While Still We Live

by Helen MacInnes

"A master of the suspense novel."
THE BOSTON GLOBE
It began very innocently. A holiday visit to Poland. But before enojoying the sights and sounds of this fascinating new place, happiness took a violent turn and became a nightmare of terror...when suddenly you're mistaken for a Nazi spy, and to save your life, you have to prove you are innocent.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Suspense, Mystery, Historical

444 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Helen MacInnes was a Scottish-American author of espionage novels. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 1928 with a degree in French and German. A librarian, she married Professor Gilbert Highet in 1932 and moved with her husband to New York in 1937 so he could teach classics at Columbia University. She wrote her first novel, Above Suspicion, in 1939. She wrote many bestselling suspense novels and became an American citizen in 1951.

Reviews

[Joelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my all-time favorite book. I read it once every two years or so. All of Helen MacInnes' books are fun reads--providing the reader with interesting characters, suspenseful plots, and intriquing locales, but this one has a depth to it that most of the others don't have. This is more than just a good World War Two, Espionage story. You are introduced to the heart of Poland and whether or not you have previously had any connection with this country or its people, you come away feeling as if you have seen their soul.

[Hana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young British woman visiting Poland is recruited as a double agent on the eve of the Nazi invasion. The first half, set in Warsaw during the siege and in the first days of the occupation, was dynamite. Then Sheila Matthews ends up trekking through the Polish countryside as a refugee, joining the Resistance and spending lots of time in the forest. This part was a real slog, made nearly unendurable by a deeply stupid 'insta-love' sub-plot. I skimmed the last 100 pages.

Helen MacInnes wrote While Still We Live in 1944, a year before the Allied victory, looking back at the days in 1939 when Adolf Hitler became determined to invade and occupy Poland. There was so much she could not know at the time, could not even imagine (the Soviet claim to Eastern Poland was still secret). That readers get to live a pivotal historic moment in real time gives this novel a worth beyond just the pleasure of an adventure story reasonably well told. I would recommend this over most contemporary WWII novels simply because it gives a contemporaneous view that most modern writers miss.

I've also just learned that the section on the Polish Resistance movement was so accurate that some believed MacInnes had learned the top secret details from her husband who served in Britain's MI6 intelligence unit. That inclines me to bump this one up to three and a half stars.

[Joanne Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheila is visiting friends in Poland. The year is 1939 and war is about to break out. While she has the means to leave the country, she stays behind hoping to help her friends get through the Siege of Warsaw, but is mistaken for a spy by the Germans and they insist on her help. She never knew her father and finds out that he was a Polish spy who was killed in WWI. The Resistance leaders all knew her father and while they don't want to put her in any danger, they have no choice since the Germans have interest in her. She winds up working with the Polish Resistance against the Germans... obviously not a safe position to be in.
While Still We Live is a sentimental read for me. I first read it as a teenager, more than a few years ago... An aunt gave it to me during one of our summer visits to Montreal - she told me it would be good for me to learn some history. My aunt, my mother and the rest of their family emigrated to Montreal from Poland in 1929. I loved the book and the story because I did want to learn some of the 'history' about where they were born. What I didn't find out until many years later was that my Aunt's long time friend, someone I knew well, actually fought in the Polish Resistance during the war and participated in the Siege of Warsaw, which made this book mean that much more to me. I still get it out every so often, just to enjoy a good story, but also to remind myself of where I come from.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book while in high school in the school library. That was in the 1950's. I absolutely loved it, and later read it again several times. I also read many other books by this author, and althought she may be hard to find in your local library, most of her books are available on Amazon.com. This book is a story of an English girl who is vacationing inPoland at the beginning of WWII. She gets stuck in Poland during the war and falls in love with a Polish partisan. The story is excellent and how she finds her true love is a great ending. Also lots of suspense escaping the machinations of the nazi's, since she is English.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1944 this book helped establish MacInnes as a master of war/spy novels. Young Scottish girl is unable to flee Poland when the Germans invade in 1939. She winds up in the Polish underground. The depiction of the bombing and eventual take over of Warsaw is truly harrowing. After fleeing Warsaw she joins the armed resistance and when she becomes pregnant she escapes back to London. Just great.

[David Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents history as fiction, describing the days leading up the fall of Poland to Nazi Germany, and the early stages of Polish resistance. If I could, I would give it 4.5 stars. It is a well-written, engaging story of heroic resolve and sacrifice.

[Teri-K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read MacInnes back when I was a girl but haven't tried her books in years. When they became available on OverDrive I decided to try them again. She was the first woman I know of to write "spy novels". (This was published in 1944. So though I think of them as historical, she was writing about very recent history.) This book is set in the fall of 1939 and takes the reader through the invasion and surrender of Poland. It's packed full of history, and I promise you'll feel like you're in the middle of it, not like you're reading "history" at all.

The story revolves around a young British woman, Sheila, who visits a family in Poland one summer, to give herself time to see if she loves one of the sons of the family. Sheila does love the family and small town, so she stays a little longer than she should, and when the Nazis invade she's caught in Warsaw. With Sheila the reader experiences the confusion, the fear and the hard work it took to survive the invasion. Like the MC in many of MacInnes' books, Sheila becomes involved in the struggle and finds herself working undercover for the resistance.

MacInnes was born in Scotland, a librarian who married a scholar and MI6 agent. Her travels, research, and husband's knowledge all helped her write incredibly accurate novels. According to some sources, this particular book, originally published as The Unconquerable, was so accurate some thought she used classified information she accessed through her husband. I don't know where she learned the details, but I do know that her skills as a writer put the reader in the middle of the action and never let you up.

As I was reading this I realized how MacInnes shaped my view of romance in books. Our heroine is a young woman who manages to fall in love while surviving the invasion. Though there's an element of "insta-attraction", what we see happen is that their dedication to a cause brings them together, and their respect for each other is essential to their relationship. To this day I prefer my books to show me why two people care about each other and what they have in common more than lots of talk about physical attraction, which I believe fades with time.

A new MacInnes reader should be warned that the author gets a little preachy. You'll encounter sentences like, "Labels, Steve, are just misleading... They are meant for laboratory specimens, not for human beings." I don't mind this, as it shows me how passionately she feels about her values. And these are books about values. Freedom over tyranny, action over passivity, knowledge defeating ignorance. In the cynical world we live in, it can be nice to spend some hours in a world where people aren't afraid to fight for others and defend what they value with their lives.

[CLM · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Sheila, somewhat naively, accepts an invitation to visit Polish acquaintances in the countryside not far from Warsaw in the summer of 1939, she is oblivious to the fact that war is about to break out all over Europe. Suddenly, it is too late to return to England, and Sheila belatedly realizes she is in danger. However, learning for the first time that her father died in Poland makes Sheila realize she too would like to work toward Poland's freedom. When she is mistaken for a German spy, suddenly there is an opportunity for her to work for the country she has learned to love against the Germans...

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars for me

One of my ol' faithfuls that I like to re-read every now and again.

The story is that of Sheila, a young British woman who vacations to Poland in 1939, just before the outbreak of the war in Europe. Sheila witnesses the destruction of Warsaw, the fall of the free nations, and the rise of Naziism in Europe. Pulled into a war that she never wanted to be apart of, and beginning to care about the Polish people whom she never really understood, Sheila begins to realize that now is time to act. She joins in the seemingly hopeless battle against the Nazi power; aligning herself with the Polish resistance. With a good balance of espionage, suspense and light romance, the story explores the themes of loss, hope, and retaining the human spirit in harsh circumstances.

The characters are interesting and dynamic, and you really feel as if you come to appreciate the heart of the Polish people after reading this novel. It is a gripping historical fiction you shouldn't miss!

P.S. The ending kills me.

Helen MacInnes writes a gem with this one.

Cheers.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for me.

What if you were visiting Poland right as World War II broke out and Germany invaded the country and you were mistaken for a German spy? This is the scenario presented in Helen MacInnes' fantastic suspense novel. Sheila Matthews is a young British woman put into this situation, and what follows is her story of joining the Polish underground movement.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this novel is that it was written in 1944, while these events were fresh. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and learned so much I didn't know about the German invasion of Poland, the siege of Warsaw, and the resistance/underground movement.

I finished this while camping. It has nothing to do with my review, but it sure was a great way to pass some time in a tent on a rainy afternoon.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until the end this was a 5-star read for me. The fall of Poland to the Germans is depicted in such great detail, fraught with tragedies, inconveniences and general fascination. Alan Furst MUST have read this before "The Polish Officer." There was a lot about the book that made me want to go to Poland--good landscape, interior and urban descriptions, good descriptions of both peasants and aristocrats, women and men. But then, because this was written in 1944, the heroine, a great self-doubting smart young woman, falls in love, and so the finish was less impressive. Having fallen in love myself, though, there are very great descriptions of that amazing rite of passage!

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Helen MacInnes's spy thrillers, set in the first half of the twentieth century in America and Europe. While Still We Live was my favourite book by Ms. MacInnes. Set in Poland in the days leading up to the Occupation, it gave me my first taste of modern history as a child. The love story is also tragic and very romantic. Overall, a thrilling re-enactment of a devastating time.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another MacInnes book that became one of my all time favorite books. I read this as a teenager - stayed with me all these years later. Wonderful love story.

[The Devine Ms Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving tribute to the tragedy and heroism of the Poles during the1939 German invasion of Poland, the siege of Warsaw, and the resistance/underground movement.

[Hilda Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen MacInnes's early suspense novels are especially intriguing because they were written while WWII was still raging, and she had to carefully ensure that the places and characters could not be tied by the ever-suspicious Nazis to living people and actual places. In this case, she did not want to create suspicion of a Polish guerrilla movement that might or might not have existed as she described it. She wrote that she had no first-hand knowledge of such an organization, and created her story out of a "might have been" point of view.

I first read this book at least 30 years ago, and in this reading I picked up numerous clues that I missed the first time. The copy I have is a 2013 reprint, and this edition would have benefited from a sharp-eyed proofreader. Even the title is backwards--"While We Still Live" rather than "While Still We Live."

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 It's great to go back to an author you loved years ago and find you get even more from their work than you did originally. While written as popular fiction, this story provided more depth, insight, and emotion than we are used to in contemporary writing. The story is about a young English woman caught in Poland during the Nazi invasion. We see her grow, change, and learn lessons about life, love, human nature, politics, and war. The reader comes away with a real understanding of the terror and valor in Warsaw as the bombs were falling. There is adventure, and love, but not a standard HEA as the book was written before the end of WWII. The reader today, however, understands how fragile is the happiness and hope of the lead characters.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early novel of Helen MacInnes', with its focus on the invasion and capitulation of Warsaw in 1939. Sheila Matthews, a young British woman, is visiting friends in Poland when the threat of war becomes imminent. She elects to stay in Poland and contribute to the war effort, but a complication arises when she is mistaken for a look-alike named Madalena Koch - who happens to be a German agent. With all the MacInnes bravura, but a different tone from her later works. This was published in 1944, when the war was still on, and you can tell MacInnes' heart is solidly with the Polish people.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've set a goal to read, or in many cases re-read, all,of Helen MacInnes's books. This is number 3. This is set in Poland during WWII, beginning just before the Germans attack. Sheila Matthews, visiting from Britain, gets drawn into the conflict spying for the Poles. There are many tense moments. The book paints a grim picture of Germany's take over of Poland. It does get a bit preachy in spots which I think is just MacInnes trying to get the reader to feel the horrors of war and man's inhumanity to man. Good book.

[Rayrumtum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young British woman is trapped in Poland during the Nazi invasion. She survives the siege of Warsaw and gets involved spying on the Germans. Eventually she joins a Polish guerrila group in the forests. I thought the siege and counterintelligence parts particularly gripping, but the last section was a bit too hokey. Written during the early days of the war, it has a certain touch that a book written after the war wouldn't have.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much about the Polish resistance movement during WWII. I am so thankful to live in a country that has not been ravaged by war. This book makes me want to read Mitchner’s Poland at least. The heartbreaking part for me was the end, knowing that she wrote this in 1944 before the war ended and these brave people who endured against the Nazis then fell under Stalin’s boot for decades.

The audiobook narration was excellent.

Hardship and danger destroys fewer people than indulgence (ch 8)
There is no greater danger to a country than when they assume danger no longer exists (ch 8)
It is with age that men discover how necessary time is (ch 10)
What is the process of becoming old but a choosing of the essential things… the relief of a perspective of life (ch 15)
Cruelty, like all forms of display, is the compensation for the hidden nagging fear of inferiority (ch 23)
In peacetime, when the state arranges did the individual what he can’t or won’t do for himself then it is a confession of moral bankruptcy. Totalitarianism is an admission that the individual must be regulated and conditioned to be a good citizen and that is a confession on the failure of the citizens who should be able to do it for themselves without the state stepping in (ch 33)

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for a book that would keep my interest, I happened upon the 1944 novel "While Still We Live." This relatively early Helen MacInnes novel met all my expectations: a delightful hero who must pull out courage she didn't know she had, the invasion of Poland by the Germans, characters I believed in, villains I had no trouble despising and, of course, a love story.
Because it was written in the early 1940's, MacInnes' hero ( perhaps I should say heroine) is seen as a weak female who must be protected by macho males. This perception changes however as she proves herself to be brave and resourceful.

The novel also gives us a clear picture of how life changed even for well-to-do Poles once the Germans took over. For the Germans to be Polish was to be less than human.

Finally, "While Still We Live" is a tense exciting espionage novel that includes just the right amount of romance.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A visitor to Poland at the start of WW II finds herself in Warsaw during the German invasion and unable to leave. She unwittingly becomes part of the Polish resistance, first posing as a German spy who welcomes the German troops, and then she has to flee to the forest camps and live with resistance fighters,while a suspicious German trails her.
It is surprising that this story was written in 1944, before the end of the war.
Five stars for how the author touches our hearts regarding the plight of the Polish people, and brings insight to the siege of Warsaw and the oppression in the villages. The description of the land is marvellous and makes me want to visit Poland.
Three stars because the romance is a little clunky and the beginning gets off to a slow start. Overall, it is a good read and more memorable to me than Furst's "The Polish Officer."

[Cecilia Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book several years ago and was very happy when I saw it was available in Kindle version. I have read it again and enjoyed even more all the descriptions of the country side, the people and how the author described everything. The story shows us about the courage the people from Poland had, about their history and how they fought for what they believed. The romance part of the book (Sheila and Adam) was very ingeniously added in the book, without making it a romance novel, but just enough to make it interesting. But I have to admit, since I read this book in my teen years, that I was a fan of Adam W. I look forward to read more of her books.

[Suzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1944, the events in this book are still painful and new. In one of this lady's books, the plot was so believable, Nazi stragglers were trying to find the setting, ( a fictional lake), they thought it was based on knowledge. There are a lot of characters and you just have to assume that they will all sort themselves out, and they do. She tells such good stores, but will change your way of viewing the world forever.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should totally be a miniseries. A British woman chooses to stay in Poland as the Nazis invade, and the consequences of that are manifold. It's fiction, but at least the general overview seems to ring true. Writing doesn't have to be gory to express the horrors of war. And it's fun when they are cursing in Polish - "Dog's blood!"

[Yavanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all time favorite books. I got introduced to it by my Mother when I was a young teenager as it was and remains one of her favorite books.

Helen MacInnes has a knack for transporting you into each moment and the depth of feeling that resonates throughout this book pulls you in with every page.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read this before under its alternate title of The Unconquerable, but it turned out I'd forgotten almost everything about it. First published in 1944, it's a study of the fall of Poland and why we should care. Full of drama and romance, and with a cute dog too.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my Very Favorite Book when I was a teenager/young adult and though I had read it probably >10 times, I hadn’t read it in probably 10 years. I was a little nervous to reread it and see what my adult self thinks of it 😂.

The story follows an English girl who is visiting Poland when Nazi Germany invades and after surviving the siege of Warsaw, is mistaken for a German spy. Espionage and adventures with the burgeoning Polish underground ensue.

Helen MacInnes was a prolific espionage writer. I own about 8 of her other books in their original (falling apart) paperback that I will probably pick up again now. This isn’t her best espionage book, but what I didn’t know until this read through is that While Still We Live was published in 1944, before the war was over. She wrote it as a tribute to the Poles and it definitely reads as propaganda/a love letter in many places. She has a lot to say about all the countries who stood by while the Nazis all but razed Poland to the ground. Even more interesting, her husband was later commended for his wartime high level service in British intelligence, which he most certainly would have been doing when she wrote this book.

Anyway, certainly not the best book of all time, but the nostalgia for me and the interesting publishing circumstances are more than enough to keep it as one of my all time favorites.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5☆

[Teresa Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite of Helen MacInnes. Great spy thriller/romance about the Polish Resistance during the 2nd World War. Highly Recommend.