What readers think of The Forest of Vanishing Stars, plus links to write your own review.

“The Forest of Vanishing Stars” by Kristen Harmel recommends itself to fans of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and “Where the Crawdads Sing.” I had my skepticism, but that same book is killing it. I have read many slavery/Reconstruction novels and Holocaust/World War II stories and expect to experience a desensitizing one day. Today, however, is not that day. Little, naïve kids experiencing these horrors will soften the hardest of hearts.
The story goes like this: an older woman kidnaps a little girl from her parents whom the lady calls “evil.” The captor raises the girl in the woods, fearing the natural world’s goings-on. When her woman in loco parentis passes away, the then-grown Yona learns about the atrocities occurring in Nazi Germany and teaches those in hiding how to survive on the land. Violence ensues, and Harmel blurs the line between paranoia and truth.
A book checks many boxes that seem cliché, but Harmel throws in some action, intrigue, romance, and historical fiction. If you are handy or outdoorsy, the survivalist pieces will entertain you and challenge you to consider how you would do in the same situation. Since so many of Yona’s decisions rely on instincts, I did not usually know what was coming but felt the sense of foreshadowing.
I reacted strongly to Yona’s nomadic tendencies since Jerusza, her de facto parent, taught her that staying in one place for too long led to danger; therefore, do not obsess over it. Nevertheless, the journey will have some unexpected stops. A killer twist happens just past the halfway point, and you do not see it coming, even though it should have been blatantly obvious based on the events of the first few pages. “To know the light, you must also know the darkness.”
Yona is inspiring as an individual who faces blatant atrocities but allows us to share her small victories and her pursuit of a better environment. Harmel is three years younger than I am but writes with much wisdom and knowledge about the Holocaust. I do not know how a forest dweller would have fared in those conditions, but this seems accurate. “Whoever saves a life is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

I loved this book. It's not the kind of thing that I normally read but it was recommended by a friend. Once I started, I hesitated to stop. I bought the audio version. I replay sections often to hear the language, which sounds so strange to me, over again. It's beautifully expressed.

Bestselling author, Kristin Harmel shares another message of hope within the darkness of WWII in her new novel, The Forest of Vanishing Stars (GalleryBooks).

"The forest knew no difference between race, religion or gender."

In 1922, two year-old Inge Juttner, daughter of a Nazi Commander is stolen as she sleeps by an old woman called Jerusza. She renames Inge Yona. She lives in the forest for twenty years under Jerusza's control. She is educated in how to survive and live well in the forest in all seasons and from books, Jerusza steals from towns, but Yona never meets another person. She is raised not to trust people and to stay safe in the forest. Jerusza dies, but not before instilling in Yona's mind that dark days are ahead.

Yona meets a group of Jews escaping from the ghettos and realizes her destiny is to help them live and survive. The escapees don't have any of the skills to survive the winter and they become her family.

"Home is not a place, but the people you choose to love."

Soon the group is growing and Yona fears for all of their lives.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars is based on true events. Kristin has done a great deal of research and she shares her sources with readers at the end of the book in "Author's Notes." In 2020, Kristin interviewed Aron (Bell) Bielski who was one of the Jews who survived the Nazis by living in the forest. Aron's entire family was killed and to this day he suffers from survivor's guilt.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars has everything you could hope for in a novel. It's brilliantly written, suspenseful, has some romance, along emotions of fear, pain and love. It is also very hopeful. The light will always be stronger than darkness.

Well, I am more likely to read romance novels, but this one changed my mind; I truly loved it. It's really written beautifully about the girl who gets kidnapped and raised by her kidnapper. It's something new. But I still want to know about how she overcame the voices In her head...and I would recommend this book for everyone. it really has some life lessons.

Yona was kidnapped out of her crib at a very young age and forced to live in the forest with a woman named Jerusza. Jerusza felt it her duty to take Yona from her German parents.

Yona knew nothing other than living off the land, surviving in the forest, and stealing things from stores and people in the villages.

When Jerusza died at 102 years of age, Yona was alone but able to survive because of her skills.

When Yona meets a group of Jewish folks who had escaped the ghetto, she felt it her duty to help them survive.

THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS takes us with Yona through her years with Jerusza and her harrowing, frightening, and dangerous time with the group as we see them learn the ways of the forest, live with fear, hide from the Nazis, and learn to trust each other.

When she is betrayed by the group, she leaves them and has to again make decisions on her own.

Ms. Harmel again did meticulous research and portrayed the plight of the characters with such authenticity that you were right there with them suffering through all the horrible conditions they had to endure.

This book is a beautiful tribute to the human spirit, to perseverance, and to finding the qualities a person possesses for empathy, kindness, and making choices.

Another FIVE star but very heartbreaking gem from Kristin Harmel. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really got into the book and could not put it down. My resistance was...oh no another war book. But this was different and Yona proved to be an incredible character. A different take on the war presented by a most unusual woman who could and would take chances on her life and many others. An outstanding read!

I love Ms. Harmel’s books and think this may be her best so far. Her newest book is a story of hope, courage, bravery, survival, and love. It is also a story of determining who we are inside and how to become that person.

Yona was born to a German family and named Inge. But when she was two years old, she was stolen from her parents by a woman named Jerusza and renamed Yona. Living in the forest, Jerusza taught Yona valuable survival skills. These skills would be the key to Yona’s survival and her ability to save other lives.

As the Nazis gained ground in Poland, thousands of Jews fled to the deep forests of Eastern Europe to escape their clutches. When Yona encounters some of these Jews, she feels she must help them survive. But because she has been isolated deep in the forest throughout her life, she has no social skills. All this leads to a fascinating story of underground bunkers, danger, hardships, trust, conflict, and betrayal. But through it all, Yona learns how to open her heart to others. And when Yona comes face-to-face with her past, her world is turned upside down.

Ms. Harmel did intense research so she could tell the story of the real-life Jews who lived this story. The writing was so vivid that I felt an emotional connection with the characters. I could feel their fear, their hunger, their shivering in the harsh winters, and the solace that came from looking up at the stars from deep within the forest.

I highly recommend this stunning book to all historical fiction fans.

Yona was kidnapped out of her crib at a very young age and forced to live in the forest with a woman named Jerusza. Jerusza felt it her duty to take Yona from her German parents.

Yona knew nothing other than living off the land, surviving in the forest, and stealing things from stores and people in the villages.

When Jerusza died at 102 years of age, Yona was alone but able to survive because of her skills.

When Yona meets a group of Jewish folks who had escaped the ghetto, she felt it her duty to help them survive.

THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS takes us with Yona through her years with Jerusza and her harrowing, frightening, and dangerous time with the group as we see them learn the ways of the forest, live with fear, hide from the Nazis, and learn to trust each other.

When she is betrayed by the group, she leaves them and has to again make decisions on her own.

Ms. Harmel again did meticulous research and portrayed the plight of the characters with such authenticity that you were right there with them suffering through all the horrible conditions they had to endure.

This book is a beautiful tribute to the human spirit, to perseverance, and to finding the qualities a person possesses for empathy, kindness, and making choices.

Another FIVE star but very heartbreaking gem from Kristin Harmel. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.