Hidden Yellow Stars

By: Rebecca Connolly

Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt

Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium.

Belgium, 1942.

Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army?

Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier.

Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can.

But with the Gestapo closing in and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy and is threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden—even if it might cost them their own lives.

©2024 Rebecca Connolly (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

A different perspective

This book deftly covered the stories of the challenges to families during the Nazi occupation of Brussels and the ordinary women who sought to help children to safety. It is a simple, heart-rending narrative of a horrific aspect of Nazi suppression. Caroline Hewitt vibrantly delivers all aspects of the characters beautifully, as usual.

The terrible things that the Germans taught their children to think about the Jewish people

I enjoyed the book, particularly since it was based on a true story, It's a tragedy with a Jewish people had to face during World War II

Heart wrenching, inspiring, incredible

Despite the number of WWII historical fiction and nonfiction books books I have read, I am still astounded (floored, humbled, disgusted, saddened) at the atrocities and unfairness every time I read a new one.
Perhaps that makes me naive. Perhaps that makes me human. Or perhaps that shows the sheer scope of the Axis powers’ ability to brainwash their followers and treat other humans as animals. Worse than animals. And any book that specifically involves children really hits me hard. It’s rarely new information, but it’s heartbreaking every time.
The women in this story are incredible and I was awed by their sacrifices and the risks they took. Stories of good triumphing over evil exist in multitude because, I believe, most people want to see good win out. And this is a book of real people fighting back against an evil so persistent and dark it threatened everything. And yet they fought. Without thought to their own lives and safety, they helped rescue thousands of young children from the Nazi grip. That is powerful. That is incredible.
I was hooked from the very beginning of this book. I’m a huge fan of Rebecca Connolly’s writing style and the way she wrote this book was excellent. I was fascinated by the choices for the epigraphs. If I hadn’t already been appalled at N*zi propaganda, those quotes clinched it for me. But the Winston Churchill quote for the Afterward is the perfect embodiment of what the women in this book did. “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never…”
If you want additional perspectives of the horrible accounts of WWII, this book will give it to you. You’ll be inspired by Andrée and Ida, you’ll feel amazed at the resilience of children, you’ll believe in the goodness of people. And you’ll hope for ultimate good to triumph over all evil, because if it can happen in one story, it has to happen again.

This is an incredible book, easily gaining a spot on my top favorites list for the year, and it’s going to stay there. It deserves all the stars. Thank you for your amazing book, Rebecca. It’s beautiful.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: the accents and voices are very well done. I especially love the pronunciation of the Belgium words and names. It’s an incredible listen and I highly recommend reading via audio.

**many thanks to the publisher, @shadowmountainpub, and book tour coordinator, @austenprose, for the copy. All thoughts are my own.

Beautifully told story of love and sacrifice

I loved this story, even though parts of it were hard to fathom as someone who didn't live through that time. the main characters were beautifully written. You could feel their emotions and felt like you were right there with them. The story weaves in real characters and experiences, which adds to the beauty of the tale. My only very tiny draw back was the reader. She has a lovely book voice, but when it came time to say proper names, her French accent was so thick. it felt out of place because there are very few accents used at all throughout the story. It felt forced and out of place. But overall this book was phenomenal. I would just recommend to read it rather than listen.