THE DAUGHTERS OF WARSAW
MARIA FRANCIS




I have read many excellent stories of this historic period in our history with the unbelievable struggles endured by those caught in the Nazi onslaught! None rival the emotions surfacing as I read the words spread across these pages. Ms. Francis grasps your inner most feelings and puts you at the center of the characters lives as they struggle for the safety they desire to provide others. Unbelievable hardships are endured by the caring to rescue those being slaughtered for no reason other than their birth. A heart wrenching but, in the end, story of success over evil!

5 STARS

I have received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are completely my own.



Spencer Birt
10/21/2023

Thank you so much for this eARC I really enjoyed the novel. My only complaint is the ending seemed a bit rushed with some unnecessary twists. Her sister needing to go to the hospital at the exact time seemed thrown in to add conflict when there was already lots going on. The book cover is gorgeous. I loved the sister video chatting even though it was quite sad they spent their whole lives not knowing the other was still alive.

I was captivated by this book and it was evidently very well researched. It was incredibly realistic and some of the accounts of what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto were absolutely chilling. I particularly enjoyed the two parallel storylines and felt a deep sympathy for Lizzie. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

What a gripping and chilling book but also tells true story of good people who tried to help those surrounded by evil. Where would some of the survivors be if it want for the bravery of a few. Highly recommend

Thanks NetGalley for giving me a copy of this amazing book. A wonderful insight of the horrors of war and how dehumanising we are capable of. Brought tears to my eyes. I would highly recommend this book

Daughters of Warsaw is a dual point-of-view historical fiction novel, split between the present time in Seattle and World War II Warsaw. Lizzie in the Pacific Northwest has suffered a series of miscarriages and is wallowing in self-pity and grief when she discovers old photographs of her great-grandmother. This starts her on a trip to Warsaw and a genealogical journey to discover her Polish roots.

She learns that her great-grandmother was Zofia Szczesny, a heroic young woman who helped smuggle food and medicine into the Jewish Ghetto and Jewish children out of the ghetto to be adopted by Christian families to save their lives. This story-book heroine was based on a real-life heroine, Irena Sendler, who rescued Jewish children from the Ghetto.

The Seattle parts of the story were less entrancing than the Warsaw sections, partly because author Maria Frances is able to evoke the horrors of the war, the ghetto, and the day-to-day life in 1942 Warsaw. That said, overall, the story was quite similar in tone and characters to several recent books and didn’t fully rise to its potential. That said, books like this need to be written to keep us aware of how depraved the human heart and mind can get. Humanity has managed, in the last eighty-odd years, to kill 62.5 million people (Ukrainians, Armenians, Jews, Chechens, Urghurs, etc, ad nauseam) in over sixty different genocides. With books that point out both man's inhumanity to man and the heroes and heroines who combat the inhumanity, we can keep alive our hope that this behavior will be extinguished.

I really couldn’t put this book down, and read it in one sitting. Any story that mixes real events and people with fictional ones needs to do a really good job to pull it all together. This one does just that. It’s obviously been very well researched, it felt authentic and brought shivers with some of the descriptions as to what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto. I liked the dual time lines, and really felt for Lizzie after yet another miscarriage has just about destroyed her and her relationship with her husband. A real must read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I love a story that highlights a true heroine of WWII and The Daughters of Warsaw celebrates the actions of Irena Sendler and her determination to save as many children from the Warsaw Ghetto as she could.

In present day Seattle, Lizzie is mourning a miscarriage. She is staying with her parents for a little bit in hopes of recovery when she stumbles across a picture of her grandmother during the war. Unable to get many answers from her grandmother herself…Lizzie journeys to Poland and begins a journey to discover her family history but also finds herself along the way.

I loved this story so much. It’s the stories of real people coming together in the face of horror and doing the right things that will never get tiresome. These are the stories that need to be told and yes, they’re told in a fictional way but there is so much truth behind them that the story doesn’t end when you read the last page.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and Maria Frances for an early copy of this inspiring book! It’s definitely one WWII enthusiasts want to add to their must read lists!

Daughters of Warsaw was a fantastic read. Couldnt put it down. Was on the edge of my seat most of the times and tears the next. Fantastic characters that made you completely believe in them. I loved the story from the present running as well alongside the past. Highly recommend it and a bit lost that its finished! Thank you Net galley

A story of two halves: occupied Warsaw during WW2, and the present where a handful of photos from WW2 spark a young woman’s search for her background. Tender and sympathetic, and at times upsetting reading about the lives of the people existing in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw. With strength and determination resistance workers are fully aware of the consequences, should they be discovered by the occupying Germans, they work tirelessly in smuggling out young children. Attachments are made and it is from these that two elderly sisters, after decades are reunited.

A highly readable novel, with charming character, and a positive closure.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Avon Books for this advance copy.

Maria Frances has written a beautiful and cohesive story about courage and determination in the face of difficulty and the importance of compassion and connection.

Daughters of Warsaw is a tale told across four generations. A young woman, Sophia, who risks her life rescuing Jewish children from the ghetto in 1942 Warsaw, and her great-granddaughter, Lizzie, who is struggling with her fertility and what what means for her marriage in present day Seattle. Lizzie finds an unusual photograph of her great -grandmother and embarks on a journey to learn more about her.

Readers are immersed in this pursuit through both Lizzie’s perspective and Sophia’s as the chapter alternate between time periods and you really feel the connections between past and present and importance of family roots. The author does a wonderful job of making the characters believable and relatable. She takes care to provide enough detail about the experience of living in the ghetto in Warsaw, while being sensitive to the emotional weight that creates.

The story is easy to follow and reads quickly as you are drawn into the story and the mystery of Sohpia’s hidden work and Lizzie’s effort to understand and uncover it. I give this book 4 our of 5 stars and recommend it to readers of historical fiction, especially those with an interest in World War 2.

I want to thank NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the review copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

Loved this! Such a beautiful book. The characters were so well dev.eloped. Lovely writing. I found it hard to put the book down.

For me, I felt a very personal connection. Sofia’s last name, Szczesny was my grandfather’s last name. I only found out recently. It was changed to Sezna when his parents emigrated to the US in the early 1900s. So as I read this book, I was imagining the family my grandfather probably still had in Poland during WW2. This book transported me there.

I love the switching between narrators. It brought more relevance to the story. Adoption can be a wonderful option. Lizzie’s miscarriages were heartbreaking. I don’t see that written about often. But then compared to what Ola and Magda went through, Julia and Zofia….

Excellent book! Thank you!

Daughters of Warsaw tells the incredible story of the men and women who risked their lives during ww2 to sneak children out of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. Now matter how often I read stories similar to this, the immense bravery never fails to inspire and shock me. Women are powerful. Revolution is powerful.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the arc. Expected publication date January, 2024.

Thanks net galley for this very moving story, loved it.
Lizzie is staying with her mother recovering from a miscarriage, and while searching in the attic she finds papers about her great grandma
Knowing very little about her family and her mother has little information she delves into the paper work to,find out about her.

Information comes to light about Warsaw and how the Germans were killing people and taking them to camps, she is asked by a work friend to join the resistance and from then on she worked hard to find out the people who needed help.
This was an amazing story I. Tracking down family members and knowing it’s never too late.

It is one of those books that transports you making you forget about real life and full of delightful characters that spring to life. I actually felt like I was there in the story with them ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is one of those books that breaks your heart while it warms your soul. Set in Warsaw in September 1943, it is the story of the social workers and nurses who smuggled medicine & food into the Jewish ghetto while smuggling children out. This is told in a dual timeline with Zofia during the war and her great-granddaughter, Lizzie, in present-day Seattle. Often with dual timelines, I prefer one over the other but in this book I found each to be equally compelling.

The majority of this story takes place over 5 desperate months in Warsaw, just prior to the Uprising. By 1943, the conditions inside the walled ghetto were horrific, rife with starvation, overcrowding, and disease. Thousands of Jews were being transported to Treblinka weekly. The life of the fictitious Zofia is woven with the very real one of a true hero, Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker. The bravery of these women against the Nazi regime was astounding as they repeatedly went into the ghetto disguised as nurses.

Lizzie is a teacher who has suffered multiple miscarriages which have led her to have doubts about her marriage and profession. While spending the summer with her parents, she discovers a few old photos of her great-grandmother, Zofia and they spark a passion to know more about her. Many readers will identify with Lizzie as she struggles to heal on a journey to understand who she is.

Zofia felt that "if she managed to help only one poor soul, it was a thousand times better than doing nothing." The consequence for hiding or even feeding a Jew was execution, often in public but it didn't stop these women. It is estimated that Irena Sendler and her 10 compatriots rescued 2,500 children from the ghetto but for every child saved, one hundred were sent to their deaths in Treblinka. It's way past time that the world learns this story and celebrates these courageous women. Reading and sharing this book is a good start.

I'm grateful to NetGalley & Avon Books UK for the digital ARC. All opinions & the review are my own.

Irena Sendler was an incredible and exceptional woman who rose above the horrors of WWII to show what true humanity is. It only makes sense to write a book with her as a secondary figure to highlight the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto without getting too bogged down into historical details. Sofia, the 1940s Polish Catholic woman striving to help Jewish children and families, was a great character who was able to show the struggle of helping out those in dire need while lying to her loved ones--and risking their lives along with hers. What I could have done without, however, was the tragic story of Lizzie, a teacher who could somehow afford a last-minute flight to Warsaw in the present day.

What was great about this book was the focus on Sofia, her struggles, and her triumphs alongside Irena Sendler and the rest of the Polish resistance fighters. I could not care less about Lizzie at all and found myself skimming the sections in her timeline--until we got toward the end and the two timelines met up.

A lot of WWII historical fiction has a strong story but pisspoor writing. I am always worried when I pick up a WWII historical fiction novel with an unfamiliar author that it will follow the same pattern: strong (true) story and terrible writing which makes me feel horrible for giving the book fewer stars than the story itself warrants. This book, however, has decent writing and a phenomenal story. Maria Frances seems to spend a bit of time telling rather than showing, but overall it's a good book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollinsUK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

“You know what they say: small but mighty.”

Author Maria Frances has spectacularly brought WW2 Warsaw to life, highlighting the efforts of the social workers/nurses who rescued Jewish children. Her novel, The Daughters of Warsaw, is inspired by Irena Sendler, a heroine of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Although this slice of history featuring the same characters has been recently written about by other prominent writers, Frances was able to maintain my interest and show me that she is certainly comfortable and equally competent in writing on the same topic. This book is worthy of all the stars.

Frances’ time slip novel allows readers to learn about Zofia Szczesny in the Warsaw 1942 timeline and Lizzie Marshall in the Seattle, present-day timeline. Zofia is a social worker in Warsaw and notices discrepancies when filing at work. This leads her to question her colleagues and eventually leads to her joining the Zegota (Polish underground resistance) to ensure that those in the sealed-off ghetto receive help. This gripping timeline captures the harrowing risks Poles undertook to bring medical supplies and food to their Jewish countrymen.

Lizzie Marshall, present day, has suffered multiple miscarriages and moved back to her family home. One day in the attic she discovers photos of her great-grandmother Zofia and it leads to some shocking revelations.

Readers will be reminded of how difficult it was at this time in history; the needless suffering, the loss of life…and at the same time, they’ll notice how so many heroes/heroines stepped up to do what they could. Frances’ message about ‘small but mighty’ reinforces the idea that we should never underestimate the power of one single person doing what they can for the right reasons. We need to empower each other with the knowledge that we CAN make a difference. Look what happened because little and insignificant-looking Irena Sendler made a decision - thousands were saved.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the largest form of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Frances’ book honors the work of those fighters who rebelled against Nazi forces and encourages us to stamp out indifference in the face of the rising hatred and violence today.

Spotlighting the concept that the seeds of hope for tomorrow are planted in our past, this novel, featuring the humanitarian work of the Poles is one every historical fiction enthusiast will want on their reading list this winter.

I was gifted this copy by Avon Books UK and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I have never read anything by this author before and was presently surprised! this was a fantastic story about a woman who risked everything to help the famous and courageous Irena Sendler to save Jewish children from Nazi extermination. It was a wonderful education about the bravery of ordinary people in those times, and an inside look into Irena Sendler. I enjoyed the historical aspect more than the contemporary, but the contemporary was also well-written. Anyone who loves WWII stories will love this one.

An interesting historical fiction with rich, likable, believable characters and a lovely setting.

Thank you to Maria Frances, NetGalley and Avon Books UK – Avon for the arc of this book.