**This program includes an exclusive author’s note read by the author.
In Poland, as World War II rages, a mother hides with her young daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives.**
As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Róza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden:
The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom.
In this make-believe world, Róza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.
Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Jennifer Rosner’s debut is a breathtaking novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter. Beautiful and riveting, The Yellow Bird Sings is a testament to the triumph of hope—a whispered story, a bird’s song—in even the darkest of times.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books
Praise for The Yellow Bird Sings:
“Rosner’s exquisite, heart-rending debut novel is proof that there’s always going to be room for another story about World War II….This is an absolutely beautiful and necessary novel, full of heartbreak but also hope, about the bond between mother and daughter, and the sacrifices made for love.” — New York Times Book Review
“Room meets Schindler’s List in The Yellow Bird Sings, a beautifully written tale of mothers and daughters, war and love, the music of the living and the silence of the dead. Jennifer Rosner is a writer to watch.” — Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network
“The Yellow Bird Sings is a beautiful book in so many ways. Like Shira’s imaginary bird, Jennifer Rosner’s prose is lilting and musical, yet her tale of war’s grave personal reality is gripping, heartrending, and so very real.”— Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and Before and After
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Beautiful, made me cry. I recommend this book . Makes a person think
Room meets Schindler’s List in The Yellow Bird Sings… A beautifully written tale of mothers and daughters, war and love, the music of the living and the silence of the dead.
A beautiful book in so many ways. Like Shira’s imaginary bird, Jennifer Rosner’s prose is lilting and musical, yet her tale of war’s grave personal reality is gripping, heartrending, and so very real.
It is a beautifully written and extremely engaging book between two main characters which mother and daughter have a strong relationship, which I enjoyed the book. The story is about a Jewish mother and her five daughter hiding from the Nazis in a barn. Mother had to teach her to be silence, which is difficult for a child. When the Nazis came for storage, mother had to give her to the nuns to protect and mother had to join the Parisian.
Jennifer Rosner taught me something new about WWII in her novel “The Yellow Bird Sings”! Everyone knows that when I learn new things, I’m standing at attention while reading. But, this book makes you want to snuggle up in a warm blanket…look around your room and appreciate all the luxuries that you have.
Jennifer writes with such exquisite prose and tone, only making the story lift from the pages. I couldn’t imagine all Roza & Shira had to do to remain safe in 1941, Poland, but Jennifer Rosner expresses their life with dignity while still being honest.
Jennife Rosner is an author to watch! Whatever she writes will be superb!
I received a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This beautiful written and moving book is one that will stay in my heart for a long time. The WWII survival story follows Roza and her young daughter, Shira, through various locations in Poland. Rosner doesn’t shy away from the honors and atrocities of the Holocaust, but she manages to leave the reader with a sense of hope and a belief in the resiliency of the human spirit. Music is woven throughout the story and this theme adds a wonderful richness to the narrative. To top it off, the ending is absolute perfection. I’ve read a lot of WWII historical fiction and this one has landed squarely at the top of my list.
A different take on WWII, and so beautifully written.
The sundering of families and the ephemeral ties that bind are exquisitely rendered in this beautiful novel. The author’s note is also truly special!
It is 1941 and we find Roza and Shira hiding in a barn after they fled the city where they lived.
Roza saw her parents and husband killed, and she realized the only way to keep her daughter safe was to run.
Shira was only five, had a gift for music, but could not make a sound.
They hid for approximately 400 days in a barn. It definitely was difficult to keep a five-year-old child quiet, but Shira did it.
It eventually became too dangerous to keep hiding. The farmer’s wife took Shira from Roza and sent her to an orphanage while Roza fled into the woods.
Your heart will break for the characters as you wonder how you would feel about having to send your children away to protect them.
We follow both characters as they yearn for each other and try to survive without each other – Shira in a convent and Roza on the run freezing and barely surviving in the woods.
You will be drawn into the lives of Roza and Shira and ache along with them.
THE YELLOW BIRD SINGS is a beautiful, but heart wrenching story. It is a story of bravery and endurance.
If you enjoy historical fiction, learning of musical prodigies, and books lyrically and beautifully written along with a story line that pulls you in, you will not want to miss this book.
It will stay with you long after you close the cover. 5/5
This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
“The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings.”
What an opening line! This was a beautifully written, heart-wrenching debut novel. Jennifer Rosner shows us the undeniable and unbreakable bond between a mother and child. Written during World War II, we see a mother’s sacrifice to keep her child safe in a time when survival seems impossible.
Hiding in a neighbor’s barn loft, Roza soothes her young daughter, Shira, with stories and music. Music runs through their heritage. Shira’s father has not survived this war, but a violinist, she remembers the beautiful music he once made. Shira plays melodies in her head to pass the time, often accompanied by her imaginary yellow bird. When the Germans decide they want to use the barn for storing equipment, Roza and Shira have no choice but to flee. There’s not much time, Roza makes the decision that it will be safer for Shira if she is taken away to an orphanage where she can be disguised as a Christian.
“The little girl does not dare cry out. If there are giants in this new garden, she doesn’t want them to hear her. The yellow bird sings her music, and the enchanted flowers grow. Still, the girl remains silent. Her mother told her that an invisible daisy chain would connect them always, and she tries to feel its gentle tug. But deep down the girl knows: Until she is with her mother, wrapped in her arms, she will remain lost.”
Their story of survival like many Jews is filled with tragedy and suffering. When I said that this novel is beautiful, I truly meant it. While tragic, Jennifer Rosner has chosen to focus on how Roza and Shira spend their days surviving, how they keep hope alive. It’s prose is almost melodic at times just like our characters. This is one novel that is sure to tug on those heart strings and burrow it’s way in.
If you are a lover of historical fiction, then this novel is perfect for you. If you’re a fan of holocaust stories, then don’t hesitate to pick this one up. Lastly, if you’re a fan of a beautifully written novel, then this is definitely for you.
#goodreadsgiveaway #highlyrecommend #mustread
The author’s combination of lyrical and descriptive power enabled me to feel the beauty and love that managed to exist in these most horrific of times. Her superb rendering of the power of music and a child’s imagination gave me hope that Shira, a musical prodigy, would somehow be shielded from the horrors that existed all around her.
Rosner’s poignant description of the mother-daughter bond was heartbreaking yet also somewhat optimistic. The conditions Shira and her mother endured made me ashamed to complain even one iota about being confined by this Co-vid virus. They hid in a barn loft in Poland unable to move about freely and always having to remain silent. How does a mother et a five-year-old child to remain silent 24-hours-a-day? When they eventually became separated, I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering if they would ever be reunited.
This book addresses the phenomena of hidden children. Many Jewish parents made the heart-rending decision to put their children in the hands of Christian neighbors they trusted, or sent them to Christian schools run by Catholic nuns, or put them on train transports to another country. All this done in an effort to save the children’s lives. Some of these children were never reunited with their parents.
An excellent book, very moving. I highly recommend it.
This story captivated me from the first page. Beautifully written prose and wonderful 3 dimensional characters. A truly heart wrenching and heartfelt story that left me teary eyed yet with a warm fuzzy feeling. Excellent story.
The world was turned upside down for people of the Jewish faith starting in the early 1930s through the end of WWII. Mothers hid there precious children best they could from the horrors of the war. Jennifer Rosner did a marvelous job relating a story of one such Jewish mother and her years spent hiding her little daughter in the book “The Yellow Bird Sings”.
As I turned each page of Rosner’s book I felt as if I was there, hiding my child from what I knew would be a terrifying fate. Descriptive words tell the story of hiding for years in the loft of a barn. Quiet, don’t move, shhhhh…words to live by as the starving mother and child hide under hay up above a world going crazy below them. A world of silence and whispered stories is what fill the days of the child and mother in hiding. But even that depleted life couldn’t last, so much more upheavals follow the pair, so much more tragedies to follow!
Such a gripping and marvelously told tale. Rosner did such good research on her subject and it comes through with the detail in her book! I enjoyed this book for its amazingly related story of a mother and child in peril. I certainly recommend this book to all historical novel loving fans!
While aspects of THE YELLOW BIRD SINGS are tragically familiar–during the Holocaust a mother and child must hide from the Nazis–Jennifer Rosner’s prose is a cut above many similar books. The story includes a subtext about music that also takes it to another level. If you enjoy an audiobook, the reader is superb, with a refined English accent that effortlessly shifts to Polish and Yiddish.
I have to bow down to author, Jennifer Rosner for writing a story that must never be forgotten. “The Yellow Bird Sings” was such a sad but loving story between a mother and daughter. I was crying and at times so fearful, I was holding my breath. The courage of this mother was astounding. I too, would do absolutely anything to protect and keep my daughters safe.
Poland, 1941: Nazi soldiers are in search of Jews, young and old. Imagine a mother and daughter in a barn hiding in complete silence; dirty, hungry, frightened and not knowing from day-to-day if they will survive. Róza is protecting her young daughter Shira. Shira longs for her family, her home and the captivating music performed by her gifted parents. She dreams of becoming a violinist just like her father. Shira’s imaginary yellow bird sings elegant music in her mind.
This was such a gripping, emotional book for me. It was so well-written and the research is admirable. I am in awe that this is Jennifer Rosner’s debut novel and hope she continues to share her gift of words. If you are looking to read a story of hope and strength, please don’t hesitate to get this novel. It will give you a look at a dark part of history and the courageous people that endured it.
~This book was given to me in a giveaway by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.~
Similar to The Room by Emma Donoghue, this story grabbed me from the beginning and never let go. There are many holocaust books published though never enough. As long as they are crafted in a new way or tell a unique story, readers will gobble them up. Rossner’s debut novel does both. With her beautiful prose, she brings us very close to Roza and Shira with their fears and struggles. It is the story of the unbreakable bond of mother and daughter as well as the story of hope. I highly recommend this captivating novel.
This is the heartbreaking story of a mother Roza and her young daughter, five year old Shira who were both facing unimaginable circumstances in Poland during the second World War. The mother and daughter go on hiding in a neighbor’s barn. In order to keep her daughter silent, Roza tells her daughter a story about the Yellow Bird who sings for the child is forbidden to make any sound.
The story was written so exquisitely that is both heart warning and heart breaking, during the most harrowing time in our history when monstrosities were happening.
Jennifer Rosner’s debut novel about the mother and daughter relationship is one of the most gripping yet tender story I have read. I highly recommend this book for historical fiction fans for a moving story about memorable characters.
Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children who were hidden from the Nazis during World War II, this is the heartbreaking story of a mother and her young daughter facing unimaginable circumstances that were unfortunately all too real. As a mother myself, it was excruciatingly painful to witness the life or death choices that Róza must make in order to protect her daughter, Shira. But stories like this are important reminders to all of us that in fact, yes, true horror does exist.
Beautifully written, this is a harrowing and truly unforgettable exploration of one of the darkest realities in our recent history. From the Summer of 1941 to the Autumn of 1945, readers travel in stunned silence alongside mother and daughter as they attempt to survive the sudden upending of life as they knew it. As a five-year-old girl, Shira is constantly in motion and excited to rhapsodize about the world around her, yet Róza knows these wonderful sounds of childhood are noise that will only result in their demise. As a musical prodigy, Shira listens to the sounds around her, composing orchestras that vibrate through her body, and as a musician herself, Róza is rocked by memories of the music she and her husband once made. To calm Shira, and quite honestly herself, during so much stillness, Róza crafts the story of the yellow bird that sings. While the narrative largely focuses on the bond shared between Róza and Shira, the gut-wrenching realities of the war cut in like staccato notes shaking everyone out of any sense of normalcy they try to make even in such perverse times.
The quest for survival drives even more life-altering decisions that echo their traumatic reverberations as life goes on. Yet, just as suddenly as everything was taken away, the yellow bird lands, returning hope and undeniable love.
Many thanks to Flatiron Books and the author for providing me with a free copy of the book for review. This is my honest and thoughtful opinion.
Have you ever sat down to start a new book, only planning to read for an hour or so and ended up devouring the entire thing in one sitting? That happened to me the other night with The Yellow Bird Sings. I literally could not put it down. There is no way my review will do justice to just how incredible this book it.
The Yellow Bird Sings is an emotional & heartbreaking read. It follows the life of a Jewish woman Roza and her young daughter as they hide from the Nazis. At a time when people are turning in their Jewish neighbors for a bag of sugar, they are lucky to have a sympathetic neighbor family to help them. Though it does come at a price. They spend their days in absolute silence, not daring the make even the slightest noise to alert others to their presence, hiding in a pile of hay in the attic. Their only entertainment are the stories that Roza tells her daughter Shira about their family, their shared love of music and the little yellow bird that Shira has with her.
When the opportunity comes for Shira to escape to a better life with people that help Jewish children, her mother Roza must make the most difficult decision in her life to either let her go or stay together and hope for the best.
The author’s writing is phenomenal and the book instantly grabs you. It’s not an easy read but an important one and it’s one that I know I will never ever forget.
Have tissues at the ready because you’re gonna need them!
A captivating novel of the power of music, the human voice, and what we sacrifice in order to survive extraordinary circumstances. Absolutely riveting.