The Light in Hidden Places

Starred review from January 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-One of nine children, 16-year-old Stefania Podgorska, "Fusia," leaves the farm in Bircza and moves to Przemysl to work for the Jewish Diamant family. Fusia, a Catholic, joins the Diamant household, but they are forcibly moved to the ghetto by Germans, leaving her behind as she scrambles to sneak food to them right under the nose of German patrols. After her secret love, Izio Diamant, is killed in a labor camp, grief-ridden, angry Fusia travels to Bircza to find that the Nazis have ruined both of her families, but she is reunited with her 6-year-old sister, Helena. Fusia begins a grueling factory job making screws and risks her own life and Helena's in order to hide Izio's brother, Max, and 12 other Jews in an apartment at Tatarska 3. Exhaustion and fear become her daily life, even more so when Nazis move nurses into her apartment, with 13 Jews hiding overhead. Authentic writing and well-researched history combined with the gripping and terrifying subject matter make this a must-read for historical fiction fans. VERDICT Cameron's remarkable, heartbreaking true story of one woman's bravery and selflessness in World War II Poland will intrigue both teens and adult readers. Recommended for purchase in both school and public library collections.-Laura Jones, Indiana State Lib., Argos

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January 1, 2020
A true story of faith, love, and heroism. Stefania "Fusia" Podgórska longed for nothing more than to leave the rural Polish farm she was born on for the city of Przemyśl where her older sisters lived. At the age of 12, she did just that, finding a job with the Diamants, a family of Jewish shopkeepers who welcomed her into their lives. For three years they lived peacefully until the Germans dropped bombs on Przemyśl. The family struggled on as the war and anti-Semitism ramped up, but eventually, the Diamants were forced into a ghetto. Then 17, Catholic Fusia was determined to help them survive, even at the risk of her own safety, while also caring for her 6-year-old sister, Helena, after their family was taken by the Nazis for forced labor. Knowing the risks involved, Fusia made a bold decision to harbor Jews. As the number of people she sheltered increased, so did her panic about being caught, but she was determined to do what was right. Cameron (The Knowing, 2017, etc.) used Stefania's unpublished memoir as well as interviews with family members as source material. She deftly details Fusia's brave actions and includes moving family photographs in the author's note. Narrated in the first person, the story highlights essential events in Fusia's life while maintaining a consistent pace. Readers will be pulled in by the compelling opening and stay for the emotional journey.An inspirational read. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

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January 27, 2020
Cameron’s saga of life in wartime Poland under German occupation stretches from 1936, when 11-year-old Fusia first falls in love with city life on a visit to Przemys´l, through July 1944. Based on the experiences of then-teenager Stefania “Fusia” Podgórska, who, along with her younger sister Helena, was, in 1979, honored by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center for their heroism in saving Jews during the war, the book traces, in exhaustive detail, what that heroism looked like daily. Catholic Fusia doggedly persists in doing what she believes is right; when the Jewish family she has been living with and working for is sent to the Jewish ghetto, she sneaks food and supplies to them. Eventually she hides her friend, Max, and six (and later 13) other Jews in her and Helena’s apartment. Living in fear and under constant suspicion, Fusia holds down a full-time factory job, fends off a Polish officer’s advances, and undergoes several extremely close calls with the police, all while fiercely protecting Helena (an especially appealing character, sharp and savvy under her shy demeanor). This story of extraordinary survival is bolstered by an author’s note, accompanied by photos, that relates the happy future that followed for Fusia, Helena, and Max. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary.