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.

An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.


1939 年的春天，即使戰爭一步步逼近，三代同堂的庫爾克一家仍盡最大的努力過著平凡生活。這家人在逾越節時談論的是初生嬰兒和萌芽戀情，而不是故鄉波蘭拉多姆的猶太人越來越艱苦的生活。

很快地，恐懼佔據了整個歐洲，庫爾克一家被強迫遷移到世界各個角落，每個人無不盡其所能，試圖找到最安全的地方。

家中成員有的被迫流亡，有的試圖逃離歐洲，有些人則在貧民窟的工廠每日挨餓超時工作，其他人則是隱藏自己身為猶太人的事實，為的就是存活下去。

受到堅定不移的生存意志與可能無法再見到其他家族成員的恐懼感驅使，庫爾克一家必須抱持希望，運用機智和內心力量，努力堅持下去。

本書精彩勵志，展現了人類如何在 20 世紀最黑暗的時刻，努力忍耐，成長茁壯。

Georgia Hunter

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. Hunter’s website, georgiahunterauthor.com, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the extensive research this project has entailed. She lives in Connecticut.