The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron (review)

This novel, based on Stefania Podgórska's real tribulations in Przemyśl, Poland during German occupation in World War II, charts Stefania's life from ages thirteen to nineteen as the Catholic girl goes to great extremes to hide her Jewish friends and neighbors. Stefania begins by sneaking food to the ghettos and works her way up to buying an apartment in which she harbors thirteen Jews, hiding them from her landlord, the Polish police, the Gestapo, and coworkers at the twelve-hourshift job where she earns wages used entirely to feed the horde living in her home. Cameron's novel is heartbreakingly real in its attention to detail and its ability to pack emotional punches, as characters frequently die (and in a particularly brutal scene, Stefania's eight-year-old sister is beaten by police as Stefania listens). Readers feel stress alongside Stefania as she navigates the rules, sneaks around in forbidden areas, and tricks those around her, constantly risking exposure. An author's note includes pictures of the people in the story, information about their lives after the events, and sources for the text including Stefania's own unfinished memoir and testimony from living relatives.