The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany

Poet and children’s author Strauss (The Hiding Days) delivers a brisk yet uneven group biography of nine women who resisted the Nazis in WWII. They include Hélène Podliasky, the author’s great aunt; Nicole Clarence, a Jewish radio operator; and Yvonne “Mena” Le Guillou, a French liaison with the Dutch resistance. Caught at various points in 1944, the women met (most for the first time) at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Sent to work at a munitions factory outside Leipzig, they sabotaged weapons as they plotted their escape. The chance came in April 1945, when their work camp was evacuated and its 5,000 prisoners were forced to march east. After hiding in a ditch, the women altered their clothing to appear more like refugees and trekked west, eventually encountering U.S. troops outside the village of Colditz. Strauss delves into the complications survivors faced in “returning to life,” and infuses the narrative with harrowing details about Ravensbrück and intriguing asides on her research process, but the nature of how and why close relationships developed between these nine women remains somewhat unclear. Still, fans of women’s and WWII history will be drawn to this deeply researched chronicle. Illust. (May)