Shannon's Library

LET’S GET EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK!

At the onset of World War II, the Kurc family was living a comfortable, happy life in Radam, Poland. As the horrors threatening the Jewish population in Europe creep into their lives, the journey that this family embarks on to survive is absolutely extraordinary. The courage, resilience and faith of this entire family is truly inspiring. From the sunny shores of Brazil, to the frozen wasteland of Siberia – the journey these family members take in their quest for survival is one that should not be missed!

Shannon’s Rating — R (The only reason this book would probably be given a R rating if it was a movie is because it contained 5 uses of the f-word. Other than that, everything pretty mild.)

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LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!

I’m a big fan of historical fiction. No surprise, really, considering I graduated from college with a degree in history. But I can track my beginning love of history and historical fiction back to 1982. I know. That’s very precise! But that’s the year Voyagers came out on T.V. For those of you who weren’t lucky enough to be an 80’s kid, Voyagers was a time traveling series. It was about an orphaned boy named, Jeffrey who accidentally teams up with a time traveler (known as a Voyager) named, Bogg. They hopped around history fixing things that had gone wrong and making them right. Fast forward a few years to 1989 when Quantum Leap premiered on TV.  This was another time travelling series with Dr. Sam Beckett leaping around time and, again, fixing mistakes in history. To say I was obsessed with Quantum Leap would be putting it mildly. I may or may not have had a picture of Scott Bakula in my school locker! Both of these TV series installed a deep love of history in my young mind…as well as a love of all things time travel!

My love and interest in history has never waned. One of my favorite ways of learning about places and times in history is through reading historical fiction novels. While the people and stories in these novels are often fictional, I still think we can learn a great deal about actual historical events through these types of books.

“We Were the Lucky Ones,” by Georgia Hunter is a historical fiction novel based on true events. Hunter was 15 years old when she learned that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. When her grandfather passed away, she started asking questions about him and learned from her grandmother that he was a Jew from Radam, Poland. As she started researching and learning stories about what her grandfather and his family went through during World War II, she was absolutely astonished and determined that their experiences needed to be recorded and shared. Hunter once said in an interview…

“My family, by all accounts, shouldn’t have survived the Holocaust. The odds were against them. Their stories, I soon discovered, were too remarkable to be left untold.”

Resolved to tell their stories, she spent several years travelling the world and recording oral histories from her surviving family members and friends. The result is an astounding book that left me in awe of this resilient family and the miracles that transpired to make their survival possible.

The Kurc family lived in Radam, Poland at the outbreak of World War II. Sol and Nechuma Kurc owned a fabrics company and had a very comfortable, happy life with their 5 adult children: Genek, Mila, Addy, Jakob and Halina. As the horrors overtaking Europe for the Jewish population spread into their lives, the Kurc family members embarked on almost unfathomable journeys to survive. As I was reading this book for the first time, I remember thinking these stories were almost too farfetched to be believable.

Felicia, Mila’s child, who spent the first 8 years of her life fighting for survival, is Georgia Hunter’s cousin. When interviewed for this book she said…

“Our family, we shouldn’t have survived. Not so many of us, at least. It’s a miracle in many ways. We were the lucky ones.”

I think one of the reasons I loved those historical time travel TV series as a young child and teenager is that it helped me learn about difficult times in history with a sense of hope and redemption. In each episode I was exposed to a trying period or event in history and then the heroes would find a way to soften it with a small happily-ever-after twist. Perhaps this helped my adolescent brain process these difficult events in a less traumatic way. And maybe that’s one reason I loved “We Were the Lucky Ones,” so much. We often experience World War II movies and novels that seem to have a never-ending supply of terror and sadness. The Kurc family experienced unimaginable suffering and loss, as did millions of people during this time. But that fact that they all survived and ended up reunited with each other as family gives this sensitive soul of mine a bit of a happily-ever-after. It was truly an honor to learn about and experience the Kurc family’s journey in this novel. Thank you, Georgia Hunter, for sharing their remarkable stories with the world.