Stolen Years by Kazia Myers

Stolen Years by Kazia Myers

Publisher: Matador (June 2016)

394 pages, eBook (provided by the publisher for review)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Note: Includes Swearing, Violence, and Mild Sexual Situations

At seventeen, Anna is among the Polish youth that are rounded up in 1940 and sent to live on farms to provide labor in order to supply German forces with food. Luckily she is assigned to the same farm as her older brother’s three friends: Michal, Franek and Staszek. They arrive thinking with optimism that they can put by a bit of money then pursue their dreams, but in reality their new existence is harsh, uncompromising, bleak, of indeterminable length and they are little more than slaves. There are frequent episodes of German brutality, committed both by the Gestapo and their overseers at the farms. A great story of friendship and human endurance, as well as a reminder that a great many people suffered under the Nazis and we shouldn’t forget them or what they went through. Toward the end I felt a sense of fatigue that no matter where they went bad things just kept piling on top of them and they had to continue to muddle through, but I’m sure that is how it was. The ending wasn’t particularly happy, but I was almost grateful that after all they suffered, the ending wasn’t rose-colored or glamorized. Great characters, and a very engaging read!