Irena's Gift
An Epic WWII Memoir of Sisters, Secrets, and Survival
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Narrated by:
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Karen Kirsten
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By:
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Karen Kirsten
About this listen
In 1942, in German-occupied Poland, a Jewish baby girl was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That baby, Joasia, knew nothing about this extraordinary event until she was thirty-two, when a letter arrived from a stranger. She also learned that the parents who raised her were actually her aunt and uncle. Joasia kept this knowledge hidden from her own daughter, Karen—until an innocent question unexpectedly revealed the truth.
Determined to understand the generational trauma that cloaked her family in silence, her own origins, and to help heal her mother's pain, Karen set out to unearth decades of secrets and piece together a hidden history—from the glittering days of pre-war Poland to the little-known Radom Prison, where of 500 resistance members tortured, only ten survived, her grandfather the only known Jewish one. There, Karen finds answers, yet not easy ones.
As she exposes her family's saga of love and betrayal, countless brushes with death, precarious hiding places, and the astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved her mother's life, Karen must reconcile the complicated, multi-faceted truths behind human behavior.
©2023 Karen Kirsten (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Mackenzie Cooper took her eyes off the road for just a moment, but the resulting collision was enough to rob her not only of her beloved daughter but ultimately of her marriage, family, and friends - and thanks to the nonstop media coverage, even her privacy. Now, she lives in Vermont under the name Maggie Reid. Her only goal is to stay under the radar and make it through her remaining probation. But she isn’t the only one in this peaceful town with secrets.
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So So
- By Rhea Ann Rettke on 07-01-18
By: Barbara Delinsky
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The Trackers
- A Novel
- By: Charles Frazier
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Hurtling past the downtrodden communities of Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming. Through a stroke of luck, he’s landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new Post Office.
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So Good
- By Ray Stewart on 04-28-23
By: Charles Frazier
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Mistress of Life and Death
- The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau
- By: Susan J. Eischeid
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Lagelee
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time of her execution at thirty-six, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible for a woman in the Third Reich. As Head Overseer of the women's camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was personally responsible for the murders of thousands. In this riveting biography, Susan J. Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl, regarded locally as "a nice girl from a good family," came to embody the very worst of humanity.
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Wow!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-24
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Ghost Detective
- A Myron Vale Investigation
- By: Scott William Carter
- Narrated by: Steven Roy Grimsley
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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After narrowly surviving a near-fatal shooting, Portland detective Myron Vale wakes with a bullet still lodged in his brain, a headache to end all headaches, and a terrible side effect that radically transforms his world for the worse: he sees ghosts. Lots of them.
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Interesting story
- By Brenda S on 01-15-19
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The Forger’s Spell
- A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. As Edward Dolnick reveals, his true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life.
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Interesting story!
- By M. Price on 09-20-23
By: Edward Dolnick
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Changing Tides
- Savannah Mystery Series Book 1
- By: Veronica Mixon
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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A kidnapping set against the backdrop of Savannah’s glamorous elite. For Katelyn Landers, returning to the tranquil Savannah low country with her young son was supposed to offer refuge. But when bodies start washing ashore—all with direct links to her—a U.S. Marshal’s interest in her family’s wealth quickly turns into an obsession. Amid the legal turmoil lies a family secret worth millions, and the key to unlocking it depends on one crucial task: finding her kidnapped son before the money runs out. CHANGING TIDES—a suspense that will keep you guessing until the last page. This ...
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Poor AI Narration
- By Marlee Ray on 12-24-24
By: Veronica Mixon
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Into the Forest
- A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love
- By: Rebecca Frankel
- Narrated by: Natalie Pela
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods—through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids—until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. After the war, they trekked across the Alps into Italy, where they settled as refugees before eventually immigrating to the United States.
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Great story with an added benefit
- By Scottsville Stu on 12-30-21
By: Rebecca Frankel
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Daughters of the Occupation
- A Novel of WWII
- By: Shelly Sanders
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan’s comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second child, a son she and her husband, Max, name Monya, the Soviets invade the Baltic state of Latvia and occupy the capital city of Riga, her home. Because the Talans are Jewish, the Soviets confiscate Max’s business and the family’s house and bank accounts, leaving them with nothing.
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It never ceases to break my heart …
- By Sherry M. Bianchi-Knod on 05-23-22
By: Shelly Sanders
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The Daughter of Auschwitz
- My Story of Resilience, Survival and Hope
- By: Tova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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A powerful memoir by one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz, Tova Friedman, following her childhood growing up during the Holocaust and surviving a string of near-death experiences in a Jewish ghetto, a Nazi labor camp, and Auschwitz.
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Very interesting and well told
- By Tracy F. on 03-31-23
By: Tova Friedman, and others
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Crow Mary
- A Novel
- By: Kathleen Grissom
- Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell’s past, falls in love with her husband.
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One of the best Native American Novels I’ve read.
- By Mizclaire on 07-16-23
By: Kathleen Grissom
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A Redbird Christmas
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Fannie Flagg
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Deep in the southernmost part of Alabama, along the banks of a lazy winding river, lies the sleepy little community known as Lost River, a place that time itself seems to have forgotten. After a startling diagnosis from his doctor, Oswald T. Campbell leaves behind the cold and damp of the oncoming Chicago winter to spend what he believes will be his last Christmas in the warm and welcoming town of Lost River. There he meets the postman who delivers mail by boat, the store owner who nurses a broken heart, the ladies of the Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society.
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A sad bittersweet story
- By Sara on 12-20-13
By: Fannie Flagg
What listeners say about Irena's Gift
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- nollafv
- 09-10-24
4 generations of survival
Heartfelt memoirs, beautifully written and read story (audible) about the effects of family members torn apart by war and the trauma it spreads in post war. The courage, battle of survival and selfless acts that is unimaginable. It’s just not another war survival story, you get to know the authors, her family, her intense history research and the mysteries that she had to piece together. I’m so moved and I absolutely loved this story!
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- M. McNichol
- 10-22-24
Incredible memoir of family, secrets and survival
An incredible memoir of how a family experienced and survived the holocaust and the secrets that impacted generations of a family. Karen Kirsten’s dedication and commitment to researching and visiting places relating to the unbelievable events and timelines of the Jewish holocaust and her family’s history is truly remarkable. As is her ability to beautifully tell the stories of her mother and grandparents with honesty and heart.
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-24-24
the book jumped around
I wish this book was a more linear story. it just didn't seem to come together very well. I've read over 100 books about the holocast and I think the reason this book is lacking is bc when you have a story not written in the 1st person who personally experienced the story it really looses some value. I wish this book was written in a way tht allows you to connect to the people. unfortunately this is written more like a family story with the intended audience being the family
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