The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto, Elizabeth Hyman (Review by Rachel Taran)

Rating: 4.0/5

I’ve always been a fan of historical fiction (looking at you Kristin Hannah), particularly WWII era stories. If you relate to that and you’re anything like me, you likely haven’t ever actually read a NONFICTION historical book since your high school history textbook. With that, The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto was my first experience diving into historical nonfiction, and while I consider myself a strong and avid reader, the heavy historical content of this book did prove to be a challenge. This consistent difficulty I felt at following the ever-changing timeline, people, places, and events is the only reason for my rating of 4 stars instead of 5. However for me, the unbelievable stories told were well worth the struggle.

There were many parts of this book that were incredibly hard to get through (as to be expected from a retelling of events that took place during the Holocaust) and it was a roller coaster of a read the entire time. Every time I put the book down, “how could this have happened?” was the question that I couldn’t let go of, and it often stuck in my mind throughout the rest of my day. I experienced so many emotions as I made my way through this book from anger and horror, to grief and disbelief, but also… to hope. I clung to the uplifting moments and heroic acts of the resistance fighters like a life preserver, knowing that whenever I turned a page, I would soon encounter the gut punch of yet another horrific and tragic detail. And yet, the fighters never gave up. It truly was inspirational reading about how those living through such dark times could still summon the strength to persevere.

Even though I went into this book fully aware of the outcome of the Holocaust, I was rooting for every single person involved. So many of the story’s details are even described by the very people that lived them thanks to the author’s abundant inclusion of primary resources. Keep in mind that there are many sad endings in this book, but if you have any interest in history, WWII, the Holocaust, or amazing stories of courageous and resilient humans that you likely haven’t heard before, you should definitely check out this book.