We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (audiobook)

genre: historical fiction

The Kurc family has put down roots in the Polish town of Radom and, all nearly grown, the five Kurc siblings have lived a happy life filled with music and the Jewish traditions that tie them to their ancestors.  However, in the spring of 1939, when the hints of war become ever stronger, each member of the Kurc family begins their own saga of surviving what would become World War II.

To say this story is astonishing is an understatement.  I would be almost unbelievable if it wasn't true - but the author has done so much research into her own family that although it reads like a novel, it is based on the actual experiences of her grandfather's family.  I loved how we switched back and forth between the five siblings and the parents - although it took awhile for me to get the names straight, it was incredible how different each sibling's path through the war was.  I was in awe of their determination, their resourcefulness and although sometimes I had to suspend my disbelief, it still made my heart ache and I got teary more than once as beloved characters were on the brink of being lost.  What touched me maybe the most was the bonds that linked each sibling to each parent and to each other, the efforts they made to ensure each other's safety, to find ways to be connected no matter how distant they'd traveled, either by choice or taken by force.  By the end, I felt the love of this family seeping from the pages and I reveled in their luck along with them.