We Were the Lucky Ones (Hunter)

We Were the Lucky Ones 
Georgia Hunter, 2017
Penguin Publishing
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399563089


Summary
An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a family of Polish Jews who are separated at the start of the Second World War, determined to survive—and to reunite.
 
It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer.

The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.
 
As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere.
 
A novel of breathtaking sweep and scope that spans five continents and six years and transports readers from the jazz clubs of Paris to Kraków’s most brutal prison to the ports of Northern Africa and the farthest reaches of the Siberian gulag, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can find a way to survive, and even triumph. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1978 (?)
• Raised—Attelboro, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Virginia
• Currently—lives in Rowayton, Connecticut


Georgia Hunter was born in Massachusetts and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. She turned to writing at a rather early age when she penned her first book at the age of four: Charlie Walks the Beast (named after her father's recently published sci-fic novel, Softly Goes the Beast). Seven years later she submitted an article to her local paper on how she would spend her last day if all life on earth were about to end.

Years later, in 2000, Hunter received her Bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Virginia and settled on a career in marketing and branding. After seven years in Seattle, Washington, she and her husband, Robert Farinhold, decided to head  back east. Currently, Hunter freelances as a copywriter for adventure travel outfitters, including Austin Adventures and The Explorer’s Passage.

We Were the Lucky Ones
Hunter was 15 when she first learned from her grandmother of her Jewish heritage—and that her family had survived the Holocaust. Six years later, a family reunion lit the spark for her 2017 debut novel. Hosted at her parents' home, the family gathering drew 30 relatives from North America, South America, Europe, and Israel. Speaking in Portuguese, French and English, they told their family stories. As Hunter described the experience in an interview with the Gordon School alumni magazine:

A baby born in a Siberian gulag. An escape from the Radom ghetto. A secret wedding in Lvov. A romance aboard a ship full of refugees bound for Brazil. Little by little, I began to piece together a part of my family’s past which, until that day, I had no idea existed.

It took Hunter nearly a decade to begin the saga of her grandfather and his four Kurc siblings whose descendants span the globe. After creaing a color-coded timeline to keep track of the many family branches, she turned to researching archives and museums and contacting ministries and magistrates. As she tells it, she "plotted an outline and chapter summaries and from there [and] began the terrifying task of putting my story to paper!"

Hunter now lives in Connecticut with her husband and young son. (Adapted from various online sources.)

Book Reviews
The story that so grippingly comes across in the pages of We Were the Lucky Ones isn't strictly fiction—the characters and events that inhabit this Holocaust survival story are based on her family's own history.
Newsweek


Turning history into fiction can be tricky, especially when using real names and details. Hunter finesses the challenge. Her novel brings the Kurcs to life in heart-pounding detail, from passionate young love and beloved traditions to narrow escapes, heartbreaking choices, starvation, imprisonment and torture. We come to care deeply about the fate of each of these resourceful, determined characters.
Jewish Voice


[Georgia Hunter is] just as courageous as the characters her writing will never let us forget.
Harper’s Bazaar


Love in the face of global adversity? It couldn't be more timely (Best Books to Read in 2017).
Glamour


[A] gripping and moving story (15 New Authors You’re Going To Be Obsessed With This Year).
Bustle


[A] remarkable history…of a Polish Jewish family during the Holocaust.… Hunter sidesteps hollow sentimentality and nihilism, revealing instead the beautiful complexity and ambiguity of life in this extraordinarily moving tale.
Publishers Weekly


First-time novelist Hunter got the idea for this book in conversations with her grandmother .… Despite the wide-ranging encounters, we learn nothing new about the Holocaustt.… [N]onetheless [an] engrossing read. —Edward Cone, New York
Library Journal


[C]haracters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictablet.… Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
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