The Warsaw Sisters by Amanda Barratt

The Warsaw Sisters
by Amanda Barratt

ISBN-13: 9780800741716
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: November 7, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
On an August morning in 1939, sisters Antonina and Helena Dąbrowska send their father off to defend Poland against the looming threat of German invasion. The next day, the first bombs fall on Warsaw, decimating their beloved city and shattering the world of their youth.

When Antonina's beloved Marek is forced behind ghetto walls along with the rest of Warsaw's Jewish population, Antonina joins a network of women risking their lives to shelter Jewish children. Helena finds herself drawn into the ranks of Poland's secret army, joining the fight to free her homeland from occupation. But secrets threaten to tear the sisters apart and the cost of resistance proves greater than either ever imagined.


My Review:
The Warsaw Sisters is a tragedy about Warsaw and all that its people lost in 1939-1945. The focus throughout was on the death and destruction and on what was happening on the Warsaw level more than about the sisters. Most chapters were full of one of the sisters thinking about what had happened to Warsaw since the last date/chapter or what she remembered from before the war or what she'd someday remember about the preset moment. It's a lot of thinking and introspection with only a few scenes with suspenseful action.

For the first part of the story (about 100 pages), the sisters were hard to tell apart. Helena worked for a German as a secretary and was pretty passive. Antonina loved a Jewish man that she knew would never propose to her, but she was flattered by his friendship. Once the Jews were forced into a ghetto, she foolishly risked her life to get in to see him and he told her to stop trying to see or write to him (for her own safety). She decided she hated him for rejecting her. Then she did the same thing to her sister, letting her think she was rejecting Helena while it was done to keep her safe. Antonina started housing smuggled Jewish children on their way to safety, but it felt like she did it to feel better about herself. There's only a couple of scenes with the children, though. Then we shifted focus to Helena running messages for the Polish hidden army, especially during its fight to free Warsaw.

Antonina had sex outside of marriage and had to deal with the results. About two-thirds of the way into the story, the sisters finally thought about God beyond their habitual church attendance. Antonina didn't think God cared about her before and certainly not after she felt like a sinner, but she did have a moment in a church where she felt God's presence. Helena couldn't see how God could be present amidst so much suffering. She briefly talked to a priest about it and finally decided God was present. Jesus wasn't really mentioned. There were no graphic sex scenes. There was no bad language. We're told in detail about the horrors done by the Germans, so the violence is somewhat graphic.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.