THE LIGHT IN HIDDEN PLACES
The extraordinary story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII — from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron.
One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make…
It is 1943, and for four years, sixteen-year-old Stefania has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemsyl, Poland, singing her way into their lives and hearts. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio — a betrothal they must keep secret since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish.
The extraordinary story of Stefania Podgorska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII — from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron.
One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make…
It is 1943, and for four years, sixteen-year-old Stefania has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemsyl, Poland, singing her way into their lives and hearts. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio — a betrothal they must keep secret since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish.
But everything changes when the German army invades Przemsyl. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone in an occupied city, the only one left to care for Helena, her six-year-old sister. And then comes the knock at the door. Izio’s brother Max has jumped from the train headed to a death camp. Stefania and Helena make the extraordinary decision to hide Max, and eventually twelve more Jews. Then they must wait, every day, for the next knock at the door, the one that will mean death. When the knock finally comes, it is two Nazi officers, requisitioning Stefania’s house for the German army.
With two Nazis below, thirteen hidden Jews above, and a little sister by her side, Stefania has one more excruciating choice to make.
- Scholastic Press
- Hardcover
- March 2020
- 400 Pages
- 9781338355932
Buy the Book
$18.99
About Sharon Cameron
Sharon Cameron‘s debut novel The Dark Unwinding was awarded the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Sue Alexander Award for Most Promising New Work and the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, and was named a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. Sharon is also the author of its sequel, A Spark Unseen; Rook, which was selected as an Indiebound Indie Next List Top Ten selection, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection, and a Parents’ Choice gold medalist; and The Forgetting, a #1 New York Times bestseller and an Indie Next Pick of the List selection, and its companion novel, The Knowing. She lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.
Praise
“Beautifully written and meticulously researched. Sharon Cameron captures the extraordinary story of one of history’s hidden heroes. Every devastating moment is both gripping and powerful.” — Ruta Sepetys, New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea
“Harrowing, heartbreaking, and yet so full of hope.” — Jennifer Donnelly, New York Times bestselling author of Stepsister
“Haunting and lyrical. An incredible true story of bravery, survival, and defiance.” — Alan Gratz, New York Times bestselling author of Refugee
“Sharon Cameron’s exciting novel weaves together the lightheartedness, sheer terror, and incredible inner strength of this young woman, my mom. This book exceeds all my expectations.” — Ed Burzminski, son of Stefania Podgórska
Excerpt
I go to the door, pressing an ear to the wood before I turn the lock.
The empty hall outside our room stretches to the other empty rooms of the empty apartment. As it should. Everything is as it should be.
And then a noise shoots through the silence. Louder than a gun. A grenade of fear inside my chest. And I know the sound I have missed.
Someone is knocking on my front door.
They know. They know. They know.
The words beat with my blood.
Another mattress spring pops, and I feel Helena coming up behind me. She doesn’t speak. She is six years old and doesn’t have to be told that this is not the time for questions.
The knocking comes again, louder, this time with a whisper through the cracks.
“Stefania?”
It’s a trick. The Gestapo want me to open the door without a fuss. So they don’t have to break it down. So they can give a nice, unblemished apartment to some nice German officer and his law-abiding wife with clean hair and mended stockings.
Maybe this means they will shoot us outside, like Mr. Schwarzer.
The whisper comes again.
“Open the door! Fusia!”
The Gestapo does not know me by that name.
I run for the door, hands out, fingers already searching for the newly repaired lock. I know it isn’t him. It can’t be him. But I fumble and twist at the lock anyway, then fling open the door. Helena gasps. Or maybe the gasp came from me. Because the bare bulb hanging in the hallway has shown me that it’s not him. It’s not who I thought it would be at all.