One Last Shot: Based on a True Story of Wartime Heroism

by Kip Wilson

The daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants, Gerta Pohorylle doesn't quite fit in with her German classmates. While she's away at boarding school, however, she becomes a master at reinventing herself as a vibrant, confident young woman. When she returns from school, she joins a group of young activists and is arrested for distributing anti-Nazi propaganda. Her family decides she must leave Germany.

In Paris, Gerta meets André Friedman, a Hungarian photographer eager for fame and fortune, who fosters Gerda's interest in photography. Together the pair reinvents their brand of photojournalism under the names Robert Capa and Gerda Taro, in part to gloss over their Jewish ancestry, and soon they're traveling to areas of military conflict and selling their photos for high prices. Gerda continues to travel solo through Europe, often the only woman in journalism circles. Her assignments eventually lead her to Spain to cover the growing conflict that is becoming the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), part of events leading to World War II.

True to her political beliefs, Gerda pushes closer and closer to the front line, eager to capture the lives and vibrant hopes of Spanish republican forces fighting against fascism, only to lose sight of her own safety.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Poetry, Historical, Novel In Verse, War, Photography

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2023

About the author

Kip Wilson is the critically acclaimed YA author of verse novels White Rose (Versify, 2019), The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin (Versify, 2022), and One Last Shot (Versify, 2023). Awards for her books include the Malka Penn Award and the Julia Ward Howe Award, and her books have been named a Massachusetts Book Honor title, an Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalist, and a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. She is also the editor of and a contributor to All the Love Under the Vast Sky (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2025), a YA anthology of stories in verse. Her debut middle-grade verse novel, Backpack, Boy, Berlin is forthcoming from Candlewick on 11/3/2026. Kip holds a Ph.D. in German Literature and is an enthusiastic high school librarian. Find her online at kipwilsonwrites.com and on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky @kipwilsonwrites.

Reviews

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can*]

Cloud library app
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3.5 stars 🌟
Narration: 4 stars 🌟

[Samantha Matherne]

One Last Shot is a powerful novel in verse that allowed me to really imagine what growing up Jewish in pre-WWII Germany must've been like for Gerda. Wilson does a great job of capturing the experience of Gerda Taro escaping to freedom in France and then trying to make a name for herself as a photographer during the Spanish Civil War. The letters between her and her family, though written with creative license at the likely events based on history, add extra heart to the book. My favorite parts were whenever a section is entitled "Snapshot" and details a specific image from the happenings in Spain. Those pieces are written in a simple but exact way that caused me to picture the scene clearly to the point of chills. I very much would recommend this one. Thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Anne Osterlund]

Gerda lives in a country that increasingly treats her as the enemy. When the German gestapo comes for her brother, it is Gerda who is detained instead. And when an international connection wins her release, her family decides Gerda must leave Germany.

Nationless, she arrives in Paris, which also is undergoing political upheaval. Gerda is far from the only refugee seeking a job, connection, and a way to fight the rising threat of fascism. Her first job, obtained via the black market, is soon lost.

And then Gerda meets a photographer. Andre. Perhaps as important, she meets photography, her new passion. And when Spain erupts in Civil War, Andre and Gerda know they have found a way to make a difference.


Written in verse, Kip Wilson's biography of Gerda Taro was every bit as good as I hoped it might be. Once upon a time, I wrote a research paper on the Spanish Civil War--mostly because there was a book on it in Spanish in my college library and I needed a Spanish-language source. More and more, I am realizing how much I don't know about that war and the role it played in our not-so-distant history. This book is one more piece about one significant life.

[Robyn]

ONE LAST SHOT:
Kip Wilson

This was a really interesting book about Gerda Taro, an amazing photographer who was one of the first women in the business and the first to take wartime photos. This is so worth the read.

I hated the end but life has so many terrible outcomes.

5 stars

Happy Reading!

[Sydney Young]

Kip Wilson delivers once more with her verse snapshots of amazing young women who were brave as they come. I’m so glad to know the story of Gerda Taro and her photos, and her time in Civil War Madrid,—and am also a confirmed true fan of the brilliant Kip Wilson. Also love Juliette Goglia’s perfectly voiced narration. Keep these books coming!!

[Sara Taggart]

Interesting topic. Fast read. Meh execution. 3.5 stars.

[Caylie Ratzlaff]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 2.5-3/5 stars.

I remember liking White Rose by Wilson since historical fiction verse novels are a rarity but....this was just missing a lot. While I love the verse elements and how it covered the photojournalism side of the war, and even a part leading up to WW2 often not discussed (spanish civil war, hitler's rise to power, etc.) it just...felt undeveloped.

Gerda is flat. There is no development for her besides her being ambitious with her career, but we learn nothing about her and how she develops her talents or how she becomes a photographer with Robert past that somehow they end up lucky and renowned. For being based on the real photographer, I felt like a lot more characterization...and even plot...could have happened.

I definitely found myself reading to just be done with this one...it wasn't awful but just lacked the development to make it great.

[Megan]

*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This is a short powerful read about a little known female photojournalist. Even if you don’t know the name Robert Capa, you’ve likely seen at least one of his photographs, whether it be from his coverage of the Spanish Civil War or D-Day or a variety of other war zones he covered. This book aims to highlight the contributions of Gerda Taro (born German Pohorylle) an early collaborator of Capa’s, who helped him create the alias of Robert Capa and also published under it for a time. Unfortunately, Taro died weeks before her 27th birthday while covering the Spanish Civil War, and a large chunk of her output as a photojournalist was lost only to be recovered in 2007 so while Capa became world famous, she did not. Wilson’s novel in verse seeks to remedy that.

For me, the strongest part of this book was the atmosphere. Wilson shows us how Taro and her friends and family responded to the growing fascism of Germany in the 1920s and 30s and we see her fight for left wing ideas in Germany, Paris, and Spain. What was especially remarkable to me was the contrast in level of worry portrayed by Taro and family compared to their non Jewish friends. Wilson also highlights the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, something that is barely mentioned in American history classes.

I am of two minds about this book. On the one hand I think this could be a great entry point for teens into a history that might otherwise not interest them; however, I also found that in making Taro a typical YA heroine, she felt really flat. A lot of her actions seemed to be reactive, and the way her death is written makes it seem like she is at fault for not listening to advice. I seem to be in the minority on this one though.

Overall, I think as a teen I would have loved having a book like this and would recommend to those who like historical fiction and novels written in verse.

[Character Building Books]

One Last Shot traces the adolescence and adult life of Gerta Pohorylle, the news photographer known as Gerda Taro. It is a story of accomplishment, resilience, and tragedy better suited for new adults or adults than for young adults or adolescents.

The story tells how Gerta grew up under the anti-Semitism of pre-war Germany. When she flees Germany and the persecution she receives for her anti-fascist protests, she lands in Paris where she meets others fighting for justice and freedom and learns to use photography to capture the struggles around her. When she visits Spain to capture the Spanish Civil War, she falls in love with the culture, people, and beauty of Spain and the fight for freedom. Her courage and passion allow her to capture vivid shots of the struggle, but when she is caught in a battle, her efforts to get one last shot land her in terrible danger.

The free verse format of this novel allows the author to convey feelings and events in a powerful way, and the plot still comes through clearly. While this story is described as a coming-of-age story, it reads much more like a new adult or women’s biography, focusing more on the protagonist’s adult life than on her growth through adolescence. While it feels like an adult story, it still provides a different view of the time period and the European struggle against fascism, and it will be a great addition to a classroom library or a study of World War II.

[Lynn]

This verse novel introduces teens to Gerda Taro, born Gerta Pohorylle. Wilson discusses in back matter that while sticking to the basic facts she has fictionalized Gerta's thoughts, feelings, interactions and correspondences. The outcome of this choice is that the focus of the book is on Gerta's eager spirit and her passion for defeating fascism, having experienced it as Jewish girl growing up in Germany.

The poetry is excellent and Gerta's voice is vivid with a real sense of the exuberance of spirit that challenging danger can bring. I think Wilson does a good job too of providing historical background for an extremely complicated time in history, particularly that of the Spanish Civil War.

Photography and photojournalism, something that drove Taro's life and ambition, is given basic coverage and explanation but so much is left out, especially the ground breaking innovations they made and the the controversies surrounding some of the famous photographs. An author has to make choices but I think this would be a stronger book with more attention paid to this aspect, especially as the title emphasizes this.

I think the strength of this book is to bring this talented and multi-dimensional woman to a new generation. And I hope it will inspire readers to search out more about her. A tremendous book to pair with this is Mark Aronson and Marina Budhos' outstanding nonfiction book, EYES OF THE WORLD: ROBERT CAPA, GERDA TARO, AND THE INVENTION OF MODERN PHOTOJOURNALISM.

[CPL Teen]

One Last Shot is a powerful historical fiction novel in verse that tells the story of Gerda Taro. Gerda grew up Jewish in pre-WWII Germany and escaped to France when her political activism gets her arrested for distributing anti-Nazi propaganda. When in France she meets Andre Friedman, a Hungarian photographer, who fosters her interest in photography. Together they reinvent photojournalism under the names of Robert Capa and Gerda Taro. They travel to areas of military conflict, specifically Spain during the Spanish Civil War. While trying to capture the lives and vibrant hopes of the Spanish republican forces while they fight against fascism she pushes closer and closer to the front line and loses sight of her own safety.

This novel in verse is written in such a way that it was easy to imagine the growing conflict, fear, tension, and hope that these people felt while putting everything on the line to fight against the growing waves of fascism. The "Snapshot" poems are especially powerful as they describe specific photos that Taro took. They are written so exactly that you are not only to picture the scene clearly but can easily identify them if you look at her photos.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction, strong female characters, and novels in verse.

[Alicia]

Wilson is a competent historical fiction writer and her often used verse novel style also creates a wider readership. There are some I've been bowled over by and others that I'm a bit more lukewarm. I can see why this one is getting reviews-- for me it's the information about Gerda Taro, a female photographer now getting her due for so many reasons that began with her activism even before she left her native country.

Because I do recognize when I have a bit of exhaustion in reading World War II era stories. I know they're important. There should be as many as people are moved to write, but reading them often creates a fatigue of information. She captures several areas of conflict during the war that wasn't just in Germany itself as she was in France and captured stories in Spain to name a few. The sparing verse worked to move the plot but it felt long in the middle. Meeting the vivacious and forthright Polish Jew Gerta was a shot in the arm at the beginning, slowed down in the middle, then picked back up at the end but moved through all facets of her life with the section transitions.

[Meg]

Holy Hell. Mind blown.

This is about Gerda Taro, known as the first female photojournalist to die on the front lines of war. I personally feel like it's a little unfortunate to be remembered by how you died, but hey. Gerda was almost lost to history altogether when her photos disappeared/were credited to her lover, Robert Capa, so...

Kip Wilson did a very good job of breathing life and personality into Gerda. I think Wilson also did a good job of being clear that Gerda had biases when it came to her political viewpoints (I would too if I were a Polish Jew that grew up in Germany watching the Nazi party slowly take control of the country), and Wilson is very clear that since this novel is Gerda's perspective, those biases do show up in the novel. 

I actually really like how Wilson portrayed Gerda in the book. She's reckless, fierce, and independent. She's daring and confident and is absolutely passionate about activism and showing the world the true cost of war.

Her passion might have led her to make a very foolish decision that ended her life, but her photos have become timeless representations of the Spanish Civil War.

[Elaina Baker]

shoutout Trident bookstore in Boston for this free book when I Door-dashed Mac and cheese from their kitchen about 3 years ago

written in verse which I’d never encountered before. First half is way more intriguing although it may be due to my profound interest in Origin Stories and this is all written biographically in chronological order. Still, something to be said about how the whole second half is mindless never-ending verse and perhaps I’m the only dimwit that isn’t familiar with the Spanish battle lead-ups to WWII but I had not a clue what was happening. suddenly the climax is in the last like 10 pages without a proper build, and written in verse is not an excuse for this. one more itch to scratch is the random titled sections, some of which I thought were fitting and clever (and even plot moving), others were lazy and uninspired, and further distracting. But again perhaps I am only a Novice Student of Verse.

[Ray]

Thankyou to netgalley.com for an e-ARC of this book.

An extremely moving novel about Gerda Taro and her amazing poise and determination as a woman trying to define herself in a male dominated world.

As a young child, Gerda became fascinated with photography but hsd no means to pursue it. As her Jewish family moved to escape Nazi Germany before the war, she learned more and more about activism in her country. Marrying these two passions led her to become a war time photographer with no fear of political issues, working on the front lines, and doing what she could to support her beliefs

Written in verse, I felt that the novel moved quickly through her life. I enjoyed the equal time given to her personal life as well as her professional endeavors. I knew nothing of Gerda before reading so I was intrigued by her heroism and determination.

[Yapha]

This semi-fictionalized account of photojournalist Gerda Taro is a quick but powerful read told in free verse poetry. Gerda grew up in Germany, and escaped to France as the Nazi regime began making it harder for Jews to live. In France she joined up with other anti-fascist and met the man who became her partner. Together they travelled to Spain to photograph the Spanish Civil War, meeting a variety of activists, authors, and other artists along the way. Her life was tragically cut short. This is a great book for broadening the understanding of WWII on the Spanish Civil War and how they were intertwined in the greater fight for freedom and democracy. Recommended for grades 8 & up.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss

[Kristyn]

3.5 stars! I’m obviously biased being a photographer, feminist, and anti-fascist myself… But I greatly enjoyed this fictional look into Gerda Taro’s life capturing the Spanish Civil War & the events leading up to World War Two. Most photographers have heard of Robert Capa, myself included, but not as many know of Gerda. I really appreciate this book, as otherwise, I might never have learned of her either.

When I found this book I almost didn’t purchase it because of the unique writing style but decided to try something different and I’m glad I did!!! I haven’t read a novel in verse/long form poetry before and while I started it feeling apprehensive, I ended up really enjoying it & found it to be a quick read. Felt like a bullet point journal.

[Thomas Adams]

I really enjoyed this book. Gerda Taro was such a powerhouse, and Kip Wilson does a great job of capturing her restless energy and her passion for justice. Seeing the war through a camera lens was a cool perspective, and it made the stakes feel very personal. I also loved how the book explored the complexity of her identity and her ambition. My only real gripe is that a few of the secondary characters felt a little bit like cardboard cutouts, and the ending felt slightly abrupt, even though I knew how it had to end. Overall though, it was a moving tribute to a woman who died for her art and her beliefs.

[Franchesca]

This is the story of Gerda Taro, beginning in her early years, through boarding school, fleeing Germany after Hitler comes to power, meeting the love of her life and becoming a photojournalist, leading her to the front lines of what is to become the Spanish Civil War. I really enjoyed the unique novel in verse format of this book, the way the individual sections form a cohesive story that is intriguing and exciting, as you follow Gerda and the people closest to her as she clicks and whirrs her way to capturing the perfect shot.

This review is of an ARE I won in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Kristen]

Amazing! Kip Wilson is a powerful writer and this book did not disappoint. The story follows wartime photographer Gerda Taro through her life and death. I did not know much about this woman and this book made me want to learn more. Wilson has a wonderful way of describing scenes that makes you feel like you are experiencing the same thing as the characters. I love the information provided at the end of the book that provides more information on each of the characters and the fact based evidence that supports the story.

[Tara Mickela]

Gerda is the main character of this mostly true story of a young Jewish woman who becomes dangerously involved in socialist Germany. After surviving 3 weeks in jail her family insists she leave for France knowing she will only be arrested again or worse. In Paris her socialism takes shape in becoming a photographer who documents the horrific images of the war in Spain. Along with her partner in love and work, she continues to defy the odds meeting famous poets, writers and artists along the way.

[Delara]

I can’t stop thinking about it this book! It’s a coming-of-age YA historical fiction in verse documenting Gerda Taro, a Polish Jew in 1920s Germany who became a photojournalist during the Spanish Civil War. I loved everything about it, especially Wilson’s portrayal of plucky, anti-fascist Gerda. It was both empowering and equally eye-opening to see this time period captured through Gerda's lens.

And in telling Gerda’s story, Wilson is reminding us that antisemitism, fascism, and the rise of current rhetoric and political extremism isn’t new. Seriously, this book should be taught. 5 stars.

[C Heaslip]

Wonderful verse novel for VN fans, Holocaust resistance fans, strong female protagonist fans. Gerda Taro was a self-taught photographer who photographed the rise of fascism, especially during the Spanish Civil War, during the rise of Hitler's Germany. Most middle school Americans do not realize Pearl Harbor was not the beginning of the war. Gerda is a strong, independent woman, who enjoys the company of several different men throughout her life, but falls in love with her eventual partner in photography and business. The share a passion for showing the world the atrocities of war.

[Linda Morris]

This is categorized as a Young Adult book but I'm a senior citizen and I thought the book was great. It's a quick read because of the author's style of writing and the story absorbs you quickly. The characters are likeable, and although the time period is Europe during pre-WW II (Germany, France and Spain mainly), it's different from most of the other pre/during/post WW II novels that have flooded the book market. (When I say flooded, I do not mean to be critical. The great majority are excellent.) I highly recommend this book.

[Jennifer Guyor Jowett]

Kip Wilson gives readers a behind the scenes look at little known photographer Gerda Taro. Gerda did not shy from risk as she left Germany (she was Jewish) prior to WWII before entering and re-entering Spain during the Spanish Civil War to pursue her love of photography while documenting what was happening to the people there. As a novel in verse, One Last Shot is a fast read with lots of action.

[Aimee Lucido]

This book is gorgeous! Another Kip Wilson stunner of a novel in verse about a fascinating and complex woman activist. Kip falls in love with her characters, and that's apparent on every single page. They are fascinating and remarkable and brave and absolute inspiring. And I absolutely loved how, in this story even more than the author's other works, the words decorated the page in a visual way that seemed perfect for a story about a visual artist. Astounding work as always!

[Caleb Payne]

I liked reading this book a lot. I have recently watched the movie "Civil war" and it is a similar story just in the modern time. I love looking into the perspective of journalists that are out in the field and this book does it in a very creative way. I feel as though we don't take into account the story of people that are part of the combat but never shooting back. I would recommend this book to people who like a thrill and are interested in the military photography side of war.

[Lois]

One Last Shot is a historical fiction novel wtitten in verse. It introduces us to Gerda Taro, a photojournalist from the pre-WWII ERA, whose main contributions were to the visual history of the Spanish Civil War. Most of the characters are taken from real life

I waffled between a 3-4. The format of the novel is engaging, but too much time was spent on Taro’s travels when she was in a safe zone. The lack of photographs in a novel about a photojournalist is absurd.

[Jean]

Kip Wilson did an incredible job tying in the true life story of Gerda Taro with fictional elements to make her fully formed. The writing style gripped me, and made it even more emotional. I usually have trouble reading through nonfiction, so this beautiful mixture of fiction and reality was perfect for me! I definitely recommend – Taro lived one heck of a life!

[Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves)]

I think this is a great way to introduce a new generation to a piece of history that they might not now. I know I didn't know it before reading this book! The format of a novel in verse also works well in general for the story, especially for some of the more action sequences. Plus, the narrator of the audiobook does a phenonmenal job as well!