Literally Leander discussion

For July 2021, our featured book is The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron.

In this story, based on real-life Polish girl Stefania Podgórska, we travel back to WWII. In a tale that mixes truth, horror, bravery, and romance, we experience history through the eyes of a regular teen.

Do you like historical fiction--and in particular, WWII fiction? What do you think of biographical fiction? Are you excited to be reading this book?

I am looking forward to reading this book. It was selected as Reese Witherspoon's book club pick this past December. My interest in reading the book was piqued when I saw photographs of Stefania Podgórska with her family members and friends on the Facebook page for Reese Witherspoon's book club. I like biographical fiction because it helps me learn about people that I would not normally read about. While I enjoy historical fiction, WWII is my not my favorite historical period to read about. Nevertheless, I am excited to read this book and learn more about Stefania Podgórska.

I read this one (last year, I think? I'm not really sure, everything has just blurred together over the last year+) and I really enjoyed it!

I like historical fiction, and while I think the copious amount of WWII fiction can kind of be the butt of the joke--when was the last time you read history fiction that wasn't set in WWII?--but I also think it's inherently an interesting time period for us. For those of us born in the later half of the 20th century (and those born in the 21st) WWII seems like it was so long ago. In reality, we've yet to hit the hundred-year mark.

When it comes to biographical fiction, I could take it or leave it, generally. Sometimes I find books super interesting, like this one, and usually what they have in common is that they happened a long while ago. More recent biographical fiction just doesn't seem to have the same levity to me.

I like ww2 books and I hope this book is good and entertaining