The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

The Light in Hidden Places is a Young Adult Book written for ages 12 to 18. I will be reviewing this novel in the category of Historical Fiction.

The Light in Hidden Places tells the true story of Stefania Podgorska, a young Polish woman who succeeded in hiding 13 Jewish individuals in the home she shared with her young sister from the Nazi's final solution during World War II.

I chose to read this book because I always enjoy new stories and perspectives on World War II, and this book especially intrigued me because, though it is a work of fiction, it is rooted in the true heroics of Stefania Podgorska. Additionally, I enjoy reading adult books from Reese's Book Club, and so thought it would be worthwhile to read one of her club's YA selections.

In this review, I will be evaluating accuracy, tone, and tension.

The Light in Hidden Places chronicles the lives of Stefania, her younger sister Helena, and, with less detail, 13 other Jewish individuals living in Przemysl, Poland, from 1936 to 1944. While accuracy is essential in any work of historical fiction, it becomes paramount when an author is working not only with real events and settings but also with real people as characters. Because of this, Cameron did extensive research in writing this novel, including reading Stefania's unpublished memoirs, which were provided to her by Stefania's son, Ed Burzminski, and watching dozens of interviews that had previously been conducted with Stefania and her husband Joe. She also met and interviewed Helena Pogorska-Rudziak, Stefania's younger sister, and Krystyna Nawara, a woman who had been one of the individuals hidden by Stefania when she was a young girl. Additionally, Cameron traveled to Poland to see different locations where Stefania lived and traveled as a child and during World War II. In her author's note, Cameron writes "Since real life is not a novel, time and order of events got some tweaking...peripheral characters sometimes got combined into one... [and] gaps were filled, particularly where [Stefania's] emotions were concerned," making this book a work of historical fiction rather than a biography (Cameron, 2020, p. 385). However, she goes on to say that, except for 3 specific events, "every incident in this novel is how Stefania and Joe described it. It is a reimagining of what was" (Cameron, 2020, p. 385). Within the parameters of historical fiction, this book is a near-perfect combination of a well-researched history and an engaging, emotionally gripping narrative. Though the city of Przemysl was a new setting for me as a reader, I could see the city as I read, complete with its bombed-out apartment buildings and ever-shrinking ghetto. I could feel the fear of the city, the apathy that comes from living in fear for too long, and the hope that kept creeping into Stefania's life despite her hardships. I could empathize with Stefania, who chose to save Jews, as well as with her friends who chose not to. I could empathize with the Jewish people that Stefania sheltered, whose feelings and experiences ranged from feeling deep gratitude towards her to feeling resentment that the accommodations were not more generous. Cameron succeeded in the ultimate goal of any historical fiction writer by bringing me into Stefania's world and home and allowing me to live there through the pages of this book.

The Light in Hidden Places deals with the brutal truth of the Holocaust, and Cameron does not pull her punches. A hallmark of well-written historical fiction is to not sugarcoat history, and Cameron is brutally honest with her readers. She details families being gunned down in the streets, children being beaten, and men and women being tortured. Her tone is honest, always. While she is never grotesque or unnecessarily graphic, the horrors of living under Nazi rule in Poland are on full display. This respect for the reader in The Light in Hidden Places led me to hold this novel in higher regard than many other World War II novels that I have read which were written for youth because there is a tendency among authors and publishers to hide some of the darker moments of history from young readers. However, I personally would rate the reading age for this book as 14 to 18, because of some of the mature content in the book. Having said this, trusting in her readers' maturity and wisdom serves Cameron well, and makes her retelling of Stefania's life a gem in a sea that often seems to be overflowing with stories from World War II.

Finally, Cameron masterfully uses tension to move Stefania's story forward. Stefania's life from 1940 to 1944 was dominated by moments of terror as well as a constant underlying threat of danger and death. Thus, even with the reader knowing the ending of the story, which is that Stefania succeeds in saving 13 lives, as well as her own and her sisters, there is still a fearful tone throughout the book. The reader is constantly waiting for Stefania to be caught, because Stefania is constantly waiting to be caught. She suffers many near-misses, and repeats variations of the same sentiment, that today is the day they all die, like a chorus throughout the book, with increased frequency as the novel nears its close. Cameron paces Stefania's run-ins with the SS and Polish Police to keep the story moving forward, always keeping the reader engaged and hoping that Stefania will again, against all odds, succeed. This tone of fear and anticipation is broken up with moments of relief when Stefania succeeds at the impossible, humor, like when she boils her yarn inside her dinner to keep Nazi occupiers from stealing her soup, a true love story between Stefania and Max, one of her hidden Jews (who later changes his name to Joe and becomes her husband), and even moments of joy as Stefania, Helena, and the 13 find light within the darkest of seasons. The pacing and mood within The Light in Hidden Places push the novel forward, creating a full and satisfying story worthy of the incredible woman who it memorializes, and the 15 lives she preserved through the duration of German occupation during WWII.

Cameron, S. (2020). The light in hidden places. Scholastic Inc.

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