The Young Survivors by Debra Barnes

☆☆☆☆
ebook, 236 pages
Expected publication: July 23rd 2020 by Duckworth Books
About the Book:
What if everyone you loved was suddenly taken away? Five siblings struggle to stay together as the tides of war threaten to tear them apart. When Germany invades and occupies France in the Second World War, the five Laskowski children lose everything: their home, their Jewish community and most devastatingly their parents who are abducted in the night. There is no safe place left for them to evade the Nazis, but they cling together, never certain when the authorities will come for what is left of them. Inspired by the poignant, true story of the author’s mother, this moving historical novel conveys the hardship, the uncertainty and the impossible choices the Laskowski children were forced to make to survive the horrors of the Holocaust.

This is going to be short because I seem to be lacking words for how much I loved this book. In fact, saying I loved it almost seems wrong because reading this novel was so poignant and such an experience that...I don't have the proper words.

This book is startling, horrifying, and yet the story is told in a charming way. Debra Barnes' prose is lyrical she is truly gifted as a writer. The beauty of the writing, almost like poetry, carries the story along and takes you with it effortlessly.

Bottom Line: This book was amazing. I loved the characters, the story, the narrator and everything it had to tell. This is one novel that I will not soon forget. I took a star off because it leans more towards Young Adult...and there is nothing wrong with that! It isn't marketed as young adult though.

Thank you NetGalley, Duckworth Books and Debra Barnes for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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