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A Novel
by Jennifer Rosner
Book Reviewed by:In Poland, as World War II rages, a mother hides with her young daughter, a musical prodigy whose slightest sound may cost them their lives.
As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor's barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Róza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden:
The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom.
In this make-believe world, Róza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart.
Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Jennifer Rosner's debut is a breathtaking novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter. Beautiful and riveting, The Yellow Bird Sings is a testament to the triumph of hope—a whispered story, a bird's song—in even the darkest of times.
Chapter 1
Poland
Summer 1941
A brooding heat permeates the tight space of the barn loft, no larger than three strides by four. The boards are rough-hewn and splintery and the rafters run at sharp slants, making the pitch too low for Róza to stand anywhere but in the center. Silken webs wad the corners and thin shards of sunlight bleed through cracks. Otherwise it is dark.
Kneeling, Róza pats down a dense pad of hay for Shira to lie on. She positions her by the wall across from the ladder, then covers her with more hay. Róza makes a spot for herself in front of her daughter, angled so she can keep her eyes on the door. Her heart still hammers in her chest.
Not an hour ago Henryk's wife, Krystyna, barreled in to corner a chicken and discovered them crouching behind a hay cart. Róza swallowed a startled gasp and tightened her hold on Shira. Krystyna's eyes darted to the wall hung with tools—trowels and spades, shovels, a pitchfork—then she slowly backed out. A...
Although the story revolves around a horrific time in history, it mainly centers on the beautiful relationship between a mother and her daughter. The story captivated me. Through difficult situations, separation and heartbreak, it remained sweet, hopeful and powerful (Sally D). The story tells of the bond between mother and child, their love of music, and their efforts to survive during the most dire of circumstances. In some ways, I found it reminiscent of The Pianist (Shelley C)...continued
Full Review
(641 words)
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(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
Alex George, author of the #1 Indie Next Pick A Good American
Music and love course through this beautiful novel, twin rivers of wonder. The Yellow Bird Sings is a powerful hymn to the resilience and determination of a mother's love in the face of the inhuman horrors of war. Jennifer Rosner has written a book that will break your heart, and then put it back together again, a little larger than before. David Gillham, New York Times bestselling author of City of Women
In The Yellow Bird Sings, Jennifer Rosner has written an extraordinarily beautiful and moving novel of the human heart. It is a rich and poignant story of the enduring power of love and hope in the face of peril. Jeanine Cummins, author of American Dirt
The Yellow Bird Sings finds beauty in the unlikeliest of places. Jennifer Rosner gives voice to the soaring truth that a mother's love can never be silenced, and that even the ugliest war cannot defeat the power of a nurtured imagination. This book is tender, brutal, and beautiful. Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network
Room meets Schindler's List in The Yellow Bird Sings, a beautifully written tale of mothers and daughters, war and love, the music of the living and the silence of the dead. Jennifer Rosner is a writer to watch. Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and Before and After
The Yellow Bird Sings is a beautiful book in so many ways. Like Shira's imaginary bird, Jennifer Rosner's prose is lilting and musical, yet her tale of war's grave personal reality is gripping, heartrending, and so very real. Told beneath an overarching sky of the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter, this is a story readers will continue to ponder long afterward. Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of Mercury and The Flight of Gemma Hardy
Imagine a mother hiding in fear of her life. Then imagine she is also hiding her lively daughter whose smallest sound may betray them. With wonderful tenderness and imagination, Jennifer Rosner evokes the dangers Róza and Shira face and how, in the midst of those dangers, love and music survive. A brilliant and transporting novel. Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One Is Here Except All of Us
The Yellow Bird Sings is a captivating novel of the power of music, the human voice, and what we sacrifice in order to survive extraordinary circumstances. Absolutely riveting.
In Jennifer Rosner's The Yellow Bird Sings, which takes place in Poland during WWII, Róza and her daughter Shira are forced to hide from the Nazis. After already losing other family members, Róza must decide whether or not to send Shira into hiding on her own in order to protect her. While members of Jewish families were often separated forcibly from one another after being arrested by German forces during this time, many parents also felt compelled to separate themselves from their children in order to better the children's chances of survival.
In some cases, separations would occur on the spur of the moment when a family was in imminent danger of being caught in a raid or roundup. Children whose parents were taken into ...
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If you liked The Yellow Bird Sings, try these:
by Jennifer Rosner
Published 2024
From Jennifer Rosner, National Jewish Book Award Finalist and author of The Yellow Bird Sings, comes a novel based on the true stories of children stolen in the wake of World War II.
by David R. Gillham
Published 2023
A captivating novel of a Berlin girl on the run from the guilt of her past and the boy from Brooklyn who loves her.
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