5 comments about Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge (P.S.).

1. one of the funniest and most interesting books i have ever read. i would highly recommend this book. think of it as a sassy history of monarchs.



2. this author make history something you want to read.i can't wait for her next book.



3. I couldn't wait to read this book, but when I saw the photo of the author in a costume, I started to worry. Very interesting subject material, but the organization made me crazy - people kept jumping back and forth in time, I felt as if I were reading the same story over and over again. And yes, some of the stories were fascinating, but the book seemed like an overlong magazine article. Very disappointing.



4. I was very excited to pick up Sex with Kings as a juicy read. It was definitely juicy, and the subject matter was extremely interesting, but Ms. Herman's writing style was redundant and torturous. The chapters are thematic, so you will cover more or less the same king's mistresses in each chapter, again and again and again. I would rather have read this as short biographical sketches of most of these women. The book feels very disjointed to me, but like I said, the material is extremely interesting. I just wish it had been presented better.



5. My mom gave me this book and told me I had to read it. I did, even though it's not a subject I've really been that interested in. Imagine my surprise, I was so engrossed in this book, I finished it in a few days. I found the interaction of kings, queens, mistresses, and everyone else just fascinating and very surprising. I'd reccommend this for someone who doesn't have a huge interest in royal history, it will entertain you just the same.

No comments about Ladies of the Night: A Historical and Personal Perspective on the Oldest Profession in the World.

1 comments about The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary".

1. Mary I of England (1516-1558), the elder daughter of Henry VIII, has long been overshadowed by her younger half-sister Elizabeth. As it happens, Mary's "Bloody" reputation is a construct of the following era, due largely to John Foxe and encouraged by Elizabeth herself. But many of the successes of the Elizabethan period, resulting in economic prosperity and flourishing of the arts, were actually continuations of Mary's reforms and policies. One of Elizabeth's advantages was sheer longevity, together with the country remaining Protestant. As a result, historians have traditionally had a rather foreshortened view of Mary's reign.
   
   In her new biography, Linda Porter aims to rehabilitate Mary as a good and competent monarch overall, and as a pioneer among reigning queens. Porter sets out by explaining the woman that Mary became, examining the people and events that shaped her life--especially her increasingly complicated family and its drama. The resulting depiction of Mary, generally convincing and well written, is a worthy addition to historical studies of the Tudor era and queens regnant.
   
   From her mother Katherine of Aragon, Mary learned at an impressionable age that "conscience was the most important justification for behaviour that anyone could make." Katherine refused to step out of the way for Henry's dynastic concerns--she wouldn't even countenance retiring to a nunnery, though Henry, by declaring their marriage invalid from the beginning, actually foreclosed that option. Because Henry divorced Katherine in the end, Mary had to be declared illegitimate.
   
   Strangely--or naively--Henry didn't think that displacing Mary in this way would affect her negatively. But for the young lady who had yielded precedence within the kingdom only to her parents, being uprooted from her (as she saw it) God-given place was simply inconceivable. She objected to any perceived affront, and Henry in his lenience only made the matter worse by not forcing her obedience right away. "The delay raised false hopes and developed in her a pattern of opposition based on conscience and self-identity, where suffering almost became a goal in itself."
   
   Anne Boleyn's jealousy towards Mary grew as the king's divorce dragged on, and in 1531 she became so defensive ("Did she fear that Mary could still salvage her parents' marriage?") that she didn't allow Mary at court at Christmas. Even after Henry married Anne, Mary refused to recognize her as queen, and their encounters always degenerated into rudeness and reprisals. The moral victory was always Mary's:
   "A more subtle woman [than Anne] might have considered outmanoeuvring Mary by occasionally bringing her to court, treating her with kindness and consideration and letting her show the world that, if she continued to defy her father, she was just a sulky, jealous child and a disobedient daughter. The new queen, who liked to be the centre of attention, feared Mary too much to follow such a strategy."
   
   After Anne's death (which Mary may have helped bring about indirectly) and a brief euphoric period in which Mary thought she would be restored to her former position, Henry finally forced his older daughter to submit and acknowledge her reduced status. Mary endured another fifteen years of subjection, first to her father (although she got along quite well with Catherine Parr, her last stepmother) and then to her half-brother Edward VI, whose tolerance of her Catholic observance did not last.
   
   Against the background of this understanding of Mary's character, the events of the last six years of her life fall into place: She rose up with the support of the people to triumph over John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who would have ruled in the name of his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey. She resumed the practice of the traditional religion, whose beauty and mystery most people probably missed (Northumberland even reverted to the Catholic faith, a huge propaganda victory for the new regime). She married Philip of Spain somewhat reluctantly, it seems, and made it clear that her motherly relationship to her people would take priority. She encouraged trade and reformed the currency that both her father and brother had debased. As for her sobriquet, the level of violence in her regime, although inexcusable to modern sensibilities, was similar to other early modern regimes. And when her poor health finally overtook her, she brought about a smooth transition to the next regime by acknowledging Elizabeth as her heir.
   
   Only in the last thirty years or so has Mary I has been rehabilitated and recognized for her own accomplishments, by a series of favorable (but not hagiographic) biographers starting with David Loades (newer version), and continuing with Carolly Erickson, J. A. Froude, and others. Porter's biography is not just the latest of these, but also one of the best, with an admirable level of detail and accuracy (especially in the characterizations of supporting figures like Catherine Parr). It is a riveting book, and I finished it with the sense that the traditional smears had been peeled back to reveal something of the pivotal ruler that Mary actually was.

5 comments about Composing a Life.

1. I really wanted to love this book. It came highly recommended. The first 15 pages were great--I thought this would be a seminal read. But then things took a nosedive. Ultimately, this book felt to me like a self-indulgent intellectual ramble, and excuse for author to vent her bitterness toward Amherst College and get even by airing her story. (Which she has every right to do, but I thought I was reading a different book.) In the end, my only takeaway is that wearing multiple hats, perhaps in succession, can be a positive thing. I still don't understand what the plight of the homeless has to do with figurative improvisation. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough to appreciate the nuances--but I definitely didn't. Original? Yes. Uplifting/inspiring? Nope. I really tried!



2. I agree with the previous reviewers that mentioned the scope of the book is narrow focused, in that it certainly deals with the life of 5 successful women all middle to upper class. Still, if you are in the situation of dealing with multiple tasks at the same time - and so many women nowadays are, independent of the country where they live or how they came into it - this book is really helpful in giving a different and flexible approach to the way we ought to view our career and marriage choices, and what not to think when faced with adversity.
   The novelty for me (and the help in it) was the author's approach in the fluidity of our choices, and how deleterious the idea that we should always be doing the same thing (job, marriages, etc.) might be. The main point of the book is that change and fluidity are the normal standards for a succesfull and fulfilling life in the 20 (21) century, and how the idea of always doing the same thing for the rest of one's life is generally doomed to failure. So, the author focuses on the changes these women have made to come to terms with their (very succesfull)lifes. Very interesting read.



3. This book was, I'm sure, timely 20 years ago, but you will struggle to get anything out of it this day in age. Plus, the author states in the introduction that she is not bitter about her time at Amherst, but the text of the book makes her seem extremely bitter.



4. This book examines the lives of five of the author's friends, all highly educated, high-achieveing women from the East Coast who went through the normal ups and downs of life that the rest of us share. It is well written, but the focus is so tight--how many of us get entangled with academic politics at elite Eastern colleges?--that is tells more about the writer and her choice of similar friends than about the rest of us. It does a fine job of focusing on issues of gender and race of 20 years ago.



5. How refreshing - a book about 5 entrepreneurial women who had 'normal' lives - marriages, children, divorce, earning an advanced degree in their 40's! This is real life - and each of the stars in this book invited life to get in the way rather than lamenting how life's events prohibited achievement of dreams, goals and aspirations.
   
   A great read for every woman contemplating her future!
   
   Susan Bock
   Business Coach
   Susan Bock Solutions
   [...]

5 comments about Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932).

1. Well written but boring. I think watching paint dry would be more entertaining than reading this book. I never made it to the end.



2. Anais Nin and Henry Miller are minor writers, the former considerably more minor than the latter. However, I daresay Anais Nin is more widely read nowadays than is Henry Miller. The interest in them is gosspiy - that whole Americans in Paris in the thirties schlock - and nicely seasoned by the erotic. This book is actually a rather revolting self-portrait of a self-obsessed woman with too much time on her hands. Her writing is Lawrence without the passion for truth, and her living is all words. Everything is affect. There seems not an ounce of tenderness in her. She (and this book) is cold and false.



3. From the very first few pages you know that you have entered a fascinating world -- if you are reading these reviews and haven't yet purchased the book, don't wait any longer. It's an easy read -- you should be able to read it in one setting -- maybe one weekend, and you may be totally transformed in the way you think about human relationships.
   
   I would recommend starting with Nin's edited diaries (Vol I: 1931 - 1934) and Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" before reading "Henry and June."
   
   "Henry and June" covers only one year, perhaps the most important year in her life, and is clearly her "coming-of-age" year.
   
   For those who are troubled by Nin's infidelities and lies, one turns to the answer Marcel Proust gave on a questionnaire during his adolescence: "For what fault have you the most toleration?" "For the private life of geniuses."



4. A very honest account of a very dishonest period in Nin's life. Highly entertaining, at times liberating (at least for women) and often times very scary (mostly for men). Psychologically fascinating! Interesting peak into Henry Miller's life.



5. Read this interspaced with Tropic of Cancer. You find a more accurate image of Henry Miller's second wife/muse June this way.
   
   I love Nin's work, especially the vast prose of House of Incest. However, at this point in her writing, I just see her clutching copies of D.H. Lawrence's works and using her sexuality to figure out the rest.
   
   I empathize more with the June who inspired the myths, rather than the sanquinary authors lusting after her degredation and ruin. . .and lastly, her love.
   
   Nin was a rebirth to water in terms of literature and her timeframe on earth, but she was flawed. However she was never destroyed by her flaws. A psychic vampire way beyond Warhol proportions, I still adore her.
   
   This is just my vision of the artist. Don't be lazy. Read for yourself. Research in spite of what you read.

5 comments about Abigail Adams: A Biography.

1. Abigail Adams was an amazing woman in so many ways - a conservative feminist (before the word "feminist" was in popular use), and a woman who was unashamedly and passionately in love with her husband when such things weren't generally discussed. Despite her professed lack of education, Abigail's letters were erudite, eloquent and got right to the point in an era where legalese and dense language were the norm. Her understanding and interest in politics was nothing short of astounding (at times I think she had a keener understanding of the issues than her husband did).
   
   Ms. Levin's painstaking research is apparent in every page of this meticulously crafted volume, and she should be very proud of her accomplishment in bringing someone who left us almost 200 years ago to vivid, blooming life.
   
   This is an excellent companion to David McCullough's "John Adams," and should be required reading for anyone, especially any woman, who is interested in American history.



2. A wonderful and indept biography about Abigail Adams. On her own she's a very fascinating person and one of the first pioneers for women's equality hoping the newly formed United States would including women being made equal too. Its was interesting learning more about her. Her childhood, msrriage, children, the years of being alone raising her children and trying to support her family while John was away with meeting with the Congress or sent to France and her experiences being first lady. She was a remarkable lady.



3. I am an avid fan of biography, and I found this one to be OK. It was certainly informative, but there was little information here that can't be found in David McCullough's book on Abigail's husband John. Abigail is a true heroine of American history, and certainly deserves her own study, I just wish there was a bit more here. In McCullough's book both John and Abigail are so well drawn that it basically leaves this work as a side note. Pick this one up if you just want more on this dynamic, rare political woman who was opinionated and at the same time develop a true partnership with her husband.



4. At last, a well written, well researched book on one of America's most fascinating ladies, Abigail Adams. Based on carefully interjected original research and letters, this book provides a long needed look at the issues and challenges that faced Abigail Adams. The author portrays her as a woman, very much in love with her husband, very much in love with her country, and very willing to try to balance the needs of both. It is striking to realize how totally independent she became in financial affairs, and in domestic issues. The book reminds you of the challenges of communications and distance. It also makes you aware of the personal sacrifices this family made for the young, emerging nation. The focus of the book is on Abigail, but sufficient information on the political events and political players is provided. An excellent look at a very important person. Don't miss it if you enjoy this period of history and are anxious to understand more about its key players.



5. Abigail Adams by Phyllis Lee Levin is an excellent companion work for David McCullough's John Adams.

   Throughout life Abigail and John were inseparable, best of friends, and each others life. Through circumstances John was away in the service of forming a government and the duties to a new nation, but Abigail was not far from his heart, nor he from hers.

   We see an unabated ardor in her for her "Best Friend" in life. Abigail Adams saw and wrote with clarity about the time leading to and after the Revolutionary War, and events following and her humanity. We have a unique perspective of the life and times of this period through her eyes written for posterity through her letters to a variety of people surrounding her life.

   Not since Barbara Bush, has a woman been both a wife and mother to a President of the United States, even though she dies before John Quincy is elected. Abigail kept her family close to her heart and was the one to keep the family together and the family homestead viable in John's absence.

   This is a well written book, solid in research, flowing prose and good details. This book captures Abigail Adams and shows us her intellegence and her perceptiveness of the events of her times. She wrote letters to Jefferson and had comments about all of the people, albeit caustic or poignant, close to John's work and life.

   She loved John and missed him greatly when he was away, her letters attest to that, but when she was at his side both flourished. This book gives us a great insight into how Abigail was as a woman and how she coped with private and public life.

   I recommend reading and enjoying this book.

5 comments about Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother.

1. Peggy Orenstein's articulate prose is as "gorgeous" as her mucous:-). (She was frequently told by medical people that her cervical mucous was "gorgeous".) In this wry, intensely personal, beautifully told tale, she presents us with a cautionary tale of modern life that can be summed up as "Don't put off having children." I began to feel somewhat constrained as I turned the pages of her compelling story, thinking I had judged her too harshly in my review of her book "Flux"(available on my profile page, page 36 of reviews, dated December 6, 2000). In this current book, she writes briefly of her upbringing in a Conservative Jewish family, and of how she felt her mother's life was severely limited, strictly contained by old ideas of a woman's role. (I was born into a much freer, exuberant Scandinavian family full of educated, high achieving women who were also wise enough to know (1) they wanted children and (2) the time to have them was when they were young.)



2. I struggled with this book. How could someone go through all the procedures, expense, marital strife, and anxiety and NOT still be certain that they wanted to be a parent? Her descriptions of the escalating nature of infertility treatments were fascinating, but they could not overcome her descriptions regarding her ambivalence toward parenthood. I think her husband is a saint. I wonder what the people in Hiroshima think?



3. I'm in my 30's, but I'm not planning to have kids. I happened to have a chance to borrow this book, and I'm glad I did. Orenstein's writing style was so honest and engaging, I'm going to seek out more of her work.
   
   As others have noted, Orenstein shares everything about her fertility journey - especially the bad and the ugly. It was very brave of her, and I imagine it will be very useful to people trying to conceive. I found it refreshing to read about her ambivalence towards wanting children at all, and even now, towards how she arrived at parenthood at last and how it has affected her life. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about her Orthodox Jewish friend who had 15 children. That was a slice of life I wouldn't have gotten to learn about otherwise.
   
   As an adopted person (from outside the US, as it happens,) I was not offended by her reluctance to adopt, as some other readers were. The decision to adopt is very personal, and I thought Orenstein's misgivings were perfectly natural. Besides, they did try to adopt a little boy in the end, but one petty bureaucrat made it impossible for them to bring him home. After five years of trying to become parents, one couldn't blame Orenstein and her husband for cutting their losses at that point.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone, whether they were trying to become parents or not.



4. I REALLY enjoyed this book! It helped me to relax more as I went through my journey that lasted several years & I'm so proud to say has FINALLY come to an end! We're pregnant! Her writing is wonderful & the book took me to world's I'd never been to. It was so helpful to see how another woman had struggled with this awful disease & how she made it through with a happy ending...it gave me great hope & helped ease my tension considerably. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling through Infertility or anyone who knows someone who's struggling. GREAT book...fantastic author with a big heart & a great sense of humor!



5. This book was exactly what I needed to read after struggling with pregnancies and feeling pretty alone in that. It is an amazing story of hope and loss that will -- sorry for the cliche -- make you laugh and make you cry. I highly recommend it!

5 comments about Out of Mormonism: A Woman's True Story.

1. This book makes so many wild claims about Mormonism, I am surprised anyone can take it seriously.
   The author is a bitter and vengeful woman who willingly became involved in a religion that she didn't even believe in the first place and eventually left because she could not handle her commitments. She uses extremely misinterpreted Bible verses to back up her beliefs that the Mormon church is untrue. On top of this, she creates an anti-Mormon organization with the intent to indoctrinate Christians with false beliefs about the Mormon church - AND her family's income comes out of this organization ... hmmmmm.
   The book falsely claims that Mormons believe that God has multiple wives, that woman's duty on Earth is to have as many babies as possible, that God literally impregnated Mary, and that God is progressive and changing. All of these are untrue statements and I wonder how she could possibly believe those things, having been an LDS member for 7 years.
   The overall tone is sarcastic, spiteful and condescending to the Mormon way of life from page 1. The writing is so forced and the dialog so unnatural that I believe she has made up a lot of conversations that take place in the book.
   I can't help wondering if God would want one of his children to be so negative and hateful to a group of good people who mean harm to no one.
   
   If you are curious about the Mormon church, then please attend church services or read the Book of Mormon. This woman has an agenda and it makes me incredibly sad to know that people may believe her writings.



2. Ths exposes the secret Mormon teachings which the neatly--dressed Brighamite missionaries will not tell you about. They're instructed "meat before milk" so, they won't tell you the surreal teachings, which diverge wildly from traditional Christianity, such as (1)the idea that a man may become Exalted and get to be a God ruling his own planet, while he and his wife or wives get to crank out Spirit Children to inhabit the human bodies on the planet. Nor (2)the idea that God was once such a man. (This (2) is in direct contradiction to Bible passages such as: "the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change." --James 1:17 (NAB))
   
   The book documents each unusual teaching it exposes with authoritative references to books by Brighamite LDS "Church" officials. such as "Apostle" Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine, and the collected sermons of Church President Joseph Fielding Smith: Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings. Another good reference is Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith
   
   It was fascinating; I couldn't put it down.
   
   It has inspired me to do Bible reading more frequently. Thank you, Judy.



3. This story is fine as long as you keep in mind that it is just one woman's perspective. I also grew up Mormon and left the church when I was 27. I do not share her ideas that Mormons are worshipping Lucifer and are a part of a cult. I know them to be good people who are very much living for God. Her descriptions of rituals are all right on as are her feelings a woman goes through as she tries to maintain the perfection the church requires. But not all of us go from Mormon to born-again Christian - so this book is probably for you if you are headed to born-again Christianity.



4. I want everyone who is teeter-tottering on whether the LDS church is for them or not to understand this story.
   
   Forget JS marrying a bunch of teenagers, forget about the uneasy history of Mormonism, forget about DNA and the Book of Mormon, and the contradicting doctrines. All churches have these things in common to some degree.
   
   The most screwed up thing about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the way it treats it's own members and families. It claims to be pro family, but it splits up families and screws with people's lives. It makes them pay large sums of money in order to see a loved one's wedding. It takes, and takes, and takes. Whether it is your time, money, or sanity. It sucks you dry and does not give back anything of value except some pipe dream of a perfect afterlife. An afterlife which the church makes you feel is impossible to obtain, and uses this to heap unnecessary guilt upon it's members.
   
   It's not the doctrine that makes the church a damaging cult. It's the way they screw their members over. Such as not letting a father attend his child's wedding unless he pays $4000 in back tithing. He had to get a bank loan to do this.



5. Not particularly riveting, as books go, but it is certainly good to read for one's self.
   
   If you were disappointed by this book, why not read what Thomas Stuart Ferguson wrote to the LDS church at the end of his career.

1 comments about Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression.

1. I have never been formally diagnosed with depression, yet like most people I guess, I have had spells of 'the blues' and feelings of melancholia at times. I have however a mother who has suffered from manic depression all her life and my second wife has been in the same boat for the past five years.
   
   Sally Brampton's book is high on my recommended list. Written with honesty, clarity and humor, it certainly gives a most important insight in to what it must be like to be seriously depressed.
   
   There are many books on depression out there. This one gets is.

5 comments about Alicia.

1. I just finished another very painful but interesting and shocking memoirs in "Thanks to my Mother" by Shoshana Rabinovici and started this book. It's absolutely shocking and heroic struggle to do everything possible to survive day-by-day and minute-by-minute the Systematic Nazi Plan to annihilate the Jewish People.
   Highly highly recommend to every one who is interested in Holocaust and to everybody to read and to learn what was really WWII about.



2. An avid reader of Holocaust memoirs, I found "Alicia" an unforgettable story of survival.
   
   Only a child at the onset of World War II in her native Poland, Alicia Jurman soon lost both her parents and all four brothers -- murdered, in different ways, for one reason, being Jewish. It was only through a strange destiny that young Alicia kept surviving herself -- once being pushed through a gap in a train window, heading for a concentration camp; another time, falling unconscious and being presumed dead by the Nazis, only to be rescued by an astute and caring Jewish gravedigger.
   
   Yet even when a person is at her lowest, she can always find others even worse off. It would have been easy for Alicia to say she had nothing left to give; yet even during the most destitute and desperate of times, she shared food and supplies with other Holocaust survivors.
   
   It was also this loving attitude that made Alicia take action after the war, when she noticed a number of starving orphaned children roaming city streets. Only 15 and an orphan herself, Alicia took it upon herself to establish a Jewish "orphanage," moving some 24 youths aged 10 to 15 into a vacated apartment and securing financial help to get their new lives underway.
   
   Still a teenager, Alicia eventually sought refuge in Israel. But, as always, problems arose...
   
   Alicia Jurman is a modern-day hero, guaranteed to inspire readers for generations to come.



3. This eye witness account of the holocaust in Poland is so horrific it would be too depressing to read, if it weren't for the author's lucid, straight forward prose. Alicia Jurman was 13 years old when she fought for survival against literally impossible odds in southeastern Poland and witnessed the destruction of her entire family, friends and neighbors. Her survival was accomplished through truly incredible pluck, strength of character, resourcefulness, and unbelievable good luck.
   We already know (or should know) all about the horrors of the holocaust: the depth of depravity to which the human soul can sink; and we know that to forget this worst of all possible nightmares is to face another genocide in our lifetime (we already have in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, and elsewhere).
   What distinguishes "Alicia: My Story" despite the unspeakable horror is this horror as viewed through the eyes of a girl who simply refuses to give in and give up. She is an amazingly strong girl who used everything she had to survive. And she tells the story in a matter of fact way that propels the narrative forward and keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next.
   If one has never been exposed to what went on during World War Two, this excellent book is the perfect place to start.



4. Raised from the age of five in Buczacz, which was roughly a third Jewish at that time, Alicia was sheltered relatively well from the anti-Semitism that plagued her town, as well as the rest of Europe. She had many friends, both Jewish and Christian.
   After the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, whereby the two genocidal dictators divided Poland between them, Buczacz fell into the Soviet zone. The Soviets began a forced Sovietization drive, and deported thousands of people to slave labour, or their deaths, who they saw as 'enemies of the Soviet Union'.Alicia recalls being offended and hurt, on behalf of her Christian friends, for whose religion she had deep respect, when the Madonna and Child were removed from their customary spot in the classroom and replaced by scowling portraits of Lenin and Stalin.
   Alicia's second-oldest brother Moshe was shot by the Soviets after returning to Poland, from the harsh conditions in Russia, where he had gone for education.
   In June 1941, the Germans broke their pact with the Soviets and swept through eastern Poland on their way to Russia - Operation Barbarossa had begun. The Germans, however, had an even worse plan than the Soviets had had for Europe's Jews: it was known as Endlosung (aka The Final Solution).
   
   Alicia's father was shot, alongside 600 other Jewish community leaders, shortly after the Nazi invasion.
   Alicia, and her mother and brothers were forced to leave their beautiful home, and to settle in the ghetto.
   They lived under harsh laws whereby Jews were forced to wear armbands with stars of David.
   Jews who tried to leave the ghetto or to enter the synagogue would be executed.
   Alicia's brother Bunion was then executed by the Nazis.
   
   While visiting a Jewish family in the town, 12 year old Alicia was arrested by the Nazis along with thousands of other Jews, but escaped from the train to the death camps, together with a band of other young people.
   After Alicia's brother Zachary was shot by the Nazis She swore on his grave that if she survived she would speak for her silenced family.
   This book is a powerful and unforgettable fulfilment of that oath.
   It keeps us engaged and emotionally involved on every page, as we read of her struggle to survive, her irrepressible spirit, her many brushes with death. She never gave up her will to survive nor her humanity for fellow victims of the Nazis, many of whom she helped to rescue, many of whom died before her eyes.
   She witnessed such horrors as babies being shot in their cribs by the Nazis.
   While many of the Polish and Ukrainian neighbours helped the Nazis and joined in the killings, there were always those few that helped to keep their Jewish fellow humans alive, including a Polish family on whose farm Alicia worked.
   After the war, Alicia's struggle was not over.
   She was imprisoned by the Soviets and took part in the secret operation to smuggle Jews to the Land of Israel, across Europe, at a time when the British were keeping the Holocaust survivors out, often with brutal and violent methods reminiscent of the Nazis themselves.
   Alicia was on the ship Theodor Herzl, carrying young Holocaust survivors to Israel, in 1946, when it was rammed by British frigates, after which British soldiers then boarded the ship and attacked the survivors, beating to death six young Jews and allowing others to drown while trying to escape.
   This courageous girl, had struggled as part of the Jewish nation against three ruthless empires.



5. I read a lot of Holocaust-related stories in middle school. As morbid as it sounds, they were so interesting, and so heartbreaking to read. There are quite a few more still sitting in my closet that I could review, but this was my favorite, and probably the one that got me into the topic. A really great story, particularly because it's a true one.