequences of secrets, half-truths and inter-generational trauma, which permeates time and makes it relevant to the human condition as a whole.

Definitely a must-read, and a book that I plan to read again.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, raw, and haunting. An important telling of the horrors of the holocaust, how love managed to survive, and what it means to live with that generational trauma.

[Sandra "Jeanz" · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the title that first attracted me to the book, I wanted to know who Irena was and what was her gift. Then when I read the blurb, I knew I had to know more about this family and what happened to them during the Holocaust.

Karen knew nothing of her family history during the Holocaust, in fact at age four when she asked her Nana about the number on her arm, her nana’s reply was that a man had put it there, that it was her phone number! It’s only later that it is revealed that Karen’s grandmother is not Joanna’s (Karen’s mum) biological mother. In fact, a woman called Irena and was Nana Alicja’s sister. When this is revealed a lot of things start to make more sense to Karen about how her Nana Alicja treats her mother Joanna differently to her Uncle Tony. As a child Joanna had nightmares about men in uniforms, and when she asked Alicja to explain she refuses to talk about it. Joanna’s parents Alicja & Mietek wanted her to pursue a career of their choosing such as law or engineering, but Joanna’s heart led her to pursue a career in teaching children’s art & history. When Tony, Joanna’s brother graduated medical school, a career choice they approved of they bought him a flashy white MG Convertible. When Joanna graduated her own chosen career training Alicja & Mietek bought her a pen. Mietek & Alicja wanted Joanna to marry a “well to do” Jewish man, again Joanna followed her own mind and path and married an Australian, the son of Swiss immigrants.
Joanna didn’t really know her full history until she received a letter from a stranger in Canada called Zdzislaw Przygoda. This man addressed her as Joasia, a different form of her name Joanna and had sent her photographs of her as a child. There was one of Alicja, and Irena who died in the war. As Joasia/Joanna stares at the photograph she looks at the dark- haired Irena and something just clicks into place, it’s like something has come unlocked or released and memories start flooding back. The writer of the letter, Zdzislaw says how he carried the photo of Joanna & Irena all through the camps. He goes on to say that Irena had been killed by the Germans and that they had always loved Joanna and he still loves her.
When Alicja first learns of the letter she is surprised and perhaps annoyed by that letter as when she first learns of its existence her remark is “Zdzislaw promised he would never tell!” She also admonishes Joanna saying “We were so good to you.” Joanna assures Alicja that she loves Alicja & Mietek even more knowing that they adopted her. “Secrets are like a loose thread in a jumper; if you pull hard enough, the whole garment falls apart” really does fit what happens when the letter arrives from Canada for Joasia/Joanna.

Joanna kept this letter hidden from Karen and her sister for years as Alicja made her promise not to tell them, as she thought that if they found out she was not their biological Nana she would somehow no longer love her. Joanna kind of reluctantly agrees but says she will not lie to her children if they ask her a direct question. When Karen met Zdzislaw and his mother Helena, she is told to call Zdzislaw “Uncle Dick” and to call Helena “babcia.” Zdislaw reveals more about what happened during the war, the majority of it Alicja seems to remember in a different way, she confuses dates, timelines and doesn’t remember certain things. Alicja blames Dick for a lot when it was him that helped them evade the Gestapo on numerous occasions, obtaining false papers that declared them Polish not Jewish which enabled Alicja & Mietek to live on the Aryan side of town. Keeping suspicion of them being resistance members or collaborators. Dick also obtained forged papers for Eljasz, Irena & Alicja’s father to help him get out of the ghetto but Eljasz delayed leaving and ended up never getting out of the ghetto.

It's sad that Alicja & Zdzislaw/Dick lived through the same atrocities and have such different versions of events. They both endured awful things during this time and I think perhaps Alicja maybe blames Zdzislaw/Dick for not protecting her sister Irena. Naturally Alicja is angry her sister did not survive, maybe she even feels a little guilty that she survived and Irena didn’t. What this family endured hiding in plain sight, thrown in jails, concentration camps, tortured, starving, beaten, the bribery and betrayal around them, living from hour to hour waiting to be caught and more is horrendous. I have to admit that had I gone through anything like the family in this book, I would probably not want to think or talk about. It is strange how Alicja can and will talk to Karen, her granddaughter about Holocaust, even initially arranging to watch Schindlers List with her, though in the end Alicja goes to see it with friends, yet she refuses to talk about the Holocaust with Joanna, her (adopted) daughter.

I found the book really compelling, the way the past affects how you live your life today. The way how despite being so young Josia/Joanna still had memories of the war and men in uniform but Alicja didn’t want to deal with explanations so she just ignored them and kept the realities away from her. The title of the book can have more than one meaning, Irena’s Gift could be that she gave her daughter to Alicja to raise as her own. Irena’s Gift could also be her sacrifice of selflessly giving up her child, Joasia/Joanna allowing her to be apart from her, to give her a better chance of survival. I think the title really fits the book very well.

Summing up, I found Irena’s Gift, an extremely interesting, informative memoir about the Holocaust and how it affected the different members and generations of one family not just during the war and Holocaust, but years and years later.

[Shanereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena's Gift is an incredible memoir written by the author to honor her mother and grandmother and their fight to survive WW2.

I received this book in the mail as a giveaway. I had no idea how wonderful it would be, and how it would truly be a love letter to Karen's mother and grandmother, both of whom survived horrors during WW2. Karen's grandparents were all holocaust victims and survivor's. Her mother found out in her 30's that she had actually been adopted in Poland before her adoptive parent's fled to Australia.

This new found knowledge started Karen's journey back to Poland to discover her families true past.

This finished copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to Citadel for my review copy!

[Helen O'Toole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inter generational trauma writ large. This book should have a second title, namely secrets and lies. Actually too difficult to read some sections especially that Joasia was treated so cruelly by her aunt & uncle who were also Holocaust survivors. I found their attitude to their niece very hard to comprehend. She was utterly unloved and also abused. As she believed she was their daughter, you can imagine the hurt this treatment had upon her.
Joasia’s mother Irena had been shot by the Nazis, leaving her baby daughter barely alive between the dead. Such complex personalities especially her father who cut off all contact until he wrote a letter from Canada nearly 40 years later revealing his existence! Yet he had arranged for his baby daughter to be kept safe in the care of Polish Catholic nuns.
This book must have made the author feel wrung out from the impact of the truth coming out.

[Sarah Sasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irena's Gift by Karen Kirsten is a memoir spanning back to WWII, across multiple continents and of profound, resonating importance. While reading this book I was utterly consumed and transported.

When Kirsten sets out to answer questions around her mothers relationship with her grandmother, her family story leads her back to the rise of anti-semitism in Europe and later to a small baby smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto.

Kirsten’s work is meticulously researched and referenced. She conveys the stepwise entrapment and disempowerment of Polish Jews vividly, capturing both the unbelievable barbarity and the detailed calculation of their genocide. Despite these horrors, Kirsten’s text is never gratuitous and she often trusts her readers to make the final leaps.

This is a book about the dark fallout of war, which can splinter families and leave a legacy of detachment-affected love for generations. But it is also a book that resonates with deep humanism, truth and hope.

Many of Kirsten’s relatives were displaced during WWII and died as a result of the conflict. That any of her family survived Auschwitz and other extermination camps is nothing short of a miracle.

There were so many illuminating sections of this novel, but my favourite lines were the encouraging text message sent from Kirsten’s husband as she sat waiting to research Nazi sources:
"All of this is taking you somewhere you need to go. Be patient. Stay passionate."

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An extraordinary second-generation Holocaust book and beautiful companion to House Of Glass by Hadley Freeman.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really know how to review this book because on the one hand, it was incredible and clearly well researched but on the other, the way it was written made me really struggle to connect with it or the characters as it felt like it was disjointed and it didn't really flow very well for me.

Karen is researching the history of her family which takes her on a difficult but enlightening journey of discovery from pre-war Poland, to the horrendous years of World War II and Nazi persecution, the end of the war and up to the present day; it is an illuminating and heart-breaking story of survival and of the impact the war years had on that generation and on the generations to come.

Now whilst I found the style of writing didn't work for me, the story itself was incredible and therefore I would recommend to people who enjoy this genre as it could work for you as it has for others who have read and reviewed this book.

Many thanks to the author, Ad Lib Publishers, Mardle Books and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Irena's Gift.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from Kensington Publishing in exchange for a review. The story involves two young Jewish girls in Poland during World War II. One sister, Irena, gets married, has a baby, goes into hiding ( so she won’t be killed by the Nazis). The other sister, Alicja, is living in the Jewish ghetto. In the course of events, the baby’s mother is discovered by Nazis. The baby ends up being raised by other people. The author of this book is the daughter of that baby. The book is well worth reading because of seeing all the trauma of the two sisters and their families. It also shows how trauma can be transferred to the surviving children and also passed on to the grandchildren. I commend the author for the incredible research she did to find some of the missing elements. I was a bit confused at times during the reading of the book, trying to follow the time line at times.

[Lorraine McDermott · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary story told beautifully. It was different to other holocaust stories and memoirs that I had read in that the research into what happened to her family is all part of the story. This part of the storytelling was really thought provoking for me, in that there was true honesty in where there are gaps or the details don't match up. Much easier to deal with when writing fiction. I felt almost rudely frustrated at times that the answers aren't there which shows how well the author brought you into her family's story. I definitely recommend.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and moving

This book opened my eyes to the struggles faced not only in the war but after it. The survivors dealt with the trauma for the rest of their lives. The trauma trickles down into their children and grandchildren.
It's amazing to me how these people picked up the pieces and continued on. I so admire them.

[patricia o'kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was quite interesting in the way the author wove the family story through the pre war, war years and the effects of the whole sorry episode on the maternal side of her family. Anybody who has not actually suffered through the harrowing period can only but wonder at the resilience of those who endured it all and who carried the scars until their death years later.

[Fiona Budzynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen Kirsten's memoir Irena's Gift is a one of the best holocaust survival memoirs I have read. I couldn't put it down. As an Australian descendant of a Polish ww2 refugee myself many parts of the story and characters are so familiar; Kirsten's masterful depiction of the modern, vivacious lives of her Jewish ancestors in interwar Poland belie the horror of what lies ahead for them, and the depths and depravity that mankind will sink to.
But it is the unravelling of a family mystery that answers Karen's questions about her grandmother and her mother's relationship and ultimately makes this a story about our humanity; how we as individuals with a difficult, damaged past find a way forward. Uncovering the mysteries of why we are the way we are.

[Maxine Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a wonderful read and will truly tug at your heartstrings. It’s a comprehensive story of the rescue of a toddler (Karen Kirsten’s mother) from a Warsaw ghetto in 1942 through to recent years. Through Karen’s extensive research over many years she unravelled many long-held secrets to learn the truth of her mother’s story and about her grandparents who raised her - and other family members. It’s a beautifully written book which explores the depravity of man but also the goodness of man (even an SS Officer). Hidden truths are revealed which have been enlightening and healing. I highly recommend this book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was something else. I had another in line to read but when I read the first couple of pages as I often do with new books to get an idea of them, I was too far gone.

This book is a lady's journey to piece her family's history together and real accounts of what they went through as Jews during the war. Both interesting and shocking.

It's a story that should be read and acknowledged as it is told.

[Jess Marks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful story about a rancid time. I have read many books about holocaust survivor stories, such as The Daughter of Auschwitz and A Gypsy in Aushwitz.
Irenas Gift is an amazing book, portraying the utmost horror of being in those horrendous times. It's definitely worth a read. It almost had me in tears - and books rarely do that to me!
Overall, 4/5 🌟

[ImA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very hard read, so much sadness and hard times but also so much love.

A great book. Heartbreaking and makes me cry for people who lived through this and the relatives who in their own way were affected by the atrocities.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

story of the intergenerational effects of the Holocaust. Told via the search for her mother'and grandmother's stories.
I liked the way she blended present day with past lives-it was easy to follow.
Its an extrordinary story.

[Georgina Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and distressing tale of intergenerational trauma, family dynamics, belief and disbelief, and the secrets we keep to survive. Kirsten has woven together the scraps of family and Holocaust history to discover both herself and her family’s past. Captivating.

[Lyn Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and written with LOVE this story reveals the past and present of a families’ survival during the Nazi invasion of Poland during WW11

[Kerry Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written true story on a family through their journey pre-war during the war and post war and the effects it had their children dealing with their own plus parents trauma.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

history comes to life

Such a human story of such history. Many threads of a family convey life, love n perseverance. A good read!