Look for Pam Jenoff’s new novel, The Woman with the Blue Star, an unforgettable story of courage and friendship during wartime.A New York Times bestseller!“Readers who enjoyed Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants will embrace this novel. “ —Library Journal“Secrets, lies, treachery, and passion…. I read this novel in a headlong rush.” —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New … Journal
“Secrets, lies, treachery, and passion…. I read this novel in a headlong rush.” —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan’s Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival.
Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.
Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.
Don’t Miss Pam Jenoff’s new novel, The Woman with the Blue Star, a riveting tale of unfathomable sacrifice and unlikely friendship during World War II.
Read these other sweeping epics from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff.
The Lost Girls of Paris
The Ambassador’s Daughter
The Diplomat’s Wife
The Kommandant’s Girl
The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach
The Winter Guest
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Noa is living and working in a German railway station during World War II when she discovers a boxcar full of Jewish babies. She take one of the babies, heads off in a snow storm and is discovered by people from a German circus who take her in.
It is here that she meets Astrid, an aerialist who grudgingly teaches her the art of the flying trapeze.
These two girls are initially at odds with one another, but gradually for a powerful bond. There are secrets as well as horrors to be shared.
This is a very moving and powerful story of friendship, love determination and the will to survive.
I had to keep putting it aside and moving away as it moved me so much; very highly recommended.
There are very few times listening to an audiobook negatively impacts how I feel about a book, but I think this may be an instance of that. The book itself is good, though a bit slow paced, particularly because we often get experiences from the points of view of both Noah and Astrid. But it’s also just a slower paced book, which is different for a lot of war-time set books I have read. I’d say the last half or so of the book covers a time span of just over three weeks.
Reading about intricacies and details in running a circus was interesting. I particularly found the aerialist act fascinating. This people must have been incredibly fearless! I cannot imagine swinging through the air with nothing but a thin net to—hopefully—catch you 40 feet below.
The main characters are Astrid and Noah (who is a female character). From the beginning of their introductions to the reader, they have already experienced a lot of heartache and trauma. Astrid’s has made her hard and almost callous. Noah’s has made her vulnerable and impulsive (though maybe some of that impulsivity is simply part of her nature). Due to their experiences, you feel sympathy for them both from the beginning.
They have a rocky relationship, Astrid being forced to train Noah on the trapeze act with only a few weeks to make it work. Astrid doesn’t trust Noah and Noah trusts no one. But as the book progresses, they learn to trust one another and become like sisters to each other. It was interesting watching their relationship change, to the point where they are fiercely protective and loyal to one another. The last couple of chapters and the epilogue bring everything full circle and it ends in a very bittersweet way. The ending is quite beautiful, actually.
I am still a bit confused by the book title. I can only assume it is reference to Theo, and while I suppose it is kind of his story, it’s mostly Noah’s and Astrid’s.
I think it’s a decent story, and I do think I’d have liked it better if I had read it instead of listened to it. But I also thought it drug on a bit. The middle got a little redundant and slow.
TW/CW: Contains lots of heavy content. This is not an easy book to read. Parents kicking children out of their home; soldiers taking advantage of young girls; babies taken from their mothers; families ripped apart; Jews deported. Contains sexual content, suicide, some swearing, talk of “mangled” body, death.
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: READ BY: Jennifer Wydra and Kyla Garcia: I usually like books that have multiple narrators and these two narrators are both good. I liked the accents and emotion I could hear come through the voices and I think they’re decent readers. However, the reading was soooo slow! I do not think that helps with the slower paced plot. It is a decently sized book, but the audiobook is longer than I would expect for the book length. I usually listen to my audiobooks at 1.5x speed, which drives my husband crazy because he doesn’t like the sped up voice (I try to listen at about the speed I would read it if I were holding the book). But when he overheard me listening to this book, he assumed I was listening at regular speed. When I showed him what the normal speed was like, even he said it was ridiculously slow.
Great book about WWII and what happened to the Jews. Sad but informative. Also interesting as the setting was a circus.
Sad but good
Interesting to the end.
Great read. Informative, interesting period of time.
This is one of those books that received such high praise, yet it just didn’t make the cut for me. It started out well, and I must tell you the beginning had an absolutely horrifying scene in it that kept me up at night (which I won’t divulge in order not to spoil it). However, the rest of the book just didn’t deliver. Not that I was looking for horrifying scenes, but I was looking for character development to explain what made these women strong. However, this book lacked that as well as a storyline.
The treatment of the main characters, Astrid and Noa, was superficial. They never really liked each other, then suddenly they feel great love and affection for each other. It was just implausible. Noa is caring for a baby which she professes to love, but a lot of her actions don’t seem to fit with that love. Her love interest with Luc was just so silly, I couldn’t take it seriously.
The book also spends so much time on Noa’s learning the trapeze/aerialist act. While I understand the book is about how the circus was able to shelter Jews, there was too much time spent on the mechanics of her learning. I expected more background and development of the supporting characters beyond the few lines that each had.
Unfortunately, the book was a disappointment on many levels.
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My grandfather and his brother (both gone) were put on an Orphan Train, so this portrayal helped me understand their experience.
Whatever she writes is worth reading
Good story and writing but very depressing.
I want to start off by saying that this book is amazing. How I have never heard of this book sooner. I have to say historical fiction is my favorite to read. Reading about strong people who they dealt with war.
This book is very powerful about two female characters fighting brave and strong to stay together. From two different back grounds to care for each other and protect each other during war.
About Book- Noa a young girl kick out of her family home because she had become pregnant by Nazi. Forced to go to a girls home and give her baby away. Now forced to live on the streets of Germany during war.
Astrid who moved to be with her husband in Berlin has come home after her husband is forced her to divorce her because she is Jewish. Astrid who family used to be circus performers. Comes home realize her family is gone or worst has died. Because they are Jewish. Astrid has decided to join a new circus family and they will keep her family
How these two come together and become more they friends they become family. i highly recommend this book. To find out how these two women met and save each other during war time .
This was a wonderful and rich story about the strength and courage of ordinary people during possibly the darkest time in human history. The author converged different actual events to craft a tale that is captivating and heart-rendering, a story where strangers become family, and sacrifice knows no boundary.
Seems so real. This is a wonderful book.
This book takes you to so many high and lows during the time you read it. You are incensed by the injustice that has occurred in our past and yet they had so much hope for the future. It is about Jews who are trying to stay alive during the reign of Hitler and the Nazi’s and how scary it was to live during this time. We follow circus actor as they learn new trades and face everyday challenged. It was a great book to read.
What humans to do other people in the name of doing good is sometimes so much worse than doing bad things to them. At least the children in this book wouldn’t have been surprised at being hurt or abused or treated badly…most of them were orphans and expected a life of such things….but to be shipped off to another country to the homes of strangers and being given the expectation of a better life was cruelty beyond compare.
This book will make you want to research the truth of ‘The Orphan Train’ and the truth will surprise you. This book is based on truth and it is very well written with touchingly sweet children in the most dire of circumstances and the well intentioned adults that didn’t follow thru or follow up leaving children to perhaps worse lives than they left. When you read the lives they left you might find it hard to comprehend. Read this book. You absolutely will not regret it. It will change something in you even just a little bit and make you think twice before you make a decision about someone else’s life.
This book was very Inspirational too! Where the characters learned about themselves and pushed on through tragic events, learning as they went, inspiring others to make a positive outcome from their circumstances…loved it!!
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. The characters are interesting and believable. I was enthralled from start to finish.
An unusual story with captivating characters. It explore the French resistance in a very different way by letting you inside the characters. Sad but wonderful .
It took me a while to get into this book, because of the back-and-forth first-person present points of view. Made it tough to keep straight who was who. But once the two characters met each other, the story kept getting better and better.
Historical and well written fiction