I'm giving this five stars because it's such an important book - it carries the voices of thousands of youngsters who were murdered and deserve to be heard. It speaks for all the Renia's who didn't make it, who would have had the same hopes and fears as they fell in love and coped with their teenaged friends. An ordinary girl, an excellent poet, taken barbarically and too soon. The diary itself was rambling and difficult to read in places, but it wasn't meant to be read by all and sundry - I found reading it just filled me with sadness at what was to come. I'm very grateful to Zigmunt and Elizabeth for the notes at the end, which gave the tragic story some closure.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book and it is certainly a difficult one to review and give a star to. Anyone else feel uncomfortable with star ratings for someone who was forced to wear one? I know I do. For me the best part of this book was what came after Renia's diary entries. I found her musings to be too young and there was too much of her poetry. I can see it being of interest to students of a similar age to Renia who are studying WW2 and the Holocaust. I thought the sister's and boyfriend's additions were of much more interest to me as someone who studied this period for her History degree. But as the introduction mentioned, a diary is immediate and not affected by memory, hindsight or public opinions. I give the book three stars because to give it any less seems demeaning to the suffering the families went through.. With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review and e-ARC of this book

What a privilege to be allowed to read this young Jewish girl’s diary. What a totally frightening time it must have been and yet she found a way to get through. Particularly with the help of her young but true love. I was totally touched by this story and saddened at the loss of life at such a young age but while she lived, her resilience and faith that she would one day see her mother again, was amazing. Separated from both her sister and her mother, she coped with life in war torn Poland and being forced to live in a ghetto. Such a moving story. Thank you for sharing Renia’s diary.

This book is entirely different to any other that I’ve read relating to the Jewish people in WW2. It’s a diary kept by Renia Spiegel, a teenager who does normal teenage things such as go to school, see her friends etc. One line in the book spoke a lot to me. “I go to parties now, enjoy picnics, like a normal sixteen year old girl would” But because she was Jewish, two years later she was living in the ghetto and shortly after that her boyfriend writes the last entry in her diary.

The story is beautifully written. Renia’s words and poems are truly beautiful and moving and as she gets older they become more sophisticated. The words from her sister Ariana at the end of the book had me in tears. As did the words Zygmunt wrote in 1989.

Anyone who is expecting this to read as a full on horror about the atrocities of the holocaust, it isn’t. The first part of the diary is a young girl living the happiest life she can in war. She has the usual teenage insecurities and worries which she writes about freely but it’s the beautiful poems that tell her story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion. And thank you to Alexandra Bellak who was determined to fetch her Aunts story to light.

An honest and frank insight into a terrible time in history. The poetry is beautiful. Really made me think. Absolutely a must read.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin, and Ebury Press.
I have to admit I agree with many of the other reviewers of Renia's diary. This is a hard one to evaluate.
There is no doubting the importance of this diary, and the need to ensure that the voices of these Holocaust victims are published and recorded, however I found it difficult to get through.
As other readers mentioned, a great deal of the book is taken up with Renia's school life, crushes, arguments, and thoughts, and very little about what was actually happening in Poland. I'd agree that the most interesting elements of this book are her sister's footnotes and epilogue.
Not an easy book to get through, but essential reading nonetheless. 3 stars.

A beautifully written book that reminds me.of Anne Frank's Diary. It is filled with innocence and hope and a great read that reminded me the importance of family, roots and braveness

I loved Anne Frank’s diary set in World War11 Amsterdam, where Anne and her family were forced to lie low in a small hidden apartment above a city work place. They were forced to leave their home and business because they were persecuted by the Germans for being Jewish. Later on in world history, and in a much different war zone, I read Zlata’s diary which was in many ways a sister diary to Anne Frank’s. Zlata Filipovic lived through the Bosnian war with her family and she too wrote about the anguish of being afraid all of the time and of missing her friends, her canary and her grandparents who were living too far away to visit. Those two girls lived through extraordinarily dangerous times and wrote about how they were affected by the turmoil of war. The diarists were writing about their lives in a war torn country where they feared for their very lives. This was not the lives teenage girls should have had to live through and each diary was a compelling, heart breaking read. When I was offered the chance to read for review 'Renia’s Diary', the pre-publication promotions made Renia’s diary seem to be very similar. I was really excited when it arrived and looked forward to reading it.
Renia lived in Poland in the same turbulent war times as Anne Frank. Just like Anne and Zlata, she wrote her private thoughts, never even dreaming their diaries would one day be read by her family, friends and the wider public all over the world after they were published into the public domain. But the content of Renia’s diary contained very little to do with the persecution of Jews or even the war going on around her. Her diary was much more commenting about her social friendships, her school work and her thoughts about her future boyfriends and love life and about how much she missed her loving family. She had been visiting her grandparents. Her Mother was far away in a distant city and her father was trapped in an entirely different place when war broke out and made it impossible for them to reunite. She wrote her news in this diary sometimes as poetry but more often in prose. The poetry became noticeably more sophisticated and mature as time carried on and I enjoyed this more than anything else. The teenage angst, the flirting, the uncertainty about dating and the mundane things that happened in her everyday life were repetitive, not very interesting and sometimes quite boring. It seemed as though they would carry on and on throughout the entire diary.
However the very last part of the diary, possibly only 10% of the whole diary, was about the time her comparatively ‘free’ life during the war ended when she was forced to live in a ghetto and wear an armband to identify her as a Jew. Her writing was more urgent, her language reflecting her anxiety. This was far more compelling and, together with the maturing poetry, totally absorbing. These were the highlights of Renia’s story as written in her diary, some 700 pages in all from 1939 when she was just 14 years old onwards. The diary is completed by Zygmunt her boyfriend and then by Elzbieta Leszcznska her younger sister and now at last with the benefit of hindsight. She continues the story as she remembers it as a small child. Eventually she and her mother move to the USA where Renia’s mother is given her daughter’s diary by Zygmunt who had rescued it and kept it for Renia’s family.
So overall I felt that the blurb was not a fair representation of the majority of the subject matter of the diary and this is what disappointed me. Nevertheless I persevered as I had promised to write a review. I received this eBook through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Ebury Press, all in return for an honest review. Thank you for Renia’s diary extract. All of the opinions are my own, with no influence from other parties. My review explains why I have awarded only 2*.

Thank you for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Not quite what I expected. Still it was a good read and a bit emotional.

It's really a teenage girls diary that happens to be written during war time.

Renia Spiegel’s diary has allowed a life that was cruelly cut short, to have a future and longevity that Renia herself so hoped to have. The introduction paints a picture of a young girl filled with hope for the future, a future that was denied, but at least now her story lives on.

In contrast to this sentiment, we dive into the first diary entry, where Renia’s wishes that her thoughts and concerns are never to be revealed, are laid bare. This juxtaposition in itself is quite beautiful.

A lot of the diary, especially the earlier years read like the ramblings of a teenager girl (which is what you would expect) and is interspersed with poetry, some of which is actually pretty amazing. On that note, I am really impressed with the translation of this diary, perhaps some of the intent is lost, but all in all it is pretty incredible that even subtle poetry can be translated into something of equal relevance.

The innocence of Renia’s view is really eye opening. Without the benefit of hindsight meant that some of her opinions seem to trivialize what was actually happening, or at least starting to happen. But that view in itself helps us remember that these were ordinary people, trying to live ordinary lives, whilst the machine of war simply eroded their lives bit by bit.

Renia was at the age where moments, glances, touches, slights, all mean so much (don’t we all miss that age), but yet she was trapped in a time of war, a time where freedom comprised of daydreaming and hoping.

Renia clearly battled with what live was throwing at her. And the effects of the lack of her Mothers presence were very apparent. Despite this and despite the persecutions and oppressions, she could still see the beauty in the season, in love, in family, in friends. To be able to still show empathy towards the German soldiers epitomizes how Renia viewed the world. She was proud of who she was and dreamt of equality and democracy. At the same time believing fully that there would be an end to this nightmare and that they would be able to hold their heads high and live the rest of their lives in happiness and love.

We get to experience Renia’s personal growth through her writing, which is painful in itself, knowing that her life, her dreams, her everything is going to simply cease to exist in a future page-turn.

I had very mixed feelings about this book, on one level I felt privileged to read a diary of a young girl in the war and her feelings and relationships were laid out clear. However on another level this book was not what I thought it was going to be.
The book is a young girls diary, the girl who is writing this is Renia, a young teenage girl who is Jewish living in Poland in the WWII. The diary focuses on how Renia misses her mum, from whom she has been estranged and the friends and loves of her life.
It is a sad story as you can read as to how insecure this young girl is and how lost she feels, however she is not always such a pleasant character herself, this may down to the circumstances she is in or maybe just a character flaw.
If you are looking for a diary that details information about the war and it's events then this book is not for you, it tells very little in way of newsworthy events and the history of the war. The diary is a typical teenage girls diary and when reading you don't necessarily think about the diary being written in war time as it could be written by a teenage girl now, the thoughts and feelings conveyed are still relevant in modern society.
This will be a great book to compare cultural history and how things have changed in the seventy years since this diary was first written.

I give thanks to net galley and the publishers for early copy of this book for review.

It was a privilege to read Renia’s Diary. This was an emotional and heartbreaking read. It is so sad that Renia died so young and I am glad that her story has been published.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Don’t expect a book of similar importance to another well known diary of the time, it’s incomparable!

The diary has a different focus and I suppose is more real for a girl of that age, Anne Frank is possibly the unusual one for being so observant and comprehensive in her diary. This is a more selfish account which diary’s tend to be!

It was an ok read but I wouldn’t press it into anyone's hand as a ‘must read’

An interesting read, this isnt the usual type of book I read but I was intrigued by this one. It was an emotional book.

The story of the Jews is the Holocaust and their treatment from the Nazis is well know even though a number of deniers seem to continue in there own ignorance here is a eye witness account of Renia through her very own Diary.

From the age of 14 till just after her 18th birthday the thoughts and life of Renia a human a young girl to a lady and yes also A Jew is separated from her Mum who lived a separate love from her Husband so with her sister she lived with her Mum's Mum and Dad as in her Grandparents. When the Germans then the Russians invaded Poland they where in the area that the Russians to whilst her Mum was in the balance held by the Germans so a reunion looked bleak and post was rare between the two halves of Poland.

Being a Jew was like being A Polish person but once the Germans decided they wanted all of Poland and Europe with it the difference from the stand off the Evil Nazi's meant that any hope of unity was gone along with education and jobs for those providers. A fear that i can not fully imagine took over and life was lived day by day. But for Renia as with I'm guessing any young Lady even more had other to be dealt with those hormones that wait for no war so will not be controlled the longing for the one your eye can not leave alone nor a single minute of everyday. This made worse because the nature of this occupation meant no school so plenty of spare time and long evenings and nights to ring or dream.
The outcome you know from the beginning and reviews is not a good one for Renia which makes the pain of teenage love the hopes and dreams heart breaking to read. The reality of the second world war does need to be kept alive not because of morbid fascination but to remind us that some things are with fighting for and many have their lives so that all can live in a free Europe., Yes it was further afield but her we have had a peace because others died others fought but were never the same their lives have been shaped for us to live. The Jews are a people with the same rights and desires that we have and the price they have paid is totally unacceptable then, now or ever and the personal accounts like this one must be read to be available to be read for the rest of time that even now in this age of so called equality those voice that rise must never be allowed to repeat what history has witnessed since the times before Moses. Yes it's been that long.

Renia was a Poet a well educated girl who was forced to leave school because of her birth family she fell in love as did her friends. Like life she was fancied by those she didn't want and unsure of the one that she couldn't stop dreaming of. I believe this is a book that needs to be read and i do recommend it for more that just that. It is well written and the end notes and epilogue may blow your mind or just hit you in a way that can live with you for a very long time and i think that's the least you should expect from this book.

The innocence of a young woman growing up in an era of hate and evil told through her touching poetry as her world ultimately falls apart leading to her murder by the Nazis. Renia's diary, her hope and love of life is compelling reading.

Too beautiful for words. Renia's diary is a emotional roller-coaster that needs more than a harness. Buckle into the tragic tale of life. Powerful, moving, mesmerizing. What a brutally brilliant read.

Renia's Diary is the real life diary of the Jewish teenager Renia and her experiences during World War 2. I found this a very difficult book to review as this a true recount and from the outset knew the outcome of Renia. To be honest I found large parts of the book very boring as it was mostly about her boyfriend and arguements with her friends. Reina gives very little information on what is happening in the war. I enjoyed the further information from Renia's sister.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC