Victoria's War

Book excerpt: "Victoria's War is a work of historical fiction about 19-year-old Victoria Darski, a Polish Catholic woman sold into slavery during the Nazi occupation of Europe, and Etta Tod, the 20-year-old deaf daughter of a German baker who buys Victoria. Poland, 1939: Eager to study literature at the University of Warsaw, Victoria waits with bags packed. But Hitler invades Poland and classes are canceled. German officers burst into her family's home in Lagody, shoot and kill Victoria's sister when she cries, and take Victoria and her mother to work in a sewing factory commandeered by Nazis. Making military shirts, Victoria sews a straight pin inside the collar in defiance. At a secret resistance meeting with her friend Sylvia, Victoria is captured and sold as a slave, with thousands of other women. Germany, 1941: When Victoria is purchased to work in a family bakery, Etta tries to protect Victoria from the brutality of her family, bringing food and companionship to the attic where Victoria is held. Etta is caught and sent to Hadamar Institute, where she is killed. This spurs Victoria to help rescue a group of mothers and babies from starvation. One of those women is her friend Sylvia from the sewing factory. Victoria's War is a World War II story that has not been told before, giving a voice to the Polish women who were kidnapped into the Nazi slave labor operation. This lost chapter of history revealing wartime slavery is not to be forgotten."--