"The Medallion" by Cathy Gohlke

Sophie Kumiega, a British librarian married to a Polish pilot, is trapped in Warsaw when the Nazis invade. As oppression sets in, she cannot turn her face away from the people needing her help. Rosa and Itzhak Dunovich did not expect their first baby to be born in the ghetto, or that circumstances would tear their family apart. When faced with saving her daughter's life by giving her up, Rosa cuts her wedding medallion in half, keeping one piece for herself and sending the other with her child, hopefully to reunite all after the war.

Though not without hope, this is a heavy and heart-breaking story, depicting the horrors of the war against the Polish people and Polish Jews, the slow strangling and starvation, and finally destruction. I did not anticipate part two of the story; for all the atrocities of war in part one, it was the post-war part that was the hardest for me to read, between the personal stories of the characters and the very real fact that for many in and from eastern Europe, the end of the war did not mean the end of oppression or a happy ending.

It's very good. For a story based on horrible atrocities, it does have a lot of hope, incredible courage, and wisdom--just don't expect a light and wholly happy read.

Winner of the 2020 Christy Award for Best Historical!

Thank you Tyndale House and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.