About this item
The Nine follows the true story of the author's great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a 10-day journey across the front lines of World War II from Germany back to Paris.This program includes a bonus conversation with the author, as well as an archival recording of Martine Podliasky singing the Champs de Marais at her mother, Hélène Podliasky's, funeral.The nine women were all under 30 when they joined the resistance. They smuggled arms through Europe, harbored parachuting agents, coordinated communications between regional sectors, trekked escape routes to Spain, and hid Jewish children in scattered apartments. They were arrested by French police, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo.
About the Author
Gwen Strauss is an award-winning children's book author and poet, whose titles include Trail of Stones, The Night Shimmy, Ruth and the Green Book, and The Hiding Game. Her forthcoming adult non-fiction book, The Nine will be released in May 2021. Her poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in numerous places including The New Republic, New England Review, Kenyon Review, London Sunday Times and Catapult. She lives in Southern France where she works as the Director of an artist residency and cultural program at the Dora Maar House.
