The Woman with the Blue Star: A Novel

Pam Jenoff

May 2021 · Sold by Harlequin

About this ebook

"An emotional novel that you will never forget." —Lisa Scottoline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eternal

From the author of The Lost Girls of Paris comes a riveting tale of courage and unlikely friendship during World War II -- Now a New York Times bestsller!

1942. Sadie Gault is eighteen and living with her parents in the Kraków Ghetto during World War II. When the Nazis liquidate the ghetto, Sadie and her pregnant mother are forced to seek refuge in the perilous tunnels beneath the city. One day Sadie looks up through a grate and sees a girl about her own age buying flowers.

Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding.

Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds. Inspired by incredible true stories, The Woman with the Blue Star is an unforgettable testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive.

Highly recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, CNN, BookTrib, Goodreads, Betches, AARP, Frolic, SheReads, and more!

Don’t miss Pam Jenoff’s new novel, Code Name Sapphire, a riveting tale of bravery and resistance during World War II.


Read these other sweeping epics from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff:

The Lost Girls of Paris

The Orphan’s Tale

The Ambassador’s Daughter

The Diplomat’s Wife

The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach

The Kommandant’s Girl

The Winter Guest

Ratings and reviews

The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff, grabbed me from page one, keeping me hostage until I finished reading it, later that day. I will warn you to keep a box of tissues nearby while reading this book. This is more than a survival story during the Holocaust; it is a story of connections, courage, remembrance and an unlikely friendship. It is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery in the face of evil. Taking place during the 1942 Nazi assaults on the Jews of Kraków, eighteen year old Sadie Gault is forced to seek refuge in the dangerous tunnels beneath the city with her pregnant mother and another family. Peering through a sewer grate, Sadie catches a glimpse of a girl her age buying flowers. Ella Stepanek, an affluent Polish girl, is living well along with her stepmother, who has built close alliances with the occupying Germans. While on an errand in the market, Ella sees something moving beneath a grate in the street. When she looks more closely, she realizes it’s a girl hiding. Ella begins to help Sadie and these two become close, but as the dangers of war worsen, their lives are set on a dangerous path that will test them, especially in the face of overwhelming odds. Ms. Jenoff wrote a tale, inspired by amazing true stories, that is an unforgettable testament to the power of friendship and the extraordinary strength of the human will to survive. It is a journey of twists, turns, displays of bravery, and love that in unforgettable. I highly recommend The Woman with the Blue Star, a must read, to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Words do not begin to describe how much I love this book. Especially the end, I read those last two chapters over and over and over.

a fantastic and moving read.

About the author

Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction, including the NYT bestsellers The Lost Girls of Paris and The Woman with the Blue Star. She holds a degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her J.D. from UPenn. She lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia, where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.