The Nine is poignant, powerful, and shattering, distilling the horror of the Holocaust through the lens of nine unforgettable women...Gwen Strauss melds a poet's pen and a decade of research into a tale of friendship, courage, and indomitable will." ?Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author Hélène looked around. Their column was overextended. There were gaps between the rows and the sections. There were no guards in sight. I was driving down the road in winter when I saw a completely bare tree with a crow sitting on the top branch. I thought, "Seasons are cool," and that's when I was hit with the idea. After spending her youth caring for her grandmother and then establishing herself as a nurse in London, Susannah marries a rich, handsome younger surgeon. It's more than the spinster had ever hoped for, but not long after they return from their honeymoon, he begins to become distant. With no support from her husband and with the domineering housekeeper uninterested in letting her take any role in the running of their home, Susannah distracts herself with the newspapers, especially once the first lurid account of a woman murdered in Whitechapel is published. Then she realizes that her husband has been out late or failed to come home every time a new victim was found, sometimes even coming home bloodied. Is her husband the murderer? And is there anyone to whom Susannah can turn with her suspicions? Memorials now not only remember great soldiers but also the victims of slavery and systemic terror, such as the Legacy Museum in Alabama. “There is now a sense of the necessity of remembering.”

Strauss is divorced, and lives in Provence with her three children. [1] Bibliography [ edit ] Books [ edit ] The Nine tells the true story of the escape of 9 young women from a concentration camp in WWII. It tells the stories of how they all ended up at the camp, and their daring escape to freedom. They held her in the prison in Vannes for a few days, but one guard reassured her that it was only a matter of paperwork. Not to worry—she would soon be allowed to go home to her mother and father. But then instead of releasing her, they transferred her to a prison in Rennes, where she was held for two weeks. Still there was no formal interrogation. They asked nothing besides why she had happened to be at that hotel at that particular moment. After the war Hélène’s best friend in the camps, Zaza, defied that trend: Rather than keeping silent, she wrote her account of their escape—though she left out the full identities of the other women, perhaps to protect them. It would be first published 60 years later. She wrote bitterly that French prisoners of war and local Germans assumed that they were voluntary prostitutes who had seen an opportunity to “service” the SS and the “free” workers in the camps. The idea that they risked their lives transporting arms, passing messages or sheltering their comrades in the Resistance was not considered possible, much less the horrors they had been subjected to upon their arrest and deportation. Because they were young pretty girls, in their 20s, they were not taken seriously.

Fantassin,” he replied, putting out his hand for her to shake. Reluctantly she took it. “And you must be Christine? I was told about you.” Humanswithout magicare called "shaders." Can you explain how you came up with this term and what it means? Drawing on incredible research, this powerful, heart-stopping narrative from Gwen Strauss is a moving tribute to the power of humanity and friendship in the darkest of times.

p> 1. The Nine opens with the moment of escape, and with each chap­ter that fol­lows, the author focus­es on one of the women. Occa­sion­al­ly, the read­er learns about the author’s research and detec­tive work to uncov­er the sto­ry. How do the dif­fer­ent sto­ry­lines work togeth­er to tell acom­plete sto­ry? How impor­tant was each thread to build­ing that picture? Witches are born on either the solstice or the equinox, and their powers, which come from the sun, reach full strength during their birth season. They have used their powers to control the atmosphere for centuries, keeping the weather in their respective seasons running smoothly. But over the years, the "shaders--those without magic"--have taken advantage of the witches' powers, pushing their limits and ignoring the warnings that magic isn't infinite. Now, witches are trying to use their magic to combat extreme atypical weather but are being depleted of their powers--they are forced to regularly use magic out of season (when they're at their weakest), such as winter witches fighting a substantial blizzard in spring. Only a witch tied to all four seasons whose magic never fades, just changes--an "Everwitch"--can wield enough magic to help balance the shifting atmosphere. Evers are rare, though, and 17-year-old Clara, described as having pale skin and red hair, is the first one in more than a hundred years. With the atmosphere collapsing and weather intensifying, the administration at her school, the Eastern School of Solar Magic, is looking to Clara "to make the difference." Now,” she whispered to her team, and one by one, like dominoes, they lit their flashlights, outlining the perimeter of the reception area. The little plane circled a few times. Hélène’s heart raced as she thought of people in the village hearing the loud engine or seeing the white silk of the parachutes glowing in the moonlight as they descended to earth. As soon as the containers hit the ground her team ran into the field to gather them. They were filled with small arms, explosives, a new transmitter, and new code sheets. And for the morale of her group, the British had included chocolates and cigarettes.Fifty-eight years later, during our interview in her apartment, where Hélène had allowed me to record her story, she said, “Angers stays in my memory as the symbol of suffering itself.”