Catholic teenager Stefania (called “Fusia”) leaves her family’s farm to move to Przemyśl, where she begins working for the Jewish Diamant family. She is embraced by the family and romanced by one of the sons, Izio, promising to marry him. When Germany occupies Poland, marking the start of World War II, the Diamants are forced into the Przemyśl ghetto. In addition to caring for her younger sister, Helena, only six when Fusia finds her all but abandoned back home after their parents are sent to a labor camp, Fusia becomes a lifeline for the Diamant family. First she smuggles food into the ghetto. After Izio dies in a labor camp, Fuzia, working with Izio’s younger brother, Max, works out a plan to help the remaining members and several others escape. She and Helen hide them—13 people in all—in increasingly precarious living situations. At one point, two nurses working at the German hospital across the street from their apartment are boarded with them, their SS boyfriends visiting regularly. The 13 hide in a cramped attic space, behind a false wall Max built. This fictionalized account of a true story reveals so many sides of human nature, from suspicion to annoyance to brutality to the false comfort of denying things are not as bad as they seem. But compassion is the resonant theme. Photographs and additional information about Fusia, Helen, and Max (whom Fusia married after the war) is included at the end of this tense, compelling work. (Age 13 and older)

The extraordinary story of Stefania Podgórska, a Polish teenager who chose bravery and humanity by hiding thirteen Jews in her attic during WWII, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron - now a Reese's Book Club YA Pick!

One knock at the door, and Stefania has a choice to make...

It is 1943, and for four years, sixteen-year-old Stefania has been working for the Diamant family in their grocery store in Przemysl, Poland, singing her way into their lives and hearts. She has even made a promise to one of their sons, Izio -- a betrothal they must keep secret since she is Catholic and the Diamants are Jewish.

But everything changes when the German army invades Przemysl. The Diamants are forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone in an occupied city, the only one left to care for Helena, her six-year-old sister. And then comes the knock at the door. Izio's brother Max has jumped from the train headed to a death camp. Stefania and Helena make the extraordinary decision to hide Max, and eventually twelve more Jews. Then they must wait, every day, for the next knock at the door, the one that will mean death. When the knock finally comes, it is two Nazi officers, requisitioning Stefania's house for the German army.

With two Nazis below, thirteen hidden Jews above, and a little sister by her side, Stefania has one more excruciating choice to make.

This remarkable tale of courage and humanity, based on a true story, is now a Reese's Book Club YA Pick!