We Were the Lucky Ones, Georgia Hunter
We Were the Lucky Ones, Georgia Hunter
93 Rating(s)
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We Were the Lucky Ones

Author: Georgia Hunter

Narrator: Kathleen Gati, Robert Fass

Unabridged: 15 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 02/14/2017


Synopsis

The New York Times bestseller with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide | Now a Hulu limited series starring Joey King and Logan Lerman

Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive—and to reunite—We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds.

“Love in the face of global adversity? It couldn't be more timely.” —Glamour
 
It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.
 
As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere.
 
An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.

About The Author

When Georgia Hunter was fifteen years old, she learned that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. We Were the Lucky Ones was born of her quest to uncover her family’s staggering history. Hunter’s website, georgiahunterauthor.com, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the extensive research this project has entailed. She lives in Connecticut.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Katie on April 21, 2017

There was both too much and not enough going on for me in this novel based on the true story of a Polish Jewish family under Nazi occupation. There were times when it resembled non-fiction more than a novel – something to do with the reportage nature of the prose, its aspiration to provide a constan......more

Goodreads review by Karen on January 21, 2017

This is the story of the Kurc family, a Jewish family, the parents and their five adult children, beginning in 1939, in Radom, Poland. We follow them through the years just prior to, and during World War ll, one of them sent to Siberia, and others fleeing to different locations in Europe. This is a lo......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on April 21, 2017

I feel bad rating this book because it is based on a family's true story. As an ancestry novel for a family it would be an amazing novel of their ancestors. However, as a story for the masses, the characters lack depth and therefore the story lacks emotion. I have read much better novels from this t......more

Goodreads review by Susan on August 17, 2018

Expertly researched, beautifully told, compelling to the last page.......more


Quotes

“[Georgia Hunter is] just as courageous as the characters her writing will never let us forget.” —Harper’s Bazaar

“Love in the face of global adversity? It couldn't be more timely.” —Glamour, “Best Books to Read in 2017”

“[A] gripping, emotional novel.” —People , “The Best New Books”

“A remarkable story of courage, love, and of course, luck.” —Book Riot’s Best Books of 2017

“[A] gripping and moving story.” —Bustle, “15 New Authors You’re Going To Be Obsessed With This Year”

“Turning history into fiction can be tricky . . . Hunter finesses the challenge. Her novel brings the Kurcs to life in heart-pounding detail.” —The Jewish Voice

“The story that so grippingly comes across in the pages of We Were the Lucky Ones isn't strictly fiction—the characters and events that inhabit this Holocaust survival story are based on her family's own history.” —Newsweek

“[A] must-read.” —New York Post

“[A] remarkable history . . . Hunter sidesteps hollow sentimentality and nihilism, revealing instead the beautiful complexity and ambiguity of life in this extraordinarily moving tale.” —Publishers Weekly

A Finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards’ Book Club Award

A Women’s National Book Association Great Group Read

“Reading Georgia Hunter’s We Were the Lucky Ones is like being swung heart first into history. Her engrossing and deeply affecting account . . . will leave you breathless. But the true wonder of the book is how convincingly Hunter inhabits these characters, each modeled after her own family members. This is their story Hunter is telling so beautifully and profoundly, and ours as well. A brave and mesmerizing debut, and a truly tremendous accomplishment.” —Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun

We Were the Lucky Ones is the most gripping novel I've read in years. Georgia Hunter pulled me into another world, vivid, horrifying, astonishing, and heartbreaking.” —Lauren Belfer, New York Times bestselling author of And After the Fire, A Fierce Radiance, and City of Light.

We Were the Lucky Ones is a skillfully woven reimagining of [Hunter’s] own family’s struggle for survival during World War II . . . with spectacular historical detail. This emotionally resonant, gripping portrait of the war is filled with beautifully drawn and wonderfully heroic characters I won’t soon forget.” —Jillian Cantor, author of Margot and The Hours Count

“Georgia Hunter has crafted her own family history into a sprawling, yet still intimate portrait of those swept up in the devastation of war and scattered to the winds.  It is an astonishing saga of hope, of luck, of destruction, and most remarkably of love, made all the more astonishing because of the true story at its core.” —David R. Gillham, New York Times bestselling author of City of Women

“Elegantly executed and always clear, Hunter evokes pre-war Poland with loving detail, clearly showing what was left behind and lost. . . . We Were the Lucky Ones is a compelling read, notable for Hunter’s clear portraits of her plucky, resilient family, and for her ability to build suspense and investment without emotional manipulation.” —Courtney Naliboff, ReformJudaism