World War II we know was brutal based on the history books we may read in school or from our Grandparents stories of this time. And every time we read something new about the cruelty of this war we are brought back into this place of solemnity and powerlessness. We read stories from the survivors of the labor and death camps, soldiers in this war, the leadership and power on all ends of this time. It's brutal really but it's something that we must remember today. We can't forget the past we must learn from it.
Georgia Hunter's book 'We Were The Lucky Ones" is based on the true stories that she heard and researched about her own family. Her grandpa was a Jew who actually was in France when Poland was overtaken by Hitler and his hometown turned into a bloody and depressing place where his family was forced from their homes and into the ghetto and ultimately separated for nearly 8 years.
This meant years without being able to contact one another and let each other know they were alive; years of having to just assume their siblings and in Mila's case (one of the sisters we read in the book) to assume her husband had died in the war just so she could keep going and fighting for her and her infant child's life.
Georgia Hunter's work is one of the best you will read about what is was like for Jews before, during, and after the war was finished.
Between chapters which are titled by the name of the sibling she focused the chapter on, Georgia adds bits of facts about where the war was at at the time of this character's journey. She was able to connect all these siblings and parents stories together beautifully through the date at which the characters experienced each event.
And the characters are truly based on people in her family; her Great-Grandparents, her Grandma and Grandpa, her Great-Aunts and Great-Uncles, cousins are all part of it. This book wasn't written just so people would buy her work, it was written because she had it on her heart to write down these stories and events her family was sharing. She knew she needed to keep these stories alive even after her loved ones are gone.
"We Were the Lucky Ones" is a beautiful story dedicated to a family who through the hardest and most inhumane of the human existence, stayed true to one another and fought to survive and return to one another, no matter what. Packed with actions, destruction, love, and above all hope, "We Were the Lucky Ones" is a must read!
