{"id":38565,"date":"2021-02-15T14:38:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T18:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38565"},"modified":"2021-02-15T14:38:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T18:38:49","slug":"review-of-the-light-in-hidden-places-by-sharon-cameron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38565","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Light in Hidden Places, by Sharon Cameron"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Light in Hidden Places<\/em><\/p>\n

by Sharon Cameron<\/p>\n

Scholastic Press, 2020. 391 pages.
\nReview written October 24, 2020, from a library book
\nStarred Review
\n2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n\t#10 General Teen Fiction<\/p>\n

The Light in Hidden Places<\/em> is a Holocaust novel, so don\u2019t pick it up if you want something cheery. The book tells a true story, though, which gives you hope that the main character is going to come through. In fact, if I hadn\u2019t known it was based on a true story, there was no way I would have believed the characters survived many of the things that happened in this book. If the author had invented them, I would have said it was way over the top with the danger.<\/p>\n

The story is of Fusia, a Catholic teenage Polish girl who gets a job in the shop of a Jewish family in 1939 while living in town with her sisters. When the Russians come and her home is bombed, she ends up living with the Jewish family. But the Germans are next, and after awhile, they send the Jewish family to the ghetto. It seems like a safe place for them, and Fusia finds ways to get them food. No one really believes the rumors when some of them get sent on trains to work camps.<\/p>\n

As the war goes on, Fusia tries to visit her family on the farm, and finds them gone (sent to a different labor camp in Salzburg), but her young sister Helena alone there and starving. She takes Helena back to the town. And then she gets asked to hide one of the brothers from her Jewish family, for just one night. One night stretches out. She ends up hiding more people. I won\u2019t even say how many Jews she ends up hiding because it seems impossible.<\/p>\n

As the war goes on, the chance that Fusia and Helena will be able to keep these people hidden \u2013 while also healthy and not starving \u2013 gets worse and worse. For some of the time, there are even Nazis living under the same roof. The tension is high, and once I got more than halfway through, I couldn\u2019t stop reading. I kept thinking they couldn\u2019t possibly get through the next crisis.<\/p>\n

And the story is all true. Photographs and the Author\u2019s Note at the back give us details. But the author makes it all feel immediate and gripping. This isn\u2019t dry and dusty history at all.<\/p>\n

sharoncameronbooks.com<\/a>
\nIreadYA.com<\/a>
\nscholastic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/light_in_hidden_places.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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