Night Trains

By Gareth Wootton, Barbara Wood, Gareth Wootton

Book Overview

An unforgettable account of how an entire town in Poland resists the devastating blow of the occupying Nazi forces, using wit, courage, and determination as its only weapons.

Occupied by the Germans, the strategically located town of Sofia, Poland, stands on the brink of annihilation in 1941. As every arrest and execution brings total obliteration closer to reality, two medical doctors devise an ingenious plan -- to stage a typus epidemic that will force the Nazis to evacuate. The locals and their enemy swiftly become enmeshed in what soon becomes the most daring act of resistance in World War II. Jan Szukalski--A brilliant doctor, he masterminds the hoax with his partner, Mary Duszynska, whose work binds them together more strongly than love itself. Maximillian Hartung--A German officer, he is ruthless in his lust for personal power and determined to win Hitler's personal attention by breaking the resistance in Sofia. David Ryz--A young Jewish leader of a zealous band of partisans, he helps incite the town to violence and unwittingly puts the medical hoax in jeopardy. Gripping and powerful, Night Trains brilliantly illuminates the classic conflict between active and passive resistance in one town's fight for survival.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596528621
• ISBN13: 9781596528628
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: Turner
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Valiant Heroes in Deadly Times

I have loved every book I have read by Barbara Wood, which now includes Night Trains. Each book has been completely different in plot, although each one so far has some element of medicine involved. Night Trains is based on actual events that occurred in Poland during WWII. In this fictionalized version, Polish doctors Jan Szukalski and Maria Duszynska perpetrate a grand-scale hoax to protect the Polish town of Sofia from the Nazis. Their resistance does not include any killing; rather,they inject all who complain of any illness with a vaccine that gives the appearance of a positive typhus reading. This leads to the Nazis' quarantine of the town and the surrounding region, which protects the citizens from further harassment, executions, and deportations to death camps. Meanwhile, a group of Jewish and Polish resistance fighters are devising a plan to ambush a German train to retrieve the ammunitions it carries, and to rescue a train's human freight headed for death camps in order to obtain more fighters for their cause. These heroes put themselves in great danger, and despite their efforts, do not reap the success that the doctors do with their hoax.The book is continually suspenseful, with public executions, descriptions of tortures, death camp atrocities, and Nazis always on the watch for suspicious behavior. I searched the internet to find the historical basis for this book and discovered that a documentary is currently being filmed about it, called "A Private War"; the true hero's name is Dr. Lazowski. Night Trains has many details obviously similar to true events. For those interested, related web sites are: http://www.stjoenj.net/lazowski/lazowski.htmlhttp://www.claytonentertainment.com/privatewar.htm