this is an amazing book. not just because it held my interest from chapter to chapter, but because the story is true and incredible.

My husband rented the movie and when he told me it was a true story i got the book from the library the next day.

the book is written as a non-fiction history not as a narrative. the author really did her research by conducting personal interviews with those involved and from other archived information.

Tuvia and his brothers were not going to become captured by the nazi's and be forced to live in a ghetto during world war 2. they fled to the woods and lived there for years with the purpose of surviving and saving as many jews as possible. 1,200 were saved. tuvia beliski was a strong, charismatic leader. he survived by knowing people, knowing the area and having a purpose. something that i was shocked to find out though was that their life in the forest wasn't that isolated. there were russian partisans roaming around finding the germans as well as other small jewish groups trying to live and escape death by the germans. all these groups knew of the other and sometimes worked together. jews held "captive" in ghettos or hiding places, were given word about the baliski otriad and would try to find their way to them. the germans knew people were living in the forest and would try to flush them out or attack them. i was also surprised that even though living in the woods, desperate to survive, knowing that the jews that did not come were dying (many of their family members and friends already had) there became "class" differences. the "upper class" looked down on the "lower class". the "rules" about who was upper and lower were different even opposite in the forest then in the world but they were there. people still valued money and jewels and other treasures, some even clung to them hid them but food and warm clothing is what was the most precious and valuable for payment or ownership.

i was slightly disappointed that the author did not describe more about what happened to the members of the beliski otriad especially tuvia. his life seemed to go from one as being a leader and looked up to in the forest to a nobody over night. why don't more people know who he is? unlike other holocaust survivors that tell the "same" story about surviving concentration camps, tuvia actually fought for his life, survived and saved over a thousand jews. he is a hero and is not talked about as frequently as an elie wiesel or anne frank.

i recommend every person that is interested in holocaust and ww2 books to pick this one up.