âShipman dazzles in this historical tour-de-force based on the real-life story of WWII Polish resistance fighter Irena Sendler . . . spellbinding." âPublishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Based on the gripping true story of an unlikely Polish resistance fighter who helped save thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, bestselling author James D. Shipmanâs Irenaâs War is a heart-pounding novel of courage in action, helmed by an extraordinary and unforgettable protagonist.
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September 1939: The conquering Nazis swarm through Warsaw as social worker Irena Sendler watches in dread from her apartment window. Already, the cityâs poor go hungry. Irena wonders how she will continue to deliver food and supplies to those who need it most, including the forbidden Jews. The answer comes unexpectedly.
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Dragged from her home in the night, Irena is brought before a Gestapo agent, Klaus Rein, who offers her a position running the cityâs soup kitchens, all to maintain the illusion of order. Though loath to be working under the Germans, Irena learns there are ways to defy her new employerâincluding forging documents so that Jewish families receive food intended for Aryans. As Irena grows bolder, her interactions with Klaus become more fraught and perilous.
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Klaus is unable to prove his suspicions against Irenaâyet. But once Warsawâs half-million Jews are confined to the ghetto, awaiting slow starvation or the death camps, Irena realizes that providing food is no longer enough. Recruited by the underground Polish resistance organization Zegota, she carries out an audacious scheme to rescue Jewish children. One by one, they are smuggled out in baskets and garbage carts, or led through dank sewers to safetyâevery success raising Klausâs ire. Determined to quell the uprising, he draws Irena into a cat-and-mouse game that will test her in every wayâand where the slightest misstep could mean not just her own death, but the slaughter of those innocents she is so desperate to save.
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