The Mermaid - Praise

  Winner of the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Silver Award
for Best First Book (Nonfiction)

A Selection of the BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB^®, the HISTORY BOOK CLUB^®,
and the MILITARY BOOK CLUB^® 

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“Absolutely one of the best eye-witness accounts of WWII Poland that I ever read.”
            — Alan Furst, bestselling author of The Foreign Correspondent and The Spies of Warsaw

“An incredible book…thoroughly absorbing and quick to read…deserves a wide audience…would make an excellent book club choice, especially for readers who enjoyed Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, The Diary of Anne Frank, or Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.”
            — Rose City Reader 

“Adrenalin-charged…marked by unsparing candour and flashes of humour.”
            — The Ottawa Citizen

“An unusual take on WWII...a rare eyewitness account of the war's early, chaotic days--the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Siege of Warsaw and the first few months of Nazi occupation--written by Rulka Langer, a civilian, a young Polish career woman and mother and a graduate of Vassar College."
            — Publishers Weekly

“A wonderful, heart-warming read.”
            — BookPleasures 

“I’m most amazed at how readable this is compared to other books about the war experience. Suitable for all ages, it would make an excellent resource in a classroom.”
            — The Black Sheep Dances

“A gripping, fast-paced narrative…takes you to the centre of the drama.”
            — Cosmopolitan Review

“Personal, moving, laced with grim humor, and accessible to a modern audience.”
            — College & Research Libraries News

“The narrative is so exquisitely rendered, built as it is upon a mountain of sharply observed details and trenchant insights into human nature, I could not put it down...One of the gifts of Langer's narrative is her unsparing, truthful description of herself and others.”
            — Wanda Urbanska, host & producer of the PBS TV show Simple Living

“A remarkable book.”
            — Sarmatian Review

“A war has many dimensions…The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt is unusual because it provides the perspective of a helpless and young bystander.”
            — Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies

“I couldn’t put the book down. Her story is riveting…utterly contemporary and compelling.”
            —Fontayne Holmes, City Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, 2004-2008

“What a story she tells…brutally honest…quietly humorous…Must-read for anyone interested in World War II.”
          — Lev Raphael, author of My Germany

Find out more about the Benjamin Franklin Awards.