When Putin and Russia invaded Ukraine in late February (2022), I went looking for historical fiction books that feature the country and its relationship with Russia.
Louder than Words is set during WWII and the Nazi regime.
Brief WWII history: During the 1939 invasion of Poland, the USSR and Germany split Poland, uniting the Ukrainian peoples under Soviet control by the Red Army. Two years later, Hitler betrayed his alliance with Stalin and invaded the USSR, taking over the Ukraine. Some Ukrainians resisted both the Nazis and Soviets equally fiercely; some collaborated with Nazi Germany in the hopes of freedom from the Soviets; millions more fought for the Red Army or were forcibly conscripted. Ukrainian Jews were systemically killed under both regimes.
In this historical fiction book, a Christian housekeeper adopts two Jewish girls who surely would have been rounded up with their Jewish mother and executed by the Nazis. The story is based on that of a real woman, Ludviga Pukas, who was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a non-Jewish person who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
It's a gripping tale of deception and the power of motherly love.
I can't say enjoy, but it is an important work to read and learn from in order to put the modern Ukraine-Russia war into better perspective. And there are at least two other books in this series, Masters of Silence and The Sound of Freedom, also by Kathy Kacer.
