The Goddess of Warsaw

Written by Lisa Barr
Review by Kate Braithwaite

In 2005, Lena Browning is a Hollywood legend. Approached to tell her story for a biopic, she decides to let the truth of her life come out, starting with the revelation that Browning is not her real name: it’s the name of the gun she used to kill the Nazi who murdered her father. That’s because Lena was once Bina, Bina Blonski, a Polish Jew, in love with her husband’s brother, and more than ready to kill Nazis as part of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

While the bulk of the novel’s drama and action takes place in the war years, Bina’s story doesn’t end there. We follow her journey from Europe to Hollywood and learn how her scars, and her skills as an assassin don’t just disappear at the end of the war. There are Nazis in America, and Bina, even as she takes Hollywood by storm, is still on a mission, even perhaps into the 21^st century.

For me this was a stellar read: a compulsive page turner with complex characters and diverse historical settings, all crisply rendered. Actual historical events are portrayed with sensitivity, notably the mass suicide of ninety-three Jewish girls and young women to escape forced prostitution and rape by Nazi forces. Lena/Bina is a wonderful character, full of dry wit, passion, anger and resolve. If you loved Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network, then don’t miss this one. Highly recommended.