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Feb 21, 2012

Colleen rated it:

I reviewed this book for www.luxuryreading.com.

On January 24th, 1943, 230 women boarded a train in France, bound for the unknown. They ranged in age from fifteen to over sixty and encompassed positions in society from school girls to furriers to farmers’ wives to doctors and chemists. Most, on the surface, seemed to have little in common. What united them was much deeper and much more binding.

These women found themselves imprisoned together for their various resistance acts a More...

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Feb 12, 2012

Kristin rated it:

A fascinating, heartbreaking, engrossing book about 230 courageous Frenchwomen, arrested and imprisoned for anti-Nazi activities, then transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The fates of many of the women come as no surprise; the miracle is that 49 of them survived horrible conditions, supported each other through the most unthinkable circumstances, avoided the gas chambers, and eventually returned to France. The author does a creditable job of rendering as many women as possible as developed char More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Erin rated it:

I liked this book (as much as you can say that) and it was refreshing (as much as you can say that) to read a story of WW2 from a different perspective. It is often from the Jewish, allied troops (especially American) or the heroics of the resistance. This book talks about the latter but rather than the actions of them and how they "saved France" it talks about the women who were captured and their experience. I think any book that deals with this sort of material will always make y More...

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Jan 15, 2012

Carl rated it:

This book falls under the heading of true crime. It deals with mass murder, attempted genocide and a side of France in the 1940’s that is generally not well-known. This is also one of the most difficult and amazing books I have ever had the privilege of reading. This is, as the cover states, “an extraordinary story of women, friendship and resistance in occupied France.”

In mid-June, 1940, the German army occupied Paris and France fell. There was, for a while, a partition, Vichy France More...

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Dec 11, 2011

Catherine rated it:

During the WWII occupation of France, the Gestapo imprisoned 230 women who were active in the French resistance. In 1943 they were moved to Birkenau, the women’s prison at Auschwitz.

The first part of the book covered the women’s personal lives, involvement in the resistance, and arrest. Later, describing their time at Auschwitz, there were lengthy passages that seemed almost like a book of obituaries, with a paragraph or two devoted to each death. I don’t think the author wrote abou More...

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Nov 14, 2011

Nancy rated it:

How do you write a review on a book that contrasts the absolute cruelty and sadistic imaginations with friendship and altruism? It is very difficult, indeed.

I've read many books on WWII that describe the Jewish POV and soldier POV. This time the POV is that of female political prisoners of war. This point of view hit closer to home as I am neither Jewish nor a soldier. It begs the question, if placed in a situation where not in immediate danger, what side of the line would I stand?
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Nov 11, 2011

Jesse rated it:

This book is written in two parts, and I feel I need to talk about the two parts separately because the experience of reading each part was entirely unique.

There was no real attempt at making the book read like a narrative, especially in Part One. Moorehead presents many facts and much background about the WWII and the Resistance in France. Because this part was so heavily fact-based, it was difficult to slug through--it read much more like a book used for research rather than one read More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Julie rated it:

Possibly not the best of books to read over the holidays, it was a truely compelling read that bought me to tears several times. In January 1943, 230 French woman were sent on a train from Paris to Auschwitz. All were arrested by the Germans for helping the resistance, from simply writing in support of France in a letter, to writing a slogan on a wall. We get to hear their stories, the families that they leave behind.

It is hard to comprehend the brutality of living in More...

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Nov 16, 2011

Paul rated it:

“A Train in Winter” by Caroline Moorehead, published by Harper.

Category – Holocaust/ World War II

When we think of the French resistance we envision Frenchmen fighting guerilla warfare against the Germans, I don’t think any of us are aware of the sacrifices made by French women. This is the story of two hundred and thirty women who were sent to the German death camps for their participation in the French Underground, only forty-nine would survive. Their ages ranged from the More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Alison added it

I am not able to give this book a star rating, because it is both engrossing and poignant and awe-inspiring...while also being horrifying and heartbreaking. It is one I would recommend highly to everyone with the huge caveat that reading it might be awful. *The book* is not awful - what it details is, and the experience of reading it is a good-bad one. (See, I can't even review it coherently!) I knew a good deal about the Holocaust and the camps, but I learned more from this, frightening abhorre More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Cynthia rated it:

A stark and haunting memoir of women who were part of the French resistance. The author shares the lives of these real women before and after their arrests for "terrorism" in Vichy France. Their train ride to Auschwitz is where the title originates. Their lives and the lives of many others in the camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau are almost too horrific to digest as one reads the details. I had a hard time really grasping that something like this could have happened to these innocent More...

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Jun 12, 2011

Will rated it:

Paris had become a city of collaborators, both open and hidden, anti-Semites, anti-Freemasons, repentant communists and right-wing Catholics, who had hated Blum’s Front Populaire and felt more than a sneaking admiration for the German cult of youthful valour, orderliness and heroism.

Thankfully there were people who stood tall against the madness. A Train in Winter is a moving and devastating story of a group of two hundred thirty incredibly brave French women, part of the Resistance during Wor More...

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Feb 11, 2012

Jb rated it:

Author interviewed four women in their 90s who survived World War II Nazi concentration camps. She also traveled throughout France to gather other information about the fate of nearly 300 French women who were arrested and for crimes of working for the French resistance. Well-documented is the descriptions of suffering the women endured. Some were teenagers; others mothers who were taken away leaving small children in an empty house to fend for themselves. No fun to read about one atrocity after More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Sara rated it:

This detailed account of the atrocities committed by the Germans in their concentration camps is so overly detailed that it became difficult to remember who was who, what was each person's nomme de guerre, who they were married to, which area of France they were from, and to which organization they belonged. I tried to make a list, but that soon became tedious. The details were overwhelming and though they serve to honor the memory and purpose of each woman arrested in the resistance, the real More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Melissa rated it:

A Train in Winter tells the fascinating story of the French resistance during World War II. The author, Caroline Moorland, focuses her book on the women of the French resistance. These women might not wield guns or plant bombs, but they do house refugees in their hotels, print papers in their basements, and hand out flyers in the streets. These women chose to risk their lives rather than run to safety or simply endure. The women are grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and children, and all are dr More...

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Feb 21, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

I really liked this book in that I learned a lot about the women of the French resistance, which I knew almost nothing about. It really takes you through their amazing ties of friendship and how friendship itself may have been the most important survival strategy for these women. It also provides an interesting look at political prisoners in the concentration and death camps of World War II, which we usually don't hear much about since they were a smaller group, comparatively. I was also stunned More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Serena rated it:

A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead strives to shed light on the occupation of France by Germany during World War II and the rise of the French Resistance, particularly the role of women within the resistance. Of the 230 women who were arrested and sent to Auschwitz in Poland, less than 50 survived, and seven were alive when Moorehead began researching and writing this account of their story. Impeccably well researched, the book takes readers behind the scenes of the French Resistance, and More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Heather rated it:

A hard to book to read and not just because of the subject matter. I should never have tried to read it while on vacation! It is a remarkable story of friendship and survival, but I found myself a little frustrated and even confused. Because you are dealing with so many women, it is was almost liek reading a lundry list, particularly in the beginning. Especailly in the beginning, there was not enough information (at least for me) to ever really connect yourself to these women. That said, I did l More...

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Dec 17, 2011

Haunted rated it:

I found this book very interesting. However, it was difficult to follow as the author attempted to share as much as possible about the 230 French, female resistance fighters that were shipped to the concentration camps during WWII. It is an important book as it shares the history of these women and Vichy France. This was not something taught in your average history class or even in any of my college-level history classes. The author's zeal to name each of these women and share as much of their More...

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Jan 31, 2012

Debbie rated it:

Not much can be said about this book except that it is full of information that continues to come to light as to the women, children, and men who suffered at the hands of Hitler and his officers. This story follows the story of 230 women who were teachers, students, housewives, writers, chemists, who all participated in one way of the other in the resistance in France. These brave women were sent to various concentration camps during the war and subjected to unthinkable treatment. Of these 23 More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Audra (Unabridged Chick) rated it:

I don't read a ton of nonfiction related to WWII because I'm a softie and a wimp. (And mildly obsessive when it comes to traumatic events; I'm a chronic 24/7 CNN-er during disasters.) All this is to say it has to be a certain kind of nonfiction to lure me from my slightly safer world of fiction.

Moorehead's book intrigued me from the first for two reasons: one, I loved her bio of the marvelous Martha Gellhorn; and two, I love books that emphasize female friendships. That this book w More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Lois rated it:

One of the issues I had with the first half of this book was how big the story was in terms of the number of women, active in the Resistance, who were profiled. It would have had more impact, perhaps, if the author had scaled back. Just too many threads to follow. The second half, when all of the women were in one awful place, the story was at least something you could wrap your arms around...although certainly a familiar and painful story of Auschwitz. I did learn something...the number of More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Naomi rated it:

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. What a dynamic, powerful gem this book is! First, it showed the strength of women to stand up against the visciousness of the Nazi Regime. Second, the book was written in a manner which was intense. I was a bit concerned when I first had begun to read it because it started off slowly. About 80 pages in, the book exploded and took off. I loved this book as much as I loved the book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.

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Jan 26, 2012

Lianne rated it:

A Train in Winter was a very rough read for me. Not because of the writing, but because of the subject matter. However, I also think it's an important book to read.

The first third of the book starts with the German occupation of Paris, and follows the stories of the French Resistance, and mainly about the women who may have done smaller acts that the bombing of train tracks and killing of German soldiers, but were much more crucial and dangerous. The first chapter shows how when the More...

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Jan 05, 2012

Johanna rated it:

This was a fascinating story and well researched. I would have liked a guide in the front of the book with brief notes about the characters. It was very difficult to keep the large cast of characters straight. I found the second half difficult to read due to the subject matter (detailed account of the concentration camps). I know the author was trying to offset the terrible cruelty of the concentration camps with the lasting bond the women had for each other but ultimately, I found it diffic More...

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Jan 11, 2012

Jenna rated it:

This is a well-researched account of as aspect of WWII and Holocaust victims that probably not a lot of people know about. There were a few stylistic problems, the first of which is that Ms. Moorehead uses WAY too many commas. Her writing is often needlessly confusing and she would have benefited greatly from a firmer editor. Also, there are many women to keep track of in the book and Moorehead often repeats information to make sure the reader understands the connections, but at times this felt More...

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Feb 05, 2012

Carol Ann rated it:

I have read many books on the holocaust. This is the first one highlighting the women in France who were part of the resistance. The first half had more information on the hundreds of women involved that I could process. However the second part picked up. Only a small number lived through to liberation. At the end of the book there is a brief biography of the women whether they survived or were too beaten and starving to make it to the end of the war. Those of who survived, for the most part, ha More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Angela rated it:

This book is the story of 230 French women who were arrested when Germany occupied France. They were sent to Auschwitz. Only 49 returned. This is their story- one of the very active French resistance and of the HUGE part that women played in that resistance effort. Being a non-fiction account, there are pages of just dates and details. While the story is interesting and quiet informative, I found it pretty dry at times. An interesting read if you are particularly interested in the Nazi occupat More...

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Jan 27, 2012

Lauren rated it:

Excellent depiction of political prisoners in occupied France. The book started off a little slow by describing each woman and their contribution to the resistance movement. Although necessary for the remainder of the novel, it takes up nearly half of the book. Moorehead includes a summary at the end telling the reader what happened to each woman - extensive, thorough research. *Warning to the male reader...Given the extent to which Moorehead describes the female comaraderie/bond, I'm not sure More...

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Feb 20, 2012

Kat is currently reading it

My reading rarely is displined. It's difficult even to commit to the book-group selection. So it is with an exquisite sense of propinquity that I now am reading Caroline Moorhead's <a href=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061650706/]A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France</a>. The subtitle tries to tell all but, of course, must fail. Although many stories are told (and I am only 100 pages in), the focus is on the brave and importan More...

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