The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die by Randall Platt is a gritty, unforgettable novel of triumph over tyranny during the bleak years of World War II and the German occupation of Poland.
Her street name is Arab and she is wise beyond her sixteen years. Abra Goldstein is the oldest daughter of Jewish parents. Arab is estranged from her father, but longs to see her little sister, Ruth. Blond and fair-skinned, Arab passes for German and can speak four languages, though she fears her German has a Polish accent.
Conditions are desperate in Poland. Jews are being rounded up and forced to leave their homes and stay in walled-up ghettos. Desperately needed items are scarce but Arab is expert at stealing and trading black market goods. She knows all the best routes to avoid the goose-stepping Nazis, even though some of those escape routes include going underground. Yes, the sewer. She’s beyond caring how she looks, or smells. Her goal is to get her little sister to safety, out of Poland.
Masquerading as a boy, Arab teams up with carefully selected Polish friends, and even a turncoat German, to plan an escape that has little chance of success. The fact that it’s in the dead of winter doesn’t help, nor does being on a “wanted” list make it easy to maneuver in bombed out Warsaw. And the escapees now include more than just her little sister, they involve numerous children, some of them sick.
The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die takes place from the summer of 1939 to the fall of 1941. It’s an engaging story to remember, to learn what resistance means, and to appreciate the price of freedom.
