{"product_id":"irenas-gift-an-epic-wwii-memoir-of-sisters-secrets-and-survival-9780806543659","title":"Irena's Gift: An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival","description":"\u003cb\u003eWeaving mystery, history and memoir, \u003ci\u003eIrena's Gift \u003c\/i\u003eis the captivating account of one woman's personal quest to uncover the unspoken and give voice to her family's secret war-torn history. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From the glittering concert halls of interbellum Warsaw to the vermin-infested prison where an SS officer is convinced to save a Jewish child's life, to the author's upbringing in a Christian home, this is a story of resilience, sacrifice, Jewish identity, intergenerational trauma, and the secrets we keep to protect ourselves and those we love. For readers of \u003ci\u003eWhen Time Stopped\u003c\/i\u003e by Ariana Neumann, \u003ci\u003eI Want You to Know We're Still Here\u003c\/i\u003e by Esther Safran Foer, and \u003ci\u003eHouse of Glass\u003c\/i\u003e by Hadley Freeman. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eIrena's Gift\u003c\/i\u003e interrogates the messy complexity of family, both its tenderness and nurture but also its corrosive anger and rejection.\" --GERALDINE BROOKS, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1942, in German-occupied Poland, a Jewish baby girl was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That baby, Joasia, knew nothing about this extraordinary event until she was thirty-two, when a letter arrived from a stranger. She also learned that the parents who raised her were actually her aunt and uncle. Joasia kept this knowledge hidden from her own daughter, Karen--until an innocent question unexpectedly revealed the truth. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDetermined to understand the generational trauma that cloaked her family in silence, her own origins, and to help heal her mother's pain, Karen set out to unearth decades of secrets and piece together a hidden history--from the glittering days of pre-war Poland to the little-known Radom Prison, where of 500 resistance members tortured, only 10 survived, her grandfather the only known Jewish one. There, Karen finds answers, yet not easy ones. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs she exposes her family's saga of love and betrayal, countless brushes with death, precarious hiding places, and the astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved her mother's life, Karen must reconcile the complicated, multi-faceted truths behind human behavior. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eIrena's Gift\u003c\/i\u003e weaves together a mystery, history, and memoir to tell a story of sacrifice, impossible choices, impossible odds, and the way trauma reverberates throughout generations. Yet it is also a story of resilience and bravery, revealing how love and hope, too, can not only prevail through the worst imaginable circumstances, but resonate through time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKaren Kirsten\u003c\/b\u003e is an Australian-American writer, refugee advocate, and Holocaust educator who lectures on the topics of hatred and reconciliation around the world. Her work has appeared in Salon.com, \u003ci\u003eThe Week, The Jerusalem Post\u003c\/i\u003e, WIEZ in Poland, Boston's National Public Radio station, \u003ci\u003eThe Age\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Sydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e, and her Best American Essays-nominated piece, \"Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother's Life,\" was selected as a Narratively Best Ever story. Raised in Australia by a mother who was a Holocaust survivor-turned born again Christian and grandparents who silenced her questions about concentration camps, Karen lived amongst refugees who were hiding horrible secrets while trying to rebuild their identities. After discovering her grandparents were not her biological grandparents, she traveled the globe to uncover her family's hidden past. She has lived in five countries across three continents and now calls Massachusetts home. She can be found online at KarenKirsten.com.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Citadel Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50625455653138,"sku":"9780806543659","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a01a24b4-b7a9-44b5-97b9-f21c33b40389.jpg?v=1732629851","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/irenas-gift-an-epic-wwii-memoir-of-sisters-secrets-and-survival-9780806543659","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}