We Were the Lucky Ones

“Reading Georgia Hunter’s We Were the Lucky Ones is like being swung heart first into history…A brave and mesmerizing debut, and a truly tremendous accomplishment.” —Paula McLain

An extraordinary, propulsive novel based on the true story of a far-flung family of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust, escaped the war, and found each other again, against all odds

It is the spring of 1939, and the seven members of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows ever closer. The talk around the family seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing depravations facing Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurc family will be flung to the far corners of the earth, each charting his or her own path toward safety. As some members are forced into exile, others try to escape certain death by working endless hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Facing an unknown future where they may or may not ever be reunited, the Kurcs find inner strength and hope in the face of horror.

Propelled by their will to survive—across six years and five continents, from the jazz clubs of Paris to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to Montelupich Prison and the farthest reaches of the Siberian gulag—the Kurcs find ways to persevere even in the face of impossible hardship.

When author Georgia Hunter was just entering adulthood, she discovered that her beloved grandfather Addy was part of a family that escaped the horrors of World War II. This novel is a fictional account of their remarkable experience that is not only a tribute to her family’s story but to the triumph of the human spirit in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment. We Were the Lucky Ones is a testament to the notion that with courage, ingenuity, and luck, nearly anything is possible.

When?Georgia Hunter?was fifteen years old, she learned that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors.?We Were the Lucky Ones?was born of her quest to uncover her family’s staggering history. Georgia’s blog, georgialikethestate.com, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the extensive research this project has entailed. She lives in Connecticut.